U.S. patent number 3,724,021 [Application Number 05/129,016] was granted by the patent office on 1973-04-03 for snap hinge for furniture doors.
Invention is credited to Karl Lautenschlaeger, Jun..
United States Patent |
3,724,021 |
Lautenschlaeger, Jun. |
April 3, 1973 |
SNAP HINGE FOR FURNITURE DOORS
Abstract
Furniture hinge of a snap type holding the door open after a
predetermined movement of the door in a door opening direction and
exerting a closing force on the door as the door moves past a dead
point toward its closed position. A socket member mortised in the
door forms a stop for the door, a pivot support for two swing
levers pivotally connected to a bracket member extending from a
wall of the cabinet and hinging the door for movement about an
imaginary axis. A spring formed integrally with the socket member
extends outside of the socket member and is inclined at an oblique
angle relative to the plane of the door. The spring has engagement
with an end of the innermost swing lever within the socket and
moves the door toward a closed position when moving past the dead
position, upon door closing movement. The socket member and spring
are preferably molded from a single piece of plastic material.
Inventors: |
Lautenschlaeger, Jun.; Karl
(6101 Wersau/Odenwald, DT) |
Family
ID: |
5767254 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/129,016 |
Filed: |
March 29, 1971 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
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Apr 7, 1970 [DT] |
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P 20 16 398.8 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
16/278;
16/302 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E05D
11/1021 (20130101); E05D 3/142 (20130101); E05D
5/08 (20130101); Y10T 16/5381 (20150115); E05Y
2900/20 (20130101); Y10T 16/53864 (20150115) |
Current International
Class: |
E05D
11/00 (20060101); E05D 3/06 (20060101); E05D
11/10 (20060101); E05D 5/00 (20060101); E05D
5/08 (20060101); E05D 3/00 (20060101); E05d
003/06 () |
Field of
Search: |
;16/163,164,165 |
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: McCall; James T.
Assistant Examiner: Troutman; Doris L.
Claims
I claim as my invention:
1. A snap hinge particularly adapted for furniture doors and in
combination with two members, one of which is relatively movable
with respect to the other, to effect a closure of the door
opening,
a socket member mortised in one member,
a carrying arm secured to the other of said members and having a
portion extending over said socket member when said members are in
an open position,
at least one swing arm transversely pivoted to said socket member
within the margins thereof,
means connecting the opposite end of said swing arm to said
carrying member and movable to extend along said socket member when
said relatively movable members are in their closed position at
right angles with respect to each other,
said socket member having a continuous generally cylindrical outer
wall,
a spring tongue cut from said outer wall and extending angularly
inwardly of said socket member from the bottom thereof and having
an integral yieldable pivot adjacent the bottom of said socket
member,
said spring tongue providing an angular contact surface contacted
by said swing arm adjacent the yieldable pivot of said spring
tongue, when said relatively movable members are in a closed
position and movable along said spring tongue as said relatively
movable members move toward an open position, and biasing said
swing arm and carrying arm in a closing direction and retaining
said relatively movable members in closed positions by the bias of
said spring tongue,
the socket member and spring tongue being integrally formed from a
plastic material and the bias of said spring tongue being attained
by the angular position of said tongue and the plastic material
from which it is made.
2. The snap hinge of claim 1,
wherein two of said swing arms are provided, and
wherein the two swing arms form a connected rectangular parallel
axis swing joint between the connections of said swing arms to said
socket member and said carrying arm.
3. The snap hinge of claim 2,
wherein the spring tongue has a dead position and is effective to
exert a biasing force to hold the relatively movable member open
when said swing arm slidably engaging said spring tongue is on one
side of said dead position and to bias the relatively movable
members into a closed position when said swing arm is on the
opposite side of said dead position, and
wherein the dead position is at an angle of from 5.degree. to
10.degree. from the fully closed position of said two relatively
movable members.
4. The snap hinge of claim 3,
wherein the spring tongue is deflected from its rest position at
approximately 20.degree. in the dead point position and in the
closed position at approximately 3.degree..
5. The snap hinge of claim 3,
wherein said socket member has an elongated mounting flange
extending therefrom in alignment with said spring tongue,
and wherein said mounting flange has an upwardly arched leaf spring
extending therealong and connected at its free end to the free end
of said spring tongue.
6. The snap hinge of claim 5,
wherein the upwardly arched spring and spring tongue are integrally
formed and formed integrally with said socket member and said
mounting flange.
7. The snap hinge of claim 5,
wherein the surface of said spring tongue engageable with the
innermost of said swing arms has a series of longitudinal grooves
extending therealong for a lubricating agent.
8. The snap hinge of claim 4,
wherein the spring tongue has at least one stiffening rib extending
along its outer side.
