GB2342953A

GB2342953A - Adjustable hinge arrangement

Info

Publication number: GB2342953A
Application number: GB9924623A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Bernhard Gold
Original assignee: DaimlerChrysler AG
Current assignee: Mercedes Benz Group AG
Priority date: 1998-10-24
Filing date: 1999-10-18
Publication date: 2000-04-26
Anticipated expiration: 2019-10-18
Also published as: ITRM990647A0; DE19849056C1; ITRM990647A1; FR2785011A1; IT1306728B1; GB9924623D0; GB2342953B

Abstract

An adjustable hinge arrangement, eg for a vehicle door, comprises a bolt (4) rotatable relative to a first component (2) and rotationally fixed in an opening (19) in a bearing sleeve (18) normally fixed in a second component (3). The sleeve has a centre axis (20) eccentric to the bolt axis (9), the sleeve is normally clamped in place by a conical arrangement (23, 25) and by a clamping element (16) screwed to the bolt. When the element (16) is slackened, the bolt head (11) can be turned to rotate the bearing sleeve and adjust the pivot axis (9) relative to the component (3).

Description

2342953 Ad-justable hinge arrangemen The invention relates to a hinge

arrangement for forming a pivot mounting which can be adjusted radially in relation to its pivot axis and is intended for a part, e.g. vehicle door, on a vehicle body.

Within the context of mass production in vehicle construction, pivotable body parts, for example vehicle doors, are exposed, following their installation in the body shell, to certain, insufficiently reproducible settling effects which may be produced, inter alia, by subsequent production steps, e.g. transportation, painting or the operation of fitting out the doors. In order to be able to compensate for this, hinge arrangements of the type mentioned in the introduction are used. For example, in the case of a vehicle door, the adjustment of such a hinge arrangement makes it possible to adjust a gap between the vehicle door and body-side frame in order for the vehicle door to be positioned in optimum fashion as far as its functioning and its integration in the vehicle body in visual and aesthetic terms are concerned.

DE 40 41 340 Al discloses a hinge arrangement of the type mentioned in the introduction in the case of which a body-side, first hinge loop is connected in an articulated manner, via a hinge pin, to a door-side, second hinge loop. The articulated connection of the hinge loops is formed in this case by a pivot mounting of one hinge loop on the hinge pin, the hinge pin being designed at one end as a bearing pin which is fixed in the other hinge loop. In this case, the longitudinal axis of the bearing pin runs eccentrically in relation to the longitudinal axis of the hinge pin and thus also eccentrically in relation to the pivot axis of the hinge arrangement, with the result that a rotary adjustment of the hinge pin causes a radial adjustment of the pivot axis and thus allows the vehicle door to be adjusted relative to the door frame. In the case of the known hinge arrangement, the bearing pin is secured in the body- side hinge loop in a rotationally fixed manner with the aid of a screw. A rotary adjustment of the hinge pin is made possible by the abovementiont- A screw being released, it then being possible for a moment which is necessary for the rotary adjustment of the hinge pin to be initiated via a hexagonally designed axial end of the hinge pin with the aid of an appropriate tool, e.g. wrench. The production of a hinge pin with an eccentric bearing pin involves relatively high outlay.

2 DE 33 46 844 C2 discloses a further hinge arrangement of the type mentioned in the introduction. In this case, a hinge pin is anchored in a first hinge loop in a rotationally fixed manner and is mounted pivotably in a tubular receiving me s of a g an second hinge loop. For this purpose, the hinge pin is inserted into a hinge eyelet bore which is made eccentrically in a hinge eyelet bushing. This hinge eyelet bushing is provided with a clamping sleeve on its outside and, together therewith, is introduced into the tubular receiving means of the second hinge loop. The receiving means, the clamping, sleeve and the hinge eyelet bushing are dimensioned here such that, with the hinge eyelet bushing introduced into the receiving means, the clamping sleeve produces a clamping action which prevents automatic rotary adjustment of the hinge eyelet bushing relative to the receiving means of the hinge loop. For adjustment of the pivot axis of the hinge arTangement, the hinge eyelet bushing is subjected, with the aid of an appropriate tool, to a moment by means of which the abovementioned clamping force is overcome and a corresponding rotary adjustment of the hinge eyelet bushing relative to the receiving means can take place. For this purpose, an axial end of the hinge eyelet bushing is designed as a hexagon.

