page_title: Gimbal
section_title: Applications
hierarchical_section_title: Gimbal / Applications
caption_attribution_description: English: A set of three gimbals mounted together to allow three degrees of freedom. http://weelookang.blogspot.com/2011/07/ejs-open-source-gimbal-lock-model-java.html
context_page_description: A gimbal is a pivoted support that allows the rotation of an object about a single axis. A set of three gimbals, one mounted on the other with orthogonal pivot axes, may be used to allow an object mounted on the innermost gimbal to remain independent of the rotation of its support. For example, on a ship, the gyroscopes, shipboard compasses, stoves, and even drink holders typically use gimbals to keep them upright with respect to the horizon despite the ship's pitching and rolling.
  The gimbal suspension used for mounting compasses and the like is sometimes called a Cardan suspension after Italian mathematician and physicist Gerolamo Cardano who described it in detail. However, Cardano did not invent the gimbal, nor did he claim to. The device has been known since antiquity, first described in the 3rd c. BC by Philo of Byzantium, although some modern authors support it may not have a single identifiable inventor.
caption: In a set of three gimbals mounted together, each offers a degree of freedom: roll, pitch and yaw