AU740726B2 - A hinge for a french door - Google Patents

Description

TITLE

A HINGE FOR A FRENCH DOOR This invention relates to a hinge for a door and especially for a french door or parliament door which is of the type which opens 1800 and not just 900.

French doors and parliament doors (hereinafter referred to as french doors) are of the type which open through 1800. This allows the door to overlie the adjacent wall so as to provide maximum access through the door opening, and to be as out of the way as possible.

Hanging such doors require special hinges. The hinges are characterised by longer than normal wings which allows the door to open around the adjacent brickwork or wall without striking the wall. Such hinges are known but suffer from a number of disadvantages.

Firstly, french doors can be quite heavy, and when hung by an hinge having extended wings, enormous loads are placed on the screws which fasten the wing to the door jamb. While the loads can be accommodated in a wooden door jamb by using extra long screws, this is not the case with aluminium or metal doors and door jambs which are mostly hollow.

A second disadvantage is that it is possible for 25 the door to be pushed open past 1800. This occurs if the wall is at an angle, or if the door is improperly hung.

Should this occur, the door can lever on the door jamb which can cause the hinge to be torn away from the door jamb or buckled.

30 French doors machined in aluminium are prone to failure between conventional hinges and the aluminium door.

It is found that the fasteners pull out or loosen. The main problem is that conventional hinges are designed for timber and not aluminium. In timber, the fastener has at least 25mm 30mm to bite into to secure the hinge to the door. Also, the hinge is rebated into the timber to give further support. With aluminium doors, the thickness of the aluminium is 3mm or less and the hinge is not supported unless it is machined into the rear of the extrusion which generally does not happen. A standard hinge being made out of two flat pieces of metal (wings) tends to flex and consequently loosen the fixings in the aluminium.

The present invention is directed to a hinge which allows a french door to be attached to a jamb, and especially an aluminium jamb, and where the door can be opened 1800.

It is an object of the invention to provide a door hinge which may overcome the abovementioned disadvantages or provide the consumer with a useful or commercial choice.

In one form the invention resides in a hinge for a french door, the hinge having two wings hingedly connected to each other, each wing having a first fastening face adapted to overlie and be fastened to an edge of the door or jamb, a second fastening face extending at right angles to the first fastening face and adapted to overlie and be fastened to a side of the door or jamb, the second fastening face having rearwardly extending reinforcement **means to reinforce the second fastening face.

The above hinge design allows the hinge to be 2 used on french doors. By having the two fastening faces, a more secure attachment is allowed. Also, by having the *.*second fastening face reinforced by rearwardly extending reinforcement means, the hinge finds application with aluminium jambs where conventional french door hinges tend to tear away from the jamb.

30 The wings of the hinge are preferably identical to each other to save on moulding costs. The wings can be S"formed from metal such as diecast metal, steel, or other suitable materials.

The first fastening face of one of the wings 35 attaches to the edge of the door while the first fastening face of the other wing attaches to the door jamb. These faces extend between the door jamb and the door and therefore need to be fairly thin, and typically have a thickness approximating that of an ordinary type of hinge.

The second fastening face extends at right angles to the first fastening face and functions to be fastened to the side of the door (that is the front face or rear face), with the other wing being attached to the side of the door jamb. The ensures a good solid attachment of the door to the door jamb by allowing the attachment to be both at the edge and the side of the door and jamb. This in turn allows the hinge to be used on aluminium doors and for jambs which are normally extruded and are substantially hollow. As the wall of an aluminium door or jamb is only a few millimetres thick, it generally does not matter whether long screws or short screws are used, the important factor being that the fasteners are used both on the side face and edge face of the door.

Similarly, this type of hinge allows the door to be formed from extruded aluminium as opposed to the solid timber doors which have hitherto been necessary to allow the very large screws to be used on conventional hinges to keep the hinges in place.

The second fastening face is reinforced by rearwardly extending reinforcement means and this can be in the form of struts and the like. Preferably however, the reinforcement means is in the form of a block-like member one face of which is the second fastening face. The blocklike member may be solid or may have weight reducing voids inside it.

An embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the following figures in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of of a hinge according to the invention.

Figure 2 shows the hinge according to an embodiment of the invention attached to a door and a door jamb with the door in a closed position.

