GB2295200A

GB2295200A - Stay hinges

Info

Publication number: GB2295200A
Application number: GB9422957A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Yurek Adrian Wronski
Original assignee: COTSWOLD ARCHITECTURAL PRODUCTS Ltd; Cotswold Architectural Products Ltd
Current assignee: COTSWOLD ARCHITECTURAL PRODUCTS Ltd; Cotswold Architectural Products Ltd
Priority date: 1994-11-15
Filing date: 1994-11-15
Publication date: 1996-05-22
Also published as: GB9422957D0

Abstract

A stay hinge 10 includes a track member 11 with an end element 20, a slider 13, a strut 14, a brace 15, a link 16 and an arm 17 for supporting a window. The arm has a pair of fastening openings 27, 28 which overlie the link 16 in the closed position. The openings are for receiving fasteners to engage in the window edge. Preferably the end element 20 engages a nose 18 of the arm 17 and can be fixed directly into the window frame through holes 26 and aligned holes in the track member 11. <IMAGE>

Description

STAYS This invention relates to hinges in the form of stays such as side-hung window stays.

Security of window stays is becoming more and more important and a British standard test has now been developed in which a significant force is applied to the surround of a window. The window and the window stay assembly must resist this force in order to achieve the standard. Various attempts have been made to improve stay construction so as to be able to enable a wide range of window designs to pass the standard and one proposal in particular is to form a keep on the end of the track member, which is secured to one part of a frame, and to secure the keep into the other part of the window frame. However this design has significant difficulties and does little or nothing to overcome problems at the stay window interface.Here it has been found that either the screws fixing the stay to the window rip out or, if they hold, the arm supporting the window bows to such an extent that it is pulled out of the keep.

The invention consists in a stay comprising an arm for supporting a window having a set of fixing openings along its length for receiving fasteners to engage in the window edge, a track member having an end element at one end, a slider movable along the track member, a strut pivotally connected to the track member and spaced from the slider, a brace pivotally connected to the slider and the strut, and a link pivotally connected to the slider, the arm being pivotally connected to the link and the strut for movement between a first position which overlies the track member and one end of the arm or an extension thereof engages the element, and a second outward position in which it extends at an angle to the track member, wherein a pair of the openings are formed in the arm adjacent said one end so that they overlie the link in the first position.

Preferably the element is generally L-shaped and includes a first portion, which engages in the track member, and a second portion which upstands therefrom to receive or engage the one end of the arm. The first portion and the track member preferably each have a pair of fixing holes which are aligned such that fasteners can engage the first portion directly to the window frame. The element may have a slot for receiving the end of the arm, or the extension thereof, and preferably it is made of metal. The stay may further include a plastic cap mountable on the end element to provide a cam surface for the end of the arm or an extension thereof. The arm may be uncontoured along its length although its end may be profiled to form a nose or extension.

Although the invention has been defined above it is to be understood that it covers any inventive combination of the features set out above or in the following description.

The invention may be performed in various ways and a specific embodiment will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a stay in its open or second position, and Figure 2 is a side view with the stay closed on a part section A-A as indicated in Figure 1.

A stay, generally indicated at 10, comprises a track member 11 having inturned lips 12 and a retaining slider 13 for movement along its length; a strut 14 pivotally connected to the track member 11, a brace 15 pivotally connected to the slider 13 and strut 14, a link 16 pivotally connected to the slider and an arm 17, for supporting a window, connected to the strut 14 and the link 16 for movement between a first position in which it overlies the track member, and a second output position (shown in Figure 1) in which it extends at an angle to the track member 11.

This general arrangement is essentially conventional and its operation is so well understood in the art that it will not be described in any more detail. The arm 17 is provided with a nose element 18 which is shaped to engage the end cap 19 as the stay is moved into the first (closed) position. The end cap 19 includes an L-shaped metal member 20 and a plastic moulding 21 which is mounted thereon. The L-shaped member 20 has a first portion 22 which engages in the track member 11 and a second portion 23 which upstands from the track member and is provided with a horizontal slot 24 which receives the nose 18 in the closed position. The moulding 21 includes a cam surface 25 which guides the nose 18 into the slot 24 during closing.The first portion is provided with two fastening holes 26 which align with corresponding fastening holes in the track member 11 so that fasteners can be passed through the holes 26, and the associates ones in the track member 11, to secure the Lshaped member 20 directly to the window frame on which the stay 10 is mounted.

This secure fixing of the L-shaped member 20 means that the upper edge of the slots 24 serves to prevent the arm 17 being twisted or lifted away from the track member 11.

In that situation considerable force is then experienced at the interface between the arm 17 and the window which is mounted on it. Traditionally stays have been provided with a fastening opening adjacent the nose, another adjacent the mid-point pivot on the arm and a third adjacent the other end of the arm. This arrangement has a number of problems when used with plastic profiles on the window because the first fastening opening aligns with the mitre on the window and is easily ripped out. Secondly the section of the arm between the first fastening opening and the mid-point opening can become bowed as mentioned above.

In the Applicant's design the arm has a pair of fastening openings 27, 28 which are both so close to the nose 18 that in the closed position they overlie the link 16, and in a particularly preferred arrangement are on the nose side of the link pivot 29. This positioning of the fastening holes provides a surprising improvement in the performance of the stay vis-a-vis the British standards test and attempts to force the window. This is partly because the double fixing adjacent the nose prevents bowing and partly because the second fixing engages into reinforcement provided in the PVC window profiles which does not extend into the mitre.

Tests have shown that a stay constructed as shown in the drawings can resist between 10 and 20% more force, with a given window profile, than comparable so-called security hinges.

Claims

1. A stay comprising an arm for supporting a window having a set of fixing openings along its length for receiving fasteners to engage in the window edge, a track member having an end element at one end, a slider moveable along the track member, a strut pivotally connected to the track member and spaced from the slider, a brace pivotally connected to the slider and the strut, and a link pivotally connected to the slider, the arm being pivotally connected to the link and the strut for movement between a first position in which it overlies the track member and one end of the arm or an extension thereof engages the element, and a second outward position in which it extends at an angle to the track member, wherein a pair of fastening openings are formed in the arm adjacent said one end so that they overlie the link in the first position.

2. A stay as claimed in claim 1 wherein the element is generally L-shaped and includes a first portion, which engages in the track member, and a second portion which upstands therefrom to receive or engage the one end of the arm.

3. A stay as claimed in claim 3 where the first portion and the track member each have a pair of fixing holes which are aligned such that fasteners can engage the first portion directly to the window frame.

4. A stay as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the element has a slot for receiving the one end of the arm.

5. A stay as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the element is made of metal.

6. A stay as claimed in any one of the preceding claims further including a plastics cap mountable on the end element to provide a cam surface for the one end of the arm or an extension thereof.

7. A stay as claimed in any one of the preceding claims where the arm is uncontoured along its length.

8. A stay as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the one end of the arm is profiled to form a nose or extension.

9. A stay substantially as herein before described with reference to the accompanying drawings.