AU2007291477A2

AU2007291477A2 - Furniture hinge

Info

Publication number: AU2007291477A2
Application number: AU2007291477A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Wolfgang Beckmann; Jorn Kleffmann; Ralf Muterthies; Oliver Schael; Michael Schubert; Kai-Michael Stuke
Original assignee: Hettich ONI GmbH and Co KG
Current assignee: Hettich ONI GmbH and Co KG
Priority date: 2006-08-31
Filing date: 2007-07-06
Publication date: 2009-05-14
Anticipated expiration: 2027-07-06
Also published as: ES2728098T3; TWI402408B; AU2007291477B2; KR101381335B1; WO2008025593A1; TR201907529T4; CN101512092B; JP5303724B2; JP2010501756A; DE202006013356U1; TW200829784A; EP2057336B1; RU2009111054A; RU2437996C2; PL2057336T3; EP2057336A1; CN101512092A; KR20090061643A; AU2007291477A1

Description

- 2 A furniture hinge The present invention relates to a furniture hinge. 5 DE 20115250 shows a damping apparatus for a furniture hinge which is placed on the hinge part. The piston rod is pressed into a damper housing during a movement of the hinge part and moved to the extended position again during an opening movement. Such a furniture hinge requires a comparatively large 10 amount of overall space and has a complex arrangement. A furniture hinge is known from EP 1555372, in which a hinge part is pivotably held on a side part. For this purpose, a support lever and a guide lever are provided which in the manner 15 of a parallel control arm pivot the hinge part fastened to a movable furniture part such as a furniture door. For damping the movement, a linear damper is provided on the side part which is coupled via a chain link with a projection on the guide lever. Damping thus occurs during the pivoting of the guide lever. The 20 coupling is provided with a rigid configuration, so that a limited compensation for tolerances is possible, especially when a furniture door is aligned and the hinge part is adjusted thereby relative to the side part or a mounting plate. Moreover, the coupling via chain links is relatively complex and difficult 25 to mount. The invention provides a furniture hinge, comprising a mounting plate on which a side part is arranged, and a hinge part mounted pivotably on the side part via a support lever and 30 a guide lever, with a damper being provided to dampen the movement of the hinge part relative to the side part, wherein the housing of the damper is fixed to the side part or the mounting plate and a contact surface on the support lever or the guide lever acts directly on the piston rod for damping during a 35 closing movement of the hinge part. N:\Melbourne\Case\Patent\80000-80999\P8017O.AU\Specin\P80170.AUGH spec first.doc 24/03/09 - 3 In accordance with the invention, a contact surface is arranged on the hinge part, the support lever or the guide lever, with forces acting directly on the damper housing or the piston rod for damping during a closing movement of the hinge 5 part. Both the function of the furniture hinge with a damping of the closing movement can thus be achieved with a minimum number of components. Moreover, this arrangement is comparatively easy to mount because the piston rod or the damper housing are not connected with a connecting element coupled with the hinge part. 10 Rather, the time of damping is effected by the touching the contact surface on the damper housing or piston rod, with the initial point of damping also being provided with an adjustable configuration. 15 In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the contact surface is provided to be integrally arranged with the hinge part, the support lever or the guide lever. A projection can then be integrally provided which forms the contact surface. Preferably, this projection is arranged on 20 the support lever. The contact surface preferably touches one end of the piston rod where the damper can be fixed with the housing in a simple manner to the side part or the mounting plate. The piston 25 rod can also slide on the contact surface in a certain frame in order to compensate any lateral movement of the contact surface. According to a further embodiment of the invention, damping is not achieved over the entire pivoting path of the 30 hinge part, but the contact surface touches the piston rod or damper housing only when the hinge part is arranged between a closed position and an opening angle of 100 to 400, preferably 150 to 300. Damping must mostly occur in the region of an opened position because this would adversely affect handling. Slamming 35 should be prevented merely before the closing of the furniture N:\Melbourne\Cases\Patent\80000-80999\P80170.AU\Specis\P8017O.AU_GH apec first.doc 24/03/09 -4 door. That is why it is sufficient when the damper is effective only in an end region before the closed position. Preferably, damper is pretensioned via a spring to the 5 extended position, so that when the hinge part is opened the damper will automatically be moved to the extended position. The housing can then also be adjustable in the longitudinal direction of the hinge part in order to then enable 10 the setting of damping points. The invention is now explained in closer detail by reference to an embodiment shown in the enclosed drawings, wherein: 15 Fig. 1 shows a partly sectional side view of a furniture hinge in accordance with the invention in the opened position; Fig. 2 shows a view of the furniture hinge of Fig. 1 in an 20 only slightly opened position, and Fig. 3 shows a view of the furniture hinge of Fig. 1 in the closed position. 25 A furniture hinge 1 made of metal or plastic comprises a mounting plate 2 which can be fixed to a furniture carcass and on which a side part 3 is arranged in a fixed or adjustable way. A pot-like hinge part 4 is pivotably held on the side part 3. The hinge part 4 can be inserted into a recess of a furniture 30 door for holding it in a pivoting manner. For this purpose, the hinge part 4 is connected to the side part via a support lever 5 and a guide lever 6, with the support lever 5 being connected with the side part via an axis 8 35 and with the hinge part 4 via an axis 7, and the guide lever 6 N:\Melbourne\Cases\Patent\80000-80999\P80170.AU\Specis\P0170.AU_GH spec firat.doc 24/03/09 - 5 is connected via an axis 9 with the hinge part 4 and via an axis 10 with the side part 3. In order to dampen the pivoting movement of the hinge part 5 4, a damper is provided which comprises a damper housing 13 and a linearly movable piston rod 12. The damper can be arranged as a fluid damper or as a gas-pressure damper. A spring 14 is provided on the damper housing 13 which presses the piston rod 12 to the extended position. One end of the piston rod 12 can 10 rest on a contact surface 15 which is provided on a projection 11 which is formed integrally with the support lever 5. Fig. 1 shows the hinge part 4 in a widely opened position. The piston rod 12 is located in the extended position due to the 15 force of the spring 14. In Fig. 2, the hinge part 4 was pivoted to an only slightly opened position which has an opening angle a of approximately 450*. In this position, the projection 11 with the 20 contact surface 15 is spaced from the end of the piston rod 12, so that the damper is not yet effective. Fig. 3 shows the closed position of the furniture hinge 1. When the hinge part 4 is pivoted, the contact surface 15 presses 25 against the end of the piston rod 12 shortly before the closed position, approximately in a range of between 100 to 400, preferably 200 to 300, so that the same is moved into the damper housing 13. The closing movement of the hinge part 4 is thus dampened. The hinge part 4 is pretensioned by a spring to the 30 closed position, with the force of said spring being larger than the force of spring 14 in the damper housing 13. In the illustrated embodiment, the tip of the piston rod 12 rests directly on the contact surface 15. It is obviously 35 possible to provide the piston rod 12 with a sliding element. Furthermore, the contact surface 15 can also act upon the damper N,\Melbourne\Caees\Patent\80000-80999\P8017O.AU\Specia\P8017O.AUGH apec firet.doc 24/03/09 - 6 housing 13. In this case, the piston rod 12 is supported on the side part 3 or the mounting plate 2. In the claims which follow and in the preceding 5 description of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising" is used in an inclusive sense, i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence 10 or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention. It is to be understood that, if any prior art publication is referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an 15 admission that the publication forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art, in Australia or any other country. N:\Melbourne\Cases\Patent\80000-B0999\P80170.AU\Specia\P8017O.AUGH spec first.doc 24/03/09