9. The snap hinge of claim 4,
wherein the socket member, bracket arm, spring tongue and arched
spring are made from an acetal resin plastic material.
10. The snap hinge of claim 5,
wherein the spring tongue extends beyond the plane of the member on
which it is mounted and the leaf spring is integral with the
mounting flange and the spring tongue and is in the form of an
arcuate leaf spring arched from the plane of the member on which it
is mounted when the relatively movable members are in a closed
position.
Description
BACKGROUND, SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF INVENTION
Snap hinges biased by one or more springs to exert a closing force
on the door have previously been known. Such hinges have required a
separate spring or springs connected between the hinge and wall or
door of a cabinet.
The hinge of the present invention improves upon the previous snap
hinges in that it is supported in a socket member mortised in the
door and has an integrally formed spring extending at an oblique
angle with respect to the plane of the door toward the wall of the
cabinet and facing the articulated joint between the door and wall
of the cabinet. This spring extends out of the socket member and is
slidably engaged by a cross piece of a swing lever for the door and
biases the hinge lever and door toward a closed position after
passing over a dead point of the swing lever and door and holds the
door in this closed position.
The snap hinge shown and described therefor provides an integral
socket member and spring inserted in a mortise in the door, in
which the spring extends from a wall of the mortise toward the wall
of the cabinet in a direction to exert a closing force on the door.
The spring is adapted to be manufactured integrally with the socket
member in an injection molding process.
The principal advantages of the snap hinge of the present invention
are in the simplicity of the hinge enabling a dead point in door
opening and closing directions to be located shortly before the
door is in its fully closed position, and holding the door in this
closed position until manually open against the spring and past the
dead point of the door.
Another advantage of the present invention is that the spring and
swing arm cooperating therewith have such a relationship with
respect to each other that the dead point position of the spring
and door is only a fraction of the effective length of door opening
movement.
A still further object of the invention is to improve upon the snap
hinges heretofore used in furniture by supporting the door on the
wall of a cabinet by a quadrilateral link structure in the form of
two swinging levers, to move about an imaginary pivot and to so
arrange the spring as to cooperate with one of the levers and exert
a door closing force thereon, as it passes by a dead position in
door closing movement of the door.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be
readily apparent from the following description of a certain
preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings, although variations and modifications may be
effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel
concepts of the disclosure.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic horizontal sectional view showing a door
hinged to a cabinet wall according to the principles of the present
invention, with the door in a partially open position.
FIG. 2 illustrates the hinge and door shown in FIG. 1 in a closed
position.
FIG. 3 is a plan view of the socket member with the swing levers
and bracket members supporting the door on the cabinet wall
removed.
FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken through the
spring along line IV--IV of FIG. 1; and
FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating the positions of the swing
lever and spring in the dead position of the spring and hinge and
in the closed position of the door.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF INVENTION
In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, I
have shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 a door 1 hinged to a wall 2, which may
be the wall of the cabinet, by a hinge constructed in accordance
with the principles of the present invention. The hinge is shown as
including a socket member 3, which may form a stop for the door and
forms a pivotal mounting for a pair of swing levers 6 and 7. The
socket member 3 is shown as mortised in a recess or mortise 3a
extending into the door from the inside thereof, and having a wall
perpendicular to the plane of the door.
The socket member 3 is generally circular in plan view and has a
fastening flange 4 extending from one side thereof along the inner
face of the door, and suitably secured thereto in spaced relation
with respect to the mortise 3a. Screws or other suitable securing
means (not shown) may be provided to secure the fastener flange 4
and socket member 3 to the door.
The cabinet wall 2 has a carrying arm 5 extending along the inside
thereof toward the socket member 3. The carrying arm 5 has a
bracket arm 5a extending therefrom beyond the inside and end of the
door into the interior portion of the socket member 3, and forming
a mounting for an end of the swing lever 6 on a pivot pin 11. The
opposite end of the swing arm 6 from the pivot pin 11 is pivoted to
one side of a tongue 6a on a pivot pin 17. The tongue 6a is shown
as extending inwardly from the interior wall of the socket member 3
in a generally radial direction. The swing arm 7 is also pivoted to
the bracket or tongue 6a on a pivot pin 7a, spaced from the pivot
pin 17 toward the plane of the inside surface of the door and
disposed radially outwardly of the pivot pin 17. The swing arm 7 is
pivoted at its opposite end to the bracket arm 5a on a pivot pin
7b. While the swing arms 6 and 7 are shown as being pivoted to one
side only of the tongue 6a, it should be understood that said swing
arms may be pivoted to opposite sides of said tongue and to
opposite sides of the arm 5a where required. The swing arms 6 and 7
thus provide a quadrilateral hinge support for the door 1,
supporting the door for movement into open and closed positions
about an imaginary axis and accommodating full opening and closing
of the door.
