GB2039323A

GB2039323A - Motor vehicle door hinge

Info

Publication number: GB2039323A
Application number: GB7942083A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Wilhelm Karmann GmbH
Current assignee: Wilhelm Karmann GmbH
Priority date: 1978-12-16
Filing date: 1979-12-06
Publication date: 1980-08-06
Also published as: IT7928003A0; DE2854530A1; DE2854530C3; SE430804B; IT1127680B; FR2444146A1; GB2039323B; SE7909978L; DE2854530B2

Abstract

A hinge for doors or flaps of motor vehicles, has two main hinge parts (7 and 8) pivotally connected to one another through a joint (6), one hinge part (7) constituting a base plate which can be secured on the vehicle body and the other hinge part (8) constituting a pivoted member to be mounted on the movable door or flap. The hinge has, situated between the base plate and the vehicle body, an auxiliary plate (9) which is pivottally coupled to the base plate 7 through a connecting joint (10) whereby the hinge can be fixed to the vehicle body whilst permitting the base plate to pivot about the joint 10. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Motor vehicle door hinge The invention relates to a hinge suitable for doors or flaps on motor vehicles, particularly for rear opening doors or flaps of passenger vehicles.

Normal hinges used for this purpose can cause problems during the vehicle manufacture with regard to mounting and painting. If the vehicle flaps or doors together with the hinges are mounted on the vehicle body before the painting, then the cavity situated behind the hinge pin is difficult for the paint to get at so that faults in the painting easily result here, which faults generally only become visible after the vehicle has been used for some time. It is also important that the vehicle flaps or doors can only be in a partially open, arrested position during the painting for reasons of space which makes the accessibility of the cavities behind the hinge pin more difficult, particularly in the case of the rear panel flaps of passenger vehicles.The risk of faults caused as a result can be avoided by mounting and fitting the doors or flaps with the hinges before the vehicle painting, then removing them again and painting them separately and finally mounting them again in the painted state on the likewise painted vehicle body, at the predetermined points. This is not only complicated and expensive from the production point of view, but also means a high risk of damage to the paint.

It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate these problems.

The present invention is a hinge for doors or flaps of motor vehicles, the hinge having two main hinge parts pivotally connected to one another through a joint, one hinge part being constructed in the form of a base plate which can be located on the vehicle body and the other hinge part constructed in the form of a pivoted member to be mounted on the movable door, flap or the like, the hinge also having below the base plate an auxiliary plate which is coupled to the base plate through a connecting joint and with which the hinge can be fixed to the vehicle body without locating the base plate.

The hinge according to the invention makes it possible to expose or enlarge the space behind the hinge pin for the application of paint, with a fixed position of the flap, door or the like, adapted to the vehicle body. The arrested opening angle of the flap or door needed for the painting can be kept relatively small.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure lisa diagrammatic cross-section of the mounting of a rear panel flap with a hinge according to the invention in the final mounted position; Figure 2 is a plan view of the hinge alone, substantially in the direction of the arrow X in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic cross-section like Figure 1, in a first pre-fixed intermediate position; and Figure 4 shows a plan view of the hinge alone, substantially in the direction of the arrow Yin Figure 3.

In the figures of the drawings, the rear part of the roof of a vehicle body is designated by 1 which ends, by suitable formation of the sheet metal, in a transverse portion 2 turned back towards the inside of the body, with a gutter 3. A rear panel flap is designated by 4 which is pivotally mounted on the transverse portion 2 of the roof of the vehicle body through a hinge designated as a whole by 5 in such a manner that it can be raised out of the closed position illustrated in full lines in Figure 1 into the open position indicated by chain lines, about the hinge pin designated by 6. For satisfactory alignment and reliable securing of the rear panel flap, two spaced apart hinges 5 are generally present.

Each hinge 5 comprises two main parts articulately connected to one another through the hinge pin 6, one of which parts is constructed in the form of a base plate 7 which can be located on the vehicle body and the other is constructed in the form of a pivoted part 8 to be mounted on the rear panel flap 4.

Furthermore, each hinge 5 comprises an auxiliary plate 9 which is pivotally connected to the base plate 7 through a joint 10. By means of the auxiliary plate 9, the hinge can be fixed to the vehicle body without locating the base plate 7, which means that the hinge pin 6 can be moved over an arc about the axis of the joint connecting the base plate to the auxiliary plate.

