EP0391486B1

EP0391486B1 - Improved furniture hinges

Info

Publication number: EP0391486B1
Application number: EP19900200798
Authority: EP
Inventors: Franco Ferrari; Carlo Migli
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1989-04-07
Filing date: 1990-04-04
Publication date: 1993-12-08
Anticipated expiration: 2010-04-04
Also published as: DE69005007T2; DE69005007D1; ES2047240T3; EP0391486A1

Description

This invention refers to improved furniture hinges.
In particular, the invention refers to a hinge joined to a plurality of similar hinges disposed in a group, whereby provides a strip of hinges to be inserted, for example, into automated fitting machine.
In the field of hinges (for example, for furniture doors) there are known hinges composed of an element securable to the door, which carries the articulated joint and ends in a free wing which can subsequently be coupled, usually by means of screw-type coupling means, to a second element composed of a base secured to the piece of furniture.
For these types of hinges the manufacturers are faced with two opposing requirements expressed by the users. There are, in fact, cases in which it is preferable to have hinges whose coupling means are made in such a way that the wing can be removed from the base by simply loosening the coupling screws in order to speed up both the assembling and disassembling operations. For example, such a type of hinge is disclosed in DE-A-2 528 329.
In other cases. however, it is necessary to ensure that the loosening of the screws cannot cause the parts to separate thus preventing accidental and potentially dangerous detachment of the door.
According to the known technique, there are consequently hinges designed to fulfill the first requirement and hinges designed to fulfill the second requirement, which makes it necessary to provide a double production, resulting in problems of production and storage economy both for the manufacturer and for the user of the hinges. Moreover, in many furniture factories, the door assembly line comprises a more or less highly automated machine, called a drilling and fitting machine, for fitting wing type hinges.
The problem is that, due to the particularly complex and not well-defined shape of the hinges, they cannot be loaded into the machine by automatic systems such as, for example, vibrator feeders, but must be correctly positioned and loaded by hand into special magazines on the machine, with a consequent reduction in the level of automation of the assembly line.
In order to meet the requirements of furniture manufacturers, hinge manufacturers have begun to supply hinges on request already packed onto special strip loaders so as to enable a whole row of hinges to be inserted into the machine in a single operation.
Due to its simplicity and low cost, the method most widely used to obtain these "strips of hinges" consists of using two strips and adhesive tape which are fastened laterally onto an orderly row of hinges, and then torn off once the hinges have been introduced into the machine.
This method, however, gives rise to various applicational problems.
Two manual operations are necessary in order to fasten the two adhesive tapes onto the opposing sides of the row of hinges, with the danger of accidentally shifting the hinges while doing so.
The parts of the hinges must be thoroughly degreased so as to ensure that the adhesive tapes adhere properly.
In order to ensure that the hinges are sufficiently stable, the adhesive tape must cover a considerable lateral portion and difficulties can therefore arise in removing the tapes once the hinges have been positioned on the guides leading into the magazines of the drilling and fitting machines, since the guides may tend to partly cover the strips of adhesive tape.
Lastly, the method cannot be easily used in the case of wing type hinges with prefitted bases since such bases generally have projecting parts which protrude from the sides of the hinges and therefore prevent adhesion of the tapes over a sufficiently wide flat lateral area.
The general scope of this invention is to obviate the aforementioned problems by providing a system for packing wing type hinges into strips, which is cheap, reliable and easily removable.
A further scope of this invention is to obviate the other aforementioned problems by providing a hinge with a movable wing which enables it to be adapted as desired; to obtain either a removable coupling by simply loosening the coupling screws between the base and the wing, or to obtain separation of the parts only by completely unscrewing and removing the coupling screws.
These scopes are achieved, according to the invention, by providing a furniture door hinge, joined to a plurality of similar hinges disposed in a group, having a wing with a U-shaped cross section, one end of which is provided with an articulated joint, the wing being secured to a base by means of a screw which passes through the upper face of the wing, in correspondence with a slot running in a longitudinal direction to the wing, and screws into the base, said slot having an end opening out towards the rear portion of the hinge, connected, by means of a connecting passage, to a slit running in a longitudinal direction to the wing and opening out to the rear of the latter, the width of the slot being equal or larger than the width of the slit which, in turn; is smaller than the width of said connecting passage, characterized by the fact of comprising an undercut housing, defined by the connecting passage and by the slit and a flexible strip whose cross-section has a first portion substantially complementary to said undercut housing to be engaged therein, and thereby providing a joint, removably, preferably by tearing, between the plurality of similar hinges disposed one on top of the other in the group, base, characterized by the fact that said slot has an end opening out towards the rear portion of the hinge, connected, by means of a connecting passage, to a slit running in a longitudinal direction to the wing and opening out to the rear of the latter, the width of the slot being equal or larger than the width of the slit, which in turn is smaller than the width of said connecting passage.
Moreover, the hinge as described above is characterized by the fact that the slit defines at least one tab protruding perpendicular to the slot; said at least one tab being bendable along a line substantially aligned with the longitudinal edge of the slot, to enable it to be bent from a position aligned with the upper face of the wing to an orthogonal position, in which it interferes respectively with the shank or with the head of the screw as it slides towards the rear end of the slot.
The innovatory principles of this invention and its advantages with respect to the known technique will be more clearly evident from the following description of possible exemplificative non-restrictive embodiments applying such principles, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