I have shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 the socket member 3 as having a
spring 9 extending from the bottom thereof on the outside of the
pivot pin 11 and swing arm 6 and inclined with respect to the wall
of the mortise 3a toward the cabinet wall 2 at an oblique angle
with respect to the inner face of the cabinet door. The side of the
spring 9 facing the cabinet wall 2 is slidably engaged by an eye 10
of the swing arm 60 pivotally mounting said swing arm to the pivot
pin 11. The eye 10 may have a lateral extension thereon (not shown)
providing a relatively wide bearing surface slidably engaging the
spring 9.
The spring 9 may be formed integrally with the socket 3 by slitting
the molded socket member to cut out sections 8 on opposite sides of
said spring to accommodate free retractable movement of said spring
during door opening movement of the hinge beyond a predetermined
dead point, and then to accommodate the spring 9 to hold the door
in an open position. In a contrary manner, as the eye 10 reaches
the dead point of the hinge and swing arm 6, the spring engaging
the eye 10 will bias the door into a closed position and securely
hold it in this position.
The end of the spring 9, spaced inwardly of the plane of the door,
has a spring 12 connected thereto and formed from the fastening
flange 4 by slitting along said flange along cut out lines 13, 13
on opposite sides of said tongue. The spring 12 is thus of a curved
form and is arched upwardly relative to the plate of the inner
surface of the door along an arc, although it need not necessarily
be formed along an arcuate configuration. The springs 9 and 12 may
be integrally formed from a suitable plastic material molded by
injection molding and cutting the slits 8 for the spring 9 and the
aligned slits 13 for the spring 12. It should here be understood
that the springs 9 and 12 need not be integrally formed with each
other, or with the socket member 3 but may be separate metal
springs of various conventional forms arranged to perform the
function of the springs 9 and 12. The space between the door
surface and the spring 12 may be closed by closure pieces 14, 14
extending upwardly along opposite sides of the spring 12 and
illustrated in plan in FIG. 3.
The cross section of the spring 9 in FIG. 4 shows said spring as
generally channel-like in form and having a series of parallel
grooves 15 extending longitudinally therealong, which can be used
for the reception of a lubricant. A longitudinal stiffening rib 16
extends along the opposite side of the spring 9 from the grooves 15
and converges at its lower end to the plane of said spring to
restrict deformation of the upper end portion of the spring, and
accommodate a major portion of deformation of the spring in a zone
adjacent the bottom portion of the spring.
In FIG. 5 of the drawings, I have diagrammatically illustrated the
deformation of the springs 9 and 12 and illustrated the biasing of
the swing arm 6 toward a door closing position, as the pivot pin 11
for said swing arm passes the dead point of the spring 9.
In this Figure, the swing arm is shown in a closed position by
solid lines, with the dead point indicated by a dot and dash line
at an angle alpha from a center line extending through the centers
of the pins 17 and 11 when the door is in a closed position and
indicated by a dot and dash line.
The point of maximum deflection of the spring 9 at the dead point
of the spring and swing arm 6 from the rest position of the spring
is indicated by dot and dash lines and amounts to the angle gamma,
and is substantially 20.degree.. As the door moves toward the
closed position, the spring 9 does not recede to the full angle of
20.degree., but by an angle beta equal to substantially 17.degree..
The spring 9, therefore, is partially flexed or under tension in
the closed position of the door. This residual spring tension in
the closed position of the door exerts a force holding the door
closed.
Now comparing the length of the lever arm of the spring 9 which is
active in the closing position of the door and extends from a pivot
axis 18 to the line of contact with the eye 10, with the length of
the lever arm extending from the contact line to the entry line 19,
the length of the first lever arm is only a fraction of that of the
second with the result that the holding force of the spring 9 is
increased over the force exerted by the spring.
Where the spring 12 is formed integrally with or connected with the
spring 9, the spring force may be materially increased for larger
doors and spring hinges.
It should be understood that while I have shown two swing arms 6
and 7, that the door in many cases can be supported on one swing
arm and that the swing arm 6 will then form a support for the door
and be slidably supported on the upper surface of the tongue 6a.
Where the tongue 6a and socket member 3 may be made from metal,
rollers or other antifriction means may be used to reduce friction.
Such rollers, however, are not necessary with plastics,
particularly those plastics which come under the collective term
"acetal resins," which have the requisite mechanical strength, and
elastic resilience to take the continuous stress on the hinge in
practical use of the hinge.
* * * * *