This means, however, as a comparison of Figure 1 with Figure 3 makes clear, that with the rear panel flap 4 already aligned in position and fixed to the vehicle body by means of the two hinges 5, the space or region of the body behind the hinge pin 6 can be exposed or enlarged for an adequate and satisfactory application of paint. As a result of the prefixing of the hinge to the vehicle body by means of the auxiliary plate 9, the base plate 7 can be finally located on the vehicle body in a position pivoted towards the auxiliary plate and so in precisely predetermined position.

In order to fix each hinge 5 to the vehicle body, the auxiliary plate 9 is provided with at least one tapped hole 11, in which a screw 12 is screwed which engages from below through an opening in the transverse portion 2 of the roof. The tapped hole 11 may be extended by a cylindrical extension 13 projecting upwards from the auxiliary plate 9 so as to be able to keep the auxiliary plate 9 relatively thin and nevertheless have an adequate tapped hole for the screw 12. Since the rear panel flap 4 to be mounted is fitted to the vehicle body with two hinges 5 on the transverse portion 2 of the roof, it is sufficient for the satisfactory alignment and fixing if the auxiliary plate 9 of each hinge 5 is merely provided with one tapped hole 11 and is merely fixed to the vehicle body with one screw 12.

After the fitting or aligning and fixing of the rear panel flap 4, the hinges 5 being in the position shown in Figure 1, the rear panel flap 4 is opened for the application of paint and is lifted so that the base plate 7 of the hinge comes away from the auxiliary plate 9 and swings away upwards about the axis of the joint 10 until it comes to bear against extensions 14 raised from the auxiliary plate 9 in the region of the connecting joint 10, which extensions limit the pivotal range of the base plate 7 in relation to the auxiliary plate 9 to a predetermined angle. In this position, illustrated in full lines in Figure 3, in which the area or region of the body situated behind hinge pin 6 is exposed in comparison with the position shown in Figure 1, the application of paint is then effected.As can be seen, the opening angle between the rear panel flap 4 and the vehicle body can be kept relatively small. It is, of course, also possible, however, to open the rear panel flap 4 further in the raised position shown in Figure 3 by pivoting about the hinge pin 6, if necessary into the open position indicaed in chain lines.

After the application of paint and drying have been effected, the rear panel flap 4 is again lowered into its normal position in relation to the body opening, in such a manner that the base plates 7 of the hinges 5 come to lie on the auxiliary plates 9 through a pivotal movement about the axes of the joints 10 (Figure 1). Now the final location of the base plates 7 of the hinges is effected by means of at least two screws in each case, which are likewise screwed into tapped holes 16 in the base plates 7 from the underside of the transverse portion 2 of the roof and openings 15 provided in the auxiliary plate, which can be effected simply and quickly and without the risk of damaging the paint on the body and/or the rear panel flap because of the prefixing. It may also be mentioned that the base plates 7 of the hinges 5 are provided with an aperture 17 of such an opening width that an unhindered pivoting over the raised fixing screw 12 is possible.

Claims

1. A hinge for doors orflaps of motor vehicles, the hinge having two main hinge parts pivotally connected to one another through a joint, one hinge part being constructed in the form of a base plate which can be located on the vehicle body and the other hinge part constructed in the form of a pivoted member to be mounted on the movable door, flap or the like, the hinge also having below the base plate an auxiliary plate which is coupled to the base plate through a connecting joint and with which the hinge can be fixed to the vehicle body without locating the base plate.

2. A hinge as claimed in claim 1, in which the auxiliary plate is provided with at least one tapped hole.

3. A hinge as claimed in claim 2, in which the tapped hole is continued in a collar or cylindrical extension raised from the auxiliary plate.

4. A hinge as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3, in which the base plate is provided with an aperture for pivoting over a fixing screw projecting from the auxiliary plate through the tapped hole or the extension.

5. A hinge as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the base plate is provided with at least two tapped holes corresponding to the apertures provided in the auxiliary plate.

6. A hinge as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the auxiliary plate comprises, in the region of its connecting joint, extensions which limit the pivotal radius of the unsecured base plate in relation to the auxiliary plate fixed to the vehicle body to a specific predetermined angle.

7. A hinge for doors or flaps of motor vehicles, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings.