Hinge For Doors Of Freight Containers, Transport Vehicles And The Like

Abstract

A hinge member of a hinge for the door of a freight container or transport vehicle is formed by a sheet metal pressing incorporating an eye for a hinge-pin and stiffened by a deep closed recess extending longitudinally from the eye.

Description

This invention relates to improvements in hinges for doors of freight containers, transport vehicles, and the like.

In order to reduce the amount of handling required when freight is moved from its source to its destination by two or more different forms of transport it is becoming common practice to transport goods in large containers in which the goods remain throughout their journey and which may be carried by road, rail, sea or air or by a combination of these in the course of a journey.

Such containers may have to stand up to very rough usage, particularly when they are being transferred from one form of transport to another, and the containers have to conform to very rigorous standards.

A freight container is normally open only at one end which is provided with a single door or with two half doors each hinged about one vertical edge to the frame at one side of the door opening, fastening means co-operating with keepers on the door frame at the top and bottom of the opening being mounted on the door or on each half door adjacent to its free edge.

Hinges for container doors are usually manufactured by casting or forging, and are expensive and of considerable weight.

According to our invention a hinge for a door of a freight container is formed from a sheet metal pressing incorporating an eye for the hinge-pin and stiffened by a deep recess extending longitudinally from the eye and closed by an integral folded over part of the pressing or by a second pressing welded to the first pressing.

Where the hinge is formed from two pressings the eye may be formed wholly by a curled-over part of the first pressing or it may be formed by co-operating curled-over parts of the two pressings, the meeting edges of these parts being welded together.

Some preferred forms of hinge in accordance with our invention are illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the hinge;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section on the line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a transverse section on the line 3--3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary section of the hinge eye showing an alternative method of forming it; and

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal section similar to FIG. 2, but showing a hinge made from a single pressing.

The hinge illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4 is formed from two steel pressings 10 and 11. The pressing 10 is of rectangular outline, the rear end being flat for attachment to a door but having forwardly cranked flanges 12 on each longitudinal side edge for stiffening. The other end 13, which is offset from the flat attachment part, is curled round at its extremity to form a part 14 of a cylindrical eye for a hinge-pin.

A deep central recess 15 extends rearwardly from the eye, the width of the recess adjacent to the eye being about one third that of the pressing and the rear end of the recess tapering off in both width and depth into the plane of the flat attachment part.

The pressing 11 is of tee outline, the stem 16 of the tee conforming in outline to the open face of the recess 15 into which it fits and to which it is welded at its rear end and on each side as shown at 17, 18, 19 in FIG. 1. The head of the tee is of the same width as the pressing 10 and its free edge is curled round to form a second part 21 of the eye for the hinge-pin mating with the part 14 on the first pressing, the meeting edges of the parts 14 and 21 being welded together at 22.

In the modification shown in FIG. 4 the whole of the eye 23 for the hinge-pin is formed from the first pressing 10 and the forward edge of the second pressing is welded to it at 24.

The eye will normally be provided with a liner or bush 25 for the hinge-pin. The liner may be in one piece or in two or more pieces and may be made of any suitable material.

FIG. 5 shows a hinge which is of the same general outline and appearance, but is formed from a single pressing.

This pressing 26 has the same flat attachment part and stiffening recess 27, but the recess is closed by an integral part of the pressing. The pressing is extended beyond the part 28 of full width from which the eye is formed by a tongue 29 of reduced width and of an outline corresponding to that of the open face of the recess 27. In the forming of the eye the tongue is folded over rearwardly to fit into the open face of the recess to which its edge is welded continuously or at spaced points.

In either form of the hinge the flat attachment part of the pressing 10 may be of any desired length. If the door to which the hinge is to be fitted is of steel the attachment part can be welded, bolted, or rivetted to it and can be relatively short.

However, if the door is made of plywood the attachment part will be made of substantial length so that it can accept a wide variety of different patterns of hole centers for fixing bolts or rivets which will be distributed over the length of the attachment part to reduce the risk of the bolts or rivets being torn out of the door by forces tending to distort the door or the container itself.

Claims

I claim:

1. A hinge member for securing to a door of a freight container or transport vehicle and a connection by a hinge-pin to a part mounted on the door frame wherein said hinge member comprises a first sheet metal pressing incorporating a flat rear attachment part for securing to the door, at least part of an eye for the hinge-pin, and a deep central recess extending longitudinally from the eye into said attachment part, and a second sheet metal pressing of tee outline in plan, the stem of the tee conforming in outline to the open face of said recess into which it fits and to which it is welded and the head of the tee being of the same width as the eye part on the first pressing to which it is welded.

2. A hinge member as in claim 1 wherein said eye for the hinge-pin is formed wholly by a part of the first pressing.

3. A hinge member as in claim 1 wherein said eye for the hinge-pin is formed by co-operating curled parts of said first and second pressings, the meeting edges of said parts being welded together.

4. A hinge member as in claim 1 wherein said first pressing is of rectangular outline and is stiffened by cranked flanges on its longer edges.

5. A hinge member as in claim 1 wherein said eye for the hinge-pin is offset from the plane of the attachment part of the first pressing.