The present invention is concerned with the problem of specifying, for a hinge arrangement of the type mentioned in the introduction, another expedient configuration which allows straightforward adjustment of the hinge pivot axis and secure fixing of the adjustment pivot axis.

According to the present invention there is provided a hinge arrangement for forming an adjustable pivot mounting adjustable radially in relation to a pivot axis, the arrangement having a bearing bolt - which has actuating means via which it is possible to introduce moments into the bearing bolt, - which is mounted on a first component so as to be pivotable about its longitudinal axis, - which passes through a cylindrical bearing sleeve in an eccentric axial opening and is connected to the bearing sleeve in a rotationally fixed manner, and -which has a thread which interacts with a screw-action element, - which has a cone which tapers in the direction of the bearing sleeve and - which, with axial bracing of the screw-action element with the bearing bolt, penetrates into the axial opening of the bearing sleeve and, in the process, braces the bearing sleeve axially with an abutment element, which is fixed axially on the bearing bolt, and also 3 braces said bearing sleeve radially with an inner wall of the receiving opening, which is introduced into a second component and into which the bearing sleeve is inserted, such that the bearing sleeve is connected to the second component in a rotationally fixed manner.

The invention is based on the general idea of mounting pivotably in a conventional manner a first hinge loop on a bearing bolt and of securing the bearing bolt on a second hinge loop in a rotationally fixed manner by an eccentric sleeve. An eccentric sleeve is wherein the longitudinal centre axis of the sleeve body does not coincide with the longitudinal centre axis of the sleeve through-passage. One feature which is essential to the invention is that the eccentric bearing sleeve is connected to the bearing bolt in a rotationally fixed manner, with the result that a rotary adjustment of the bearing sleeve can be achieved by a rotary actuation of the bearing bolt. According to the invention, the bearing sleeve is fixed on the second hinge loop in that the bearing sleeve is forced radially outwards by a screwing action and thus braced with the second hinge loop.

The proposed measures according to the invention make it possible for the actual pivot mounting to be produced in a conventional manner, in particular costeffectively. The adjustment can then be carried out independently of the pivot mounting, According to a preferred embodiment, the bearing bolt, at one axial end, may be designed as a rivet which is riveted to the first component, a pivot mounting being formed in the process. The formation of the pivot mounting by riveting can be carried out particularly cost-effectively.

The bearing bolt preferably passes through the first component in a bearing opening, it being the case that that axial end section of the bearing bolt which projects from a side remote from the bearing sleeve is designed as the actuating means for carrying out the adjustment. These measures render the actuating means relatively easily accessible, as a result of which the adjustment is simplified. The abovementioned riveting is preferably carried out such that the rivet part which is deformed during the riveting forms the actuating means following the riveting.

This actuating means is expediently designed as a screw-action head which may contain, for example, a polygon stub, in particular a hexagon stub, a polygon socket, in particular a hexagon socket, a slot opening, a cross opening or the like.

According to a development of the hinge arrangement according to the invention, the abutment element may also be designed as a cone which tapers towards the 4 bearing sleeve and, with axial bracing of the screw-action element with the bearing bolt, penetrates into the bearing sleeve. On the one hand, this results in the bearing bolt being, centred in the bearing sleeve. On the other hand, the abutment cone assists the radial bracing of the bearing sleeve with the second component. A further improvement is achieved in that the bearing sleeve has an appropriate bevel for each cone.

In order to improve highly effective radial bracing of the bearing sleeve with the second component, the bearing sleeve may be slit in the axial direction.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the rotationally fixed connection between the bearing bolt and the bearing sleeve may be formed by a toothing arTangement. In this case, a teeth of said toothing arrangement ran in an axial direction and thus form a positively locking connection in the direction of rotation.

Further important features and advantages of the hinge arrangement according to the invention can be gathered from the subclaims, from the drawing, and from the associated description -of the figures with reference to the drawing.

It goes without saying that the features which have been mentioned above and those which are still to be explained below can be used not just in the combination specified in each case, but also in other combinations or else on their own, without going beyond the scope of the present invention.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is explained in more detail in the following description and is illustrated in the drawing, in which:

Figure I shows a schematic sectional view of the hinge arrangement according to the invention.