Figure 3 shows the hinge of Figure 2 with the door in the fully open position.

Figure 4 shows an alternative hinge design.

Figure 5 shows a further alternative hinge design.

Referring to the drawings and initially to Figures 1, 2 and 3, there is shown a hinge for a french door. The hinge has two parts or wings 10, 11 (Figure 1 showing one wing 10, and Figures 2 and 3 showing both wings). Each wing is identical with the other wing thereby allowing both to be formed, for instance from diecast metal. Wings 10, 11 are connected by a steel pivot pin (not shown) which is common in the art. Wings 10, 11 are therefore hingably connected relative to each other by the pivot pin.

Each of wings 10, 11 has a first fastening face 12A, 12B which extends over a portion of the edge of a french door 13 and door jamb 14. In the embodiment, front face 12A is attached to the edge of french door 13, while front face 12B is attached to the edge of door jamb 14.

As illustrated in Figure 2, fastening faces 12A and 12B need to be of relatively thin design to allow them to pass between the french door 13 and the door jamb 14 without causing an appreciable gap. Of course, this gap ii can be narrowed by rebating or machining the front faces into the respective door or jamb.

Each of wings 10, 11 also has a second fastening face 15A, 15B. These fastening faces are adapted to overlie and be fastened to the side of french door 13 and jamb 14. As the side of french door 13 and the edge of french door 13 are typically at right angles (as is the side and edge of the door jamb), the first face and second face of each wing are also at right angles to allow them to fit snugly against the door or jamb.

The second fastening face 15A, 15B is reinforced by a rearwardly extending reinforcing means. In Figures 1, 2 and 3, the reinforcement means is in the form of a blocklike member 16A, 16B one face of which is the respective fastening face 15A, 15B. Block-like member 16A, 16B is formed integrally with the wing and has or can have internal weight reducing voids.

Each of the first and second fastening faces have apertures 17 extending therethrough to allow fasteners such as screws or rivets to fasten the hinge to the door and jamb.

To allow fasteners to pass through the second fastening face as illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3, the block-like member 16A, 16B is formed with elongate channels 18 (see Figure 1) which allows screws to pass through the channel and through apertures 17.

Referring to Figure 4, there is shown a variation of the hinge design where the reinforcement means extends only behind the apertures 17.

Figure 5 shows a further variation where reinforcement struts 19 are provided to stop buckling of the second fastening face As shown in each of Figure 1 5, the reinforcement means tapers from a higher portion adjacent the second front face to a lower portion adjacent the pivot pin.

The hinge, according to the invention, reduces or eliminates flexing that occurs with current hinges and .e therefore reduces or eliminates the fixings from becoming S. loose. The hinge still allows a door to return around brickwork by 1800.

The reinforcement means transfers the loads to the reveal face of the jamb and to the outside face of the frame. As well, fixings are on both these faces and there can be four fixings or more on the main face of the hinge and two or more on the 900 face.

It should be appreciated that various other changes or modifications may be made to the embodiment S"described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (9)

1. A hinge for a french door, the hinge having two wings hingedly connected to each other, each wing having a first fastening face adapted to overlie and be fastened to an edge of the door or jamb, a second fastening face extending at right angles to the first fastening face and adapted to overlie and be fastened to a side of the door or jamb, the second fastening face having rearwardly extending reinforcement means to reinforce the second fastening face.

2. The hinge of claim 1, wherein each wing is identical.

3. The hinge of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the reinforcement means is in the form of a block- like member one face of which is the second fastening face.

4. The hinge of claim 3, wherein the block-like member is solid or has weight reducing voids S. :i inside it.

The hinge of claim 3 or claim 4, wherein the block like member is integrally formed with the remainder of the hinge.

6. The hinge of any one of claims 3-5 wherein the block like member has a ramped top wall extending from a higher end which is adjacent the second fastening face to a lower end which is adjacent the hinge.

7. The hinge of any one of claims 3-6, wherein openings are provided through the block like member and into the second fastening face, to accommodate fasteners. 35

8. The hinge of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first fastening face is plate like and has openings in it to accommodate fasteners.

9. A hinge substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings. DATED this 11 day of November 1997 JAMES HARDIE RESEARCH PTY. LIMITED 066 114 092) By their Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO.