GB2289085A

GB2289085A - Spring assisted rising butt hinge

Info

Publication number: GB2289085A
Application number: GB9408659A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Requena Jose Luis Jerez
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1994-04-30
Filing date: 1994-04-30
Publication date: 1995-11-08
Also published as: GB9408659D0

Abstract

A rising butt hinge 10 comprises a first leaf 11 pivotally connected to a second leaf 15 by way of a hinge pin. The hinge pin is anchored to the first leaf 11 and the second leaf 15 is mounted on the pin via a sleeve 16. A cam surface 19 on the first leaf interacts with a cam surface 20 formed on the sleeve 16 so that the second leaf is moved axially upwards on the pin as it is swung to the open position. A coil spring 23 is mounted about an extension of the hinge pin and seats within a bore 18 formed in the second leaf 15. The spring 18 acts on the second leaf 15 to resiliently bias it towards the closed position. A cover may be provided which moves with the spring so as to maintain coverage of the spring regardless of the position of the second leaf relative to the first leaf. <IMAGE>

Description

HINGE This invention relates to a hinge. It is concerned with an adaption of a conventional butt hinge. In such a hinge two leaves are linked to one another by means of a pin enabling one leaf to pivot relative to the other leaf about an axis of the pin.

In a particular form of butt hinge the pin is secured to one leaf and each leaf acts on the other by way of faces angled relative to the axis so that as one leaf pivots relative to the other about the axis the faces interact with each other to displace one leaf relative to the other along the axis. A butt hinge is used on a door with one leaf secured to the door and the other leaf to the door frame so that in opening the door the angled faces of the hinge interact to cause the centre of gravity of the door to be raised to a maximum when the door is fully open (that is to say the potential energy of the door is a maximum). Consequently when the door is released from the fully open position the weight of the door acting through the angled faces of the hinge tends causes the door to swing towards a closed position.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a butt hinge wherein a first leaf is pivotably linked to a second leaf by way of a pin, the pin being anchored to the first leaf, the second leaf incorporating a gudgeon by means of which the second leaf is mounted on the pin for rotation relative to the first leaf; each leaf contacting the other by way of a complementary pair of camming surface so that, in pivoting from a first position, where the leaves are juxtaposed and substantially coaxial, to a second position, where the second leaf is both axially displaced along the pin axis relative to the first leaf and angularly displaced relative to the first leaf about the axis, the camming surfaces interact characterised by a resilient means, such as a compression spring, reacting between the second leaf and the first in a direction coaxial with, or parallel to, the axis and serving to resiliently bias the second leaf from the second position towards the first position.

According to a first preferred version of the first aspect of present invention the resilient means acts between the second leaf and the pin serving as a part of the first leaf.

According to a second preferred version of the first aspect of the present invention or of the first preferred version thereof the resilient means comprises a helically wound compression spring located around the pin together with a means for locating a portion of the spring on the pin. Typically the spring is shrouded by a cover adapted for movement with the spring so as to maintain coverage of the spring regardless of the relative position of the second leaf relative to the first.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a door mounted in a door frame by way of a butt hinge according to the first aspect.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing of a butt hinge of which: Figure 1 shows two separated components; Figure 2 show the components of Figure 1 assembled in a first fully open combination; and Figure 3 show the components of Figure 1 in a second fully closed combination.

The drawings variously show a butt hinge 10 made up of a first leaf 11 having an extension 12 wrapped around lower end 13 of a pin 14 so as to secure the pin 14 in place. Second leaf 15 has an upper extension in the form of a gudgeon 16 which enables the second leaf 15 to be mounted on the pin 14 to enable the second leaf 15 to pivot about axis 17 of pin 14. The gudgeon 16 incorporates an enlarged bore 18 in which to house a closing device as will be described hereafter.

Extension 12 has a helical upper work face 19 which interacts with a complementary helical lower work face 20 on gudgeon 16.

Figure 2 shows the hinge 10 in a fully open position with the leafs 11, 15 separated by 180 about axis 17 and the second leaf 15 offset along axis 16 from the first leaf 11 by a distance C. In this configuration a relatively limited amount of the lower work face 20 is seated on upper work face 19 Figure 3 shows the hinge 10 in a fully closed position with the leafs 11, 15 aligned and coaxial with each other on axis 17. Contact between working faces 19, 20 extends along a major part of the faces 19, 20.

The pin 14 has a reduced upper section 21 with a threaded end section 22. A compression spring 23 is mounted coaxially with pin section 21.

Upper end 24 of the compression spring 23 is located by a nut 25 engaging the threaded end section 22 of the pin 21. In this case the nut 25 is secured against rotation about the pin 14 by a locking split pin 26 located in a bore 27 extending transversely through the end section 22. However some other conventional nut locking method can be used.

Lower end 28 of the spring 23 seats on shoulder 29 marking the bottom of the enlarged portion 18. Figure 2, where the hinge 10 is full open, shows the spring 28 a compressed configuration and so providing a maximum loading between nut 25 and shoulder 29.

As shown in Figure 3 with the hinge 10 fully closed the spring 23 is in its fully extended position so applying a minimum loading between nut 25 and upper end shoulder 29.

With the hinge 10 open (as shown in Figure 2) the compresses spring 23 applies a maximum loading between nut 25 and shoulder 29 so resiliently biassing the th second leaf 15 downwardly to rotate about axis 15 relative to the first leaf 11 resulting in contacting regions of edges 19, 20 sliding over one another so that the hinge 10 tends to be driven from its open configuration (Figure 2) - or a partially open position - towards its closed position (Figure 3).

By selecting a spring of suitable rate the opening and closing of a door mounted by way of hinge 10 can be appropriately governed.

If desired a wiper blade can be provided on the second leaf 15 in slidable contact with the exposed part of pin 12 so that in rotating about the pin 14 as the hinge 10 moves its open and closed configurations the blade serves to wipe clean the surface of pin 12.

A dust cover can be provided over the upper end of pin 12, nut 25 and the enlarged bore 18 so as to limit the ingress of dirt into the region of the spring 23.

By making the dust cover in a concertina shape the dust cover can accommodate itself to changes in the configuration of the spring with undue stressing of the material of the dust cover.

The described embodiment provides a simple and compact form of hinge providing for automatic door closing. To achieve this end for a door equipped with conventional hinges involves the use not only of conventional hinges but a separate loading device for the door, typically in the form of closure unit mounted above the door and acting on the door by way of a resiliently loaded arm. Such separate units are exposed and often subject to misuse, if not vandalism. The hinges of the present invention serve to conceal the door closing component (in this case the compression spring). The described embodiment makes use of a compression spring acting to drive one leaf towards the other. An alternative arrangement involves the use of a tension spring housed within the lower part of the pin and connected to the two leafs so as to tend to draw them towards one another to produce the same door closing effect. It will also be apparent that a hinge of the present type could readily modified to work in reverse that is to say to bias the hinge to move from a shut to an open position.

Claims

1 A butt hinge having a first leaf pivotably linked to a second leaf by way of a pin, the pin being anchored to the first leaf, the second leaf incorporating a gudgeon by means of which the second leaf is mounted on the pin for rotation relative to the first leaf; each leaf contacting the other by way of a complementary pair of camming surface so that, in pivoting from a first position, where the leaves are juxtaposed and substantially coaxial, to a second position, where the second leaf is both axially displaced along the pin axis relative to the first leaf and angularly displaced relative to the first leaf about the axis, the camming surfaces interact characterised by a resilient means, such as a compression spring, reacting between the second leaf and the first in a direction coaxial with, or parallel to, the axis and serving to resiliently bias the second leaf from the second position towards the first position.

2 A butt hinge as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the resilient means acts between the second leaf and the pin serving as a part of the first leaf.

3 A butt hinge as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the resilient means comprises a helically wound compression spring located around the pin together with a means for locating a portion of the spring on the pin.

4 A butt hinge as claimed in claim 3 wherein the spring is shrouded by a cover adapted for movement with the spring so as to maintain coverage of the spring regardless of the relative position of the second leaf relative to the first.

5 A butt hinge as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

6 A door mounted in a door frame by way of a butt hinge according to any preceding claim.