In accordance with Figure 1, with the aid of a hinge arrangement I according to the invention, a first component 2, which is formed, for example, on a vehicle door (not otherwise illustrated), is mounted pivotably on a second component 3, which is formed, for example, on a body-side door frame (not otherwise illustrated). For this purpose, the hinge arrangement 1 has a bearing bolt 4 on which the first component 2 is mounted pivotably in an axial section 5, which is indicated by a curly bracket. In this case, for example, a shank 6 of the bearing bolt 4 is provided with a bearing bushing 7, the shank 6 and the bearing bushing 7 being inserted into a bearing opening 8 of the first component 2, with the result that a conventional pivot bearing is formed.

The pivot axis of the pivot mounting formed by the hinge arrangement I is designated by 9 and corresponds to the longitudinal centre axis of the bearing bolt 4.

In the case of a preferred embodiment, the axial section 5, on which the first component 2 is mounted pivotably, is designed as a rivet, it being the case that, during the riveting, an axial end 10 of the bearing bolt 4, said axial end being at the top in Figure 1, is first of all pushed through the bearing opening 8 and then deformed, with the result that the axial end 10 grips over the bearing opening 8 in the radial direction. The riveting forms, at the deformed axial end 10, a hexagon stub I I which ser-ves as actuating means, the functioning of which will be described at a later stage in the text.

The bearing bolt 4, in a section which is remote from the axial end 10, is designed as a conical abutment element or as abutment cone 12 which tapers as the distance from the axial end 10 increases and which grips over the bearing opening 8 in a first component 2 in the radial direction.

At its end remote from the axial end 10, the abutment cone 12 merges into a cylindrical section 13 which, on its outside, bears an outer toothing arrangement 14, of wl-&h the teeth extend in the axial direction. The cylindrical section 13 of the bearing bolt 4 is adjoined, in this embodiment, by a thread shank 15 which bears an external thread onto which a screw-action nut 16 is screwed. In this case, the screw-action nut 16 bears a cone 17 which tapers towards the cylinder section 13.

In the case of another embodiment, instead of the thread shank 15 and the screw-action nut 16 screwed onto the same, there may be provided a thread bore which is introduced into the bearing bolt 4 at the axial free end of the cylinder section 13 and into which a screw likewise provided with an appropriate cone is screwed.

A bearing sleeve 18 is positioned on the cylinder section 13 of the bearing bolt 4. Said bearing sleeve 18 contains an axial through-passage opening 19 which has a longitudinal centre axis 20 which is eccentric relative to the pivot axis 9 of the bearing bolt 4, the eccentricity which is formed between the pivot axis 9 and the abovementioned longitudinal centre axis 20 being designated by 21. In an axial region 22, which is assigned to the cone 17 of the screw-action nut 16 and is at the bottom in Figure 1, the bearing sleeve 18 is designed in the forin of a truncated cone or is provided with a bevel 23 corresponding to the cone 17. In a corresponding manner, an axial end region 24 of the bearing sleeve 18, said axial end region being at the top according to Figure 1, is designed in a conical manner, or provided with a bevel 25 corresponding to the abutment cone 12, on its inside. Between the axial end regions 22 and 24, the bearing sleeve 18 has a cylindrical central region 26 which is provided, on its inside, with an inner toothing 6 arrangement 27 which corresponds to the outer toothing arrangement 14 of the bearing bolt 5 and forms a connection between the bearing bolt 4 and the bearing sleeve 18, said connection being positively locking in the direction of rotation and thus being rotationally fixed.

The bearing sleeve 18 is inserted into a receiving opening 28 made in the second component 3. In order to fix the bearing sleeve 18 in its insertion direction, it is provided, at its top axial end region 24, with a radially outwardly projecting annular collar 29 which overlaps the receiving opening 28 in the radially outward direction and rests on the second component 3.

The dimensions of the bearing sleeve 18 and of the receiving opening 28 are selected such that the bearing sleeve 18 can be rotated in the receiving opening, 28 if the screw-action nut 16 is not braced axially with the bearing bolt 4, that is to say if the screw-action nut 16 has not been tightened. However, as soon as the screw-action nut 16 is tightened, this resulting in axial bracing of the screw-action nut 16 with the bearing bolt 4, both the cone 17 and the abutment cone 12 penetrate further into the bearing sleeve 18 and thus cause radial widening of the bearing sleeve 18 and thus radial bracing of the bearing sleeve 18 with an inner wall 30 of the receiving opening 28. This forms frictional locking by means of which the bearing sleeve 18 is fixed, in particular in terms of rotation, on the second component 3.