figure 1 shows a plan view of a hinge;
figure 2 shows a side elevation view partially cut away along the line II-II of figure 1;
figure 3 shows a rear elevation view of the wing of the hinge of figure 1;
figure 4 shows a rear elevation view of the wing of the hinge of figure 1 in a second configuration;
figure 5 shows a partial side elevation cutaway view of the hinge as shown in figure 4;
figure 6 shows an enlarged partial cutaway plan view of the hinge as shown in figure 4;
figure 7 shows a partial schematic side view of a group of wing type hinges joined together according to the innovatory principles claimed herein;
figure 8 shows a partial schematic plan view of a first example of connection of the hinges as shown in figure 7;
figure 9 shows a partial schematic plan view of a second example of connection of the hinges as shown in figure 7;
figure 10 shows a partial schematic plan view of a third example of connection of the hinges as shown in figure 7.

With reference to the figures, a hinge, generically indicated by reference 10, has a base 12 to be secured to the piece of furniture and a U-shaped wing 13, couplable thereto and provided at the front end 21 with an articulated joint (not shown since it can be of any known type) to be secured to the door.
As can be clearly seen in figure 1, the wing 13 is provided on its upper face, close to the rear end of the wing, with a longitudinal slot 16 into which is inserted the shank of an adjusting and fastening screw 15 screwed into an appropriate housing in the base 12 so that its head prevents the wing from shifting away in a perpendicular direction.
According to the invention, the slot 16 comprises a shape with a passage, formed for example by two loops 126 and 127, connecting it to a rear slit 14 towards the outside substantially smaller in thickness than the diameter of the screw 15, defining terminal tabs 17 and 18 converging towards each other, so as to prevent the shank of the screw from slipping out from behind.
Thus the base can only be separated from the wing by completely unscrewing and removing the screw 15.
The partial loosening of the screw merely enables its shank to slide along the slot 16, so as to be able to carry out the known operations of adjusting the position of the hinge.
The tabs 17 and 18 are advantageously provided from above, in a longitudinal direction to the hinge, with grooves 19 and 20 to enable them to bend.
Whenever it is desired to obtain a hinge which can be separated by sliding the wing from the base, after simply loosening the adjusting screws, it is sufficient to bend the tabs towards the outside of the hinge, as shown in figures 4, 5 and 6. In this way, by sufficiently, but not necessarily completely unscrewing the screw 15 (of suitable length) it is possible for its shank to pass between the tabs 17 and 18, thereby separating the wing from the base as desired.
The presence of the upper protrusions of the tabs in the bent position advantageously ensures against accidental separation. In fact, although it is possible to carry out the operations of adjusting the position of the hinge when the screw is slightly loosened it is not possible for the screw to slip out of the slot because its head interferes with the tabs.
As can be seen, a hinge made according to the invention (for example, stamped from sheet metal) makes it possible, by means of simple adaptation, to obtain hinges with the desired separation characteristics. The adaptation can obviously be carried out by the manufacturer according to the requirements of the customer, or by the customer himself, thus limiting the need in both cases for stocks of hinges with different types of couplings, as mentioned previously.
The presence of rear tabs makes it possible to obtain the further advantage of providing a system for packing the hinges into groups so that they can be easily separated, preferably by tearing.
This system is shown schematically in figures 7, 8, 9 and 10, and comprises (as can be clearly seen in figure 7), a connecting strip 110 with a base band 111 from which projects a continuous section 112 which fits into complementary undercut housings made in the rear ends 113 of wing type hinges 114 disposed aligned (shown overturned in figure 7), which are only partially shown since the rest of them is of known technique.