Claims

1. A furniture hinge, comprising a mounting plate on which a side part is arranged, and a hinge part mounted pivotably 5 on the side part via a support lever and a guide lever, with a damper being provided to dampen the movement of the hinge part relative to the side part, wherein the housing of the damper is fixed to the side part or the mounting plate and a contact surface on the support lever or the 10 guide lever acts directly on the piston rod for damping during a closing movement of the hinge part.

2. A furniture hinge according to claim 1, wherein the contact surface is arranged integrally with the hinge 15 part, the support lever or the guide lever.

3. A furniture hinge according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the contact surface is arranged on a projection. 20

4. A furniture hinge according to any one of the claims 1 to 3, wherein a web-like projection with the contact surface is arranged integrally with the support lever.

5. A furniture hinge according to any one of the claims 1 to 25 4, wherein the contact surface touches one end of the piston rod.

6. A furniture hinge according to any one of the claims 1 to 5, wherein the contact surface will touch the piston rod 30 or the damper housing only when the hinge part is arranged between a closed position and an opening angle of 100 to 40o, preferably 150 to 300.

7. A furniture hinge according to any one of the claims 1 to 35 6, wherein the damper is pretensioned through a spring to the extended position. Nr\Melbourne\Cases\Patent\80000-80999\P8012O.AU\Specie\P80170.AU_GH spec first.doc 24/03/09 - 8

8. A furniture hinge substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings. 5 N:\Melbourne\Caseo\Patent\80000-00999\P80170.AU\Specis\P80170.AUGH spec firet.doc 24/03/09