In order to improve the radial bracing of the bearing sleeve 18, the bearing sleeve 18 may be provided with at least one axial slit. In order to improve the ftictional connection between the bearing sleeve 18 and the second component 3, the outside of the bearing sleeve 18 and/or the inner wall 30 of the receiving opening 28 may be provided with an area of increased roughness.

The adjustment of the pivot axis 9 functions as follows:

The screw-action nut 16 is released to the extent where the bearing sleeve 18 can be adjusted in terms of rotation in the receiving opening 28. In this case, the rotary adjustment of the bearing sleeve 18 is achieved with the aid of an appropriate tool, e.g. wrench, which acts on the hexagon 11 of the bearing bolt 4. This is because a moment which is introduced into the bearing bolt 4 with the aid of the wrench, via the hexagon 11, is transmitted to the bearing sleeve 18 via the toothing arrangement 14127 and causes a rotary adjustment of the bearing sleeve 18 relative to the second component 3. On account of the eccentricity 21 prevailing between the longitudinal centre axis 20 of the bearing 7 sleeve 18 and the longitudi n al centre axis or pivot axis 9 of the bearing bolt 4, the position of the pivot axis 9 relative to the second component 3 is changed in this case. If the pivot axis 9 or the first component 2 mounted thereon is in the desired position relative to the second component 3, the screw-action nut 16 is tightened again in order to fix the position of the bearing sleeve 18.

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Claims

1. A hinge arrangement for forming an adjustable pivot mounting adjustable radially in relation to a pivot axis, the arrangement having a bearing bolt - which has actuating means via which it is possible to introduce moments into the bearing bolt, - which is mounted on a first component so as to be pivotable about its longitudinal axis, - which passes through a cylindrical bearing sleeve in an eccentric axial opening and is connected to the bearing sleeve in a rotationally fixed manner, and -which has a thread which interacts with a screw-action element, - which has a cone which tapers in the direction of the bearing sleeve and - which, with axial bracing of the screw-action element with the bearing bolt, penetrates into the axial opening of the bearing sleeve and, in the process, braces the bearing., sleeve axially with an abutment element, which is fixed axially on the bearing bolt, and also braces said bearing sleeve radially with an inner wall of the receiving opening, which is introduced into a second component and into which the bearing sleeve is inserted, such that the bearing sleeve is connected to the second component in a rotationally fixed manner.

2. A hinge arrangement according to Claim 1, wherein the bearing bolt, in a section which interacts with the first component comprises a rivet which is riveted to the first component, a pivot mounting being formed in the process.

I A hinge arrangement according to Claim I or 2, wherein the bearing bolt passes through the first component in a bearing opening, and an axial end section of the bearing bolt, said axial end section projecting from a side remote from the bearing sleeve comprising the actuating means.

4. A hinge arrangement according to any one of Claims I to 3, wherein the actuating means comprises a screw-action head.

5. A hinge arrangement according to Claim 4, wherein the screw-action head contains a polygon stub, a polygon socket, a slot opening, or a cross opening.

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6. A hinge arrangement according to any one of Claims I to 5, wherein the abutment element comprises a cone which tapers towards the bearing sleeve and, with axial bracing of the screw-action element with the bearing bolt, penetrates into the bearing sleeve.

7. A hinge arrangement according to any one of Claims I to 6, wherein the bearing sleeve has an appropriate bevel for each cone.

8. A hinge arrangement according to any one of Claims I to 7, wherein the bearing sleeve is slit in the axial direction.

9. A hinge arrangement according to any one of Claims I to 8, wherein the rotationally fixed connection between the bearing bolt and bearing sleeve is formed by a toothing arrangement.

10. A hinge arrangement according to any one of Claims I to 9, wherein abutting surfaces of the bearing sleeve and of the second component are provided with a corTesponding area of roughness or toothing arrangement which, with radial bracing of the bearing sleeve with the inner wall of the receiving opening of the second component, interact with one another in order to form the rotationally fixed connection between the bearing sleeve and the second component.

11. A hinge arrangement according to any one of Claims I to 10, wherein the screw-action element comprises a screw-action nut, the thread of the bearing bolt being formed on a thread shank.

12. A hinge arrangement according to any one of Claims I to 10, wherein the screw-action element comprises a screw, the thread of the bearing bolt being formed in a thread bore.

13. A hinge arrangement according to any one of Claims I to 12, wherein the first component is assigned to a vehicle door and the second component is assigned to a vehicle body.

14. A hinge arrangement for forming an adjustable pivot mounting adjustable radially in relation to a pivot axis, substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.