Figure 8 shows the rear end 113 of a hinge similar to the one shown in figure 1 and, namely, having a slot 115 connected, by means of a connecting passage composed of two lateral loops 116 and 117, to an open slit 120. As can be seen in said figure, a housing is thus formed to receive complementary continuous lateral teeth 118 and 119 of the section 112, which is shaped in the form of a T with its foot connected to the portion 111.
Obviously, although the loops 116 and 117 are useful for bending the tabs, if necessary, they are not strictly necessary, in order words the connecting passage between the slot and the slit can be of the same width as the slot.
If it is not required to offer the possibility of removing the adjusting screw from the rear but merely of enabling it to slide, the end 113' of the hinge can be made, as shown in figure 9, with a slot 125 for the sliding movement of a locking and adjusting screw and with a rear passage 120' towards the outside substantially smaller in dimensions than the slot 125, so as to enable it to engage with the T-shaped section 112' by interference between the lateral protrusions 118' and 119' of the latter and the rear internal edges of the slot 125. The external portion 111' of the strip constitutes a rabbet for the end of the hinge.
A further embodiment is illustrated in figure 10 which shows the end 113'' of a hinge of the type simply having a hole 121 to allow the passage of a securing screw and in which the housing for coupling it with the strip 110'' is achieved by means of a coupling slot 122 to form surfaces 123 and 124 which interfere with the lateral gripping protrusions 118'' and 119'' of the T-shaped section of the strip 110'' passing through a slit 120''.
It is understood that the same numbers used in the description of the three exemplificative embodiments shown in figures 8, 9 and 10, with the suffixes "prime" and "double prime", indicate the same functional elements modified according to the particular configuration of the embodiment.
The lateral gripping protrusions of the coupling parts 112, 112', 112'' can be made tapered so as to enable them to be pressed into the complementary housings by flexure of the protrusions. Alternatively, the hinges can be fitted by the complementary housings onto one end of the strip and made to slide along it.
The connecting strip can advantageously be made from extruded flexible plastic, taking care to ensure that the dimensions of the teeth of the T-shaped section are sufficient to withstand tractive effort due to the weight of the hinges, without slipping out of the corresponding housings in the hinges. A relatively pliable material enables the strip to be torn from the housings in the hinges, once they have been positioned in the drilling and fitting machine, by pulling sufficiently hard.
It is easy to imagine, from the foregoing description, that by applying the connections according to the invention, it is possible to obtain strips of hinges of any length whatsoever, easily and inexpensively.
This can be carried out directly by the hinge manufacturer so that the user can easily place the hinges joined together, for example, into the magazine of a drilling and fitting machine and then slide out or tear off the connecting strip 110 without the problems of the known technique.
Unlike the known technique, the hinges can be connected, according to the invention, even whenever they have a pre-fitted base with lateral securing protrusions, since the base does not interfere with the connecting strip.
The portion 111 of the strip can advantageously constitute a rabbet for the ends 113 of the hinges so as to limit the swinging movement of the hinges connected to the strip.
The description and the accompanying drawings are obviously given merely by way of example and should not therefore be understood as a limitation to the sphere of the invention claimed herein.
For example, the shape of the hinge can differ in configuration, as can the shape and position of the housing in the hinge and the complementary coupling portion of the strip, provided the housing is made undercut so as to prevent the undesirable separation of the strip, as is easily imaginable by any expert technician.
Moreover, further known position adjusting means can be provided, typically for the inclination, between the wing and the base.
The position and thickness of the slit 14 determine the protrusion of the tabs in the bent position and, consequently, the degree by which the screw 15 must be unscrewed in order to remove it from the rear. The slit 14 may also be made flush with a longitudinal wall of the slot 16 so as to form a single tab extending substantially from one side of the slot 16 to the other.

Claims

A furniture door hinge, joined to a plurality of similar hinges disposed in a group, having a wing (13) with a U-shaped cross section, one end (21) of which is provided with an articulated joint, the wing being secured to a base (12) by means of a screw (15) which passes through the upper face of the wing, in correspondence with a slot (16, 115, 125) running in a longitudinal direction to the wing, and screws into the base (12), said slot (16, 115, 125) having an end opening out towards the rear portion of the hinge, connected, by means of a connecting passage (116, 117, 126, 127), to a slit (14, 120, 120', 120'') running in a longitudinal direction to the wing and opening out to the rear of the latter, the width of the slot (16, 115, 125) being equal or larger than the width of the slit (14, 120, 120', 120'') which, in turn, is smaller than the width of said connecting passage (116, 117, 126, 127), characterized by the fact of comprising an undercut housing, defined by the connecting passage (116, 117, 126, 127) and by the slit (14, 120, 120',120'') and a flexible strip (110) whose cross-section has a first portion (112) substantially complementary to said undercut housing to be engaged therein, thereby providing a joint, removably, preferably by tearing, between the plurality of similar hinges disposed one on top of the other in the group (114).
Hinge as claimed in Claim 1, characterized by the fact that the slit (145, 120, 120', 120'') defines at least one tab (17, 18) protruding perpendicular to the slot (16, 115, 125); said at least one tab (17, 18) being bendable along a line substantially aligned with the longitudinal edge of the slot (16, 115, 125) to enable it to be bent from a position aligned with the upper face of the wing to an orthogonal position, in which it interferes respectively with the shank or with the head of the screw (15) as it slides towards the rear end of the slot (16, 115, 125).
Hinge as claimed in Claim 2, characterized by the fact that said at least one tab (17, 18) is provided with means to enable it to bend along said line.
Hinge as claimed in Claim 2, characterized by the fact that said slit (14, 120, 120', 120'') is in an axial position to the slot (16, 115, 125) and the tabs (17, 18) are two in number, facing each other.
Hinge as claimed in Claim 3, characterized by the fact that said bending means comprise a groove (19, 20) longitudinal to the hinge on the upper surface of the tab (17, 18).
Hinge as claimed in Claim 2, characterized by the fact that the tabs (17, 18)in said orthogonal position protrude from the surface of the slot (16, 115, 125) by a sufficient height not to interfere with the head of the screw (15) when loosened, before its shank is removed from the base (12).
Hinge as claimed in Claim 1, characterized by the fact that the section of the first portion (112) of the flexible strip, complementary to the housing, is shaped in the form of a "T" with its foot connected to the remainder of the strip (111) towards the outside of the housing.
Hinge as claimed in Claim 1, characterized by the fact that the strip has a second portion (111) outside the hinge constituting a rabbet for the open edges of the housing.
Hinge as claimed in Claim 1, characterized by the fact that the strip (111) is made of relatively pliable material, for example, moulded plastic.