GB2397098A

GB2397098A - Separable hinge; panel with alternatively hinged sides; assembling furniture

Info

Publication number: GB2397098A
Application number: GB0326683A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Brian Leslie Nicholas
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-12-06
Filing date: 2003-11-17
Publication date: 2004-07-14
Also published as: GB0326683D0; GB0228639D0

Abstract

A hinge connector comprises a plurality of plate hinge members 2,3 each having a castellated sleeve member 4A-4E, a number of pivot pins 5A-5D axially slidable within sleeve members 4A-4D. Each of the pins 5A-5D has a length corresponding to that of its respective sleeve member 4A-4D. A longer pin 5E locates in sleeve 4E and with the hinge members 2,3 aligned can be pushed fully into sleeve 4E (in direction 7E) causing the other pins 5A-5D to be axially displaced so that they each locate in two adjacent sleeves and lock the hinge members 2,3 together. The hinge can be disassembled by pushing pin 5A, which with the hinge members 2,3 assembled extends beyond the end of sleeve 4A, back into sleeve 4A thereby aligning all the pins 5A-5D with their respective sleeves 4A-4E. The pins 5A-5E can be an interference fit within the sleeves 4A-4E to prevent them falling out. Alternatively magnetic pins may be used or each pin may be provided with a locking pin (9 fig 2) that is retained in a groove in each sleeve. Hinges may be provided on opposite edges of a door, figure 5, and dismantled alternatively to give a choice of handed hinging. The hinges may be located along more than two edges of a wing to provide more than two hinging axes. The hinges may be used to assemble furniture for ready dismantling.

Description

HINGE CONNECTORS

This specification relates to hinge members, which can be used either as conventional hinges, or as means releasably to connect panel members together or for both functions.

Conventional hinges are well known, consisting of two plates with castellated, interlocking sleeve members and a pin to interconnect the holes through the sleeves. In many cases, doors, etc. can be removed by taking out the pins and separating the two halves of the hinges.

One disadvantage of this is that the pins can sometimes be mislaid so that the hinges cannot be reassembled.

There can also be occasions when it is desirable to be able to change a right hand opening door to a left hand opening one. This would nominally require removal of the hinges and replacing them on the other side of the door and swapping the lock / latching mechanism and striker plate. However, it would be possible to fK hinges to both sides of a door so that the pins could be removed from one side and swapped to the other if changing the opening of the door was required on a regular basis. Duplicate locks / latches would also be required.

Many items of self-assembly furniture come with comer blocks, which are used to secure adjacent panels at right angles to each other. A disadvantage of these comer blocks is that they intrude into the space and restrict access, e.g. for books at the comers of bookshelves or reducing the length of drawers, which may be provided in given size housings. While these comer blocks may be removable, so that the furniture can be disassembled, panels are frequently also glued (to give extra rigidity) so that the item of furniture must be moved as a complete unit. Alas, in many cases, self-assembly furniture is insufficiently robust to be moved and has either to be left in the house being vacated, or be scrapped. This is clearly a waste of often serviceable fumiture.

There is thus a need for a means by which doors, or panels, can be quickly opened either to the right hand or to the left hand and for seH- assembly furniture to be safely dismantlable for transport to a second location.

11-7IJ ^ According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a hinge connector system for hinging an opening panel either to a first side, or to the opposite side or for locking the panel in the closed position comprising: i) a pair of hinge members, each such member consisting of a plate, adapted to be secured to a panel or frame member, and having a castellated sleeve member(s) along an edge; ii) a pin(s), located axially within the / each sleeve member(s) and having essentially the same axial length as the sleeve member(s), and having freedom to move in the axial direction through the sleeve member(s) and to project, in the axial direction, beyond the end of the sleeve member(s); and iii) at least one pin, located in an end sleeve member of one of the pair of hinge members, and having a length greater than that of the sleeve member so that its distal end projects axially beyond the end of the sleeve in a direction away from the other sleeve member(s) on that hinge member and beyond the end of the hinge connector; characterized in that the sleeve member(s) on each one of the pair of hinge member(s) are offset relative to those of the sleeve member(s) of the other of the pair so that the pair of hinge members may be aligned with their sleeve members in an interengaging manner and that, when so aligned, the distal end of the one pin is pressed and moved axially towards the interengaging sleeve member(s) causing the one pin to contact the end of the pin in the next interengaging sleeve, moving it axially, and so on for all pins through all the sleeve members of the hinge connector, causing each of the pins to extend partly into the bore of the adjacent sleeve member, interlocking each adjacent pair of sleeve members together and thus interlocking the pair of hinge members together and causing the pin in the sleeve member furthest from the distal end of the one pin to project from its sleeve member, beyond the end of the hinge connector, and to form a second distal end and that the interlocked hinge connector may be unlocked by pressing on the second distal end of the pin to move it axially back to its original position whereby its cascade action on all the other pins will move them all fully into their respective original positions and the one pin to its distal end position thus allowing the interengaging sleeve members to be parted and the pair of the hinge members to be separated and further characterized in that the pairs of hinge members are used on the panel and its frame in pairs with a first pair of hinge members located on the first side of the panel and frame and a second pair of hinge members located on the side opposite to the first side of the panel and frame, allowing the panel to open to the first side when the first pair of hinge members is interlocked and the second pair of hinge members is unlocked or allowing the panel to open to the opposite side when the first pair of hinge members is unlocked and the second pair of hinge members is interlocked or firmly holding the panel in the closed position when both first and second hinge members are in the interlocked position.

In a first variation of the first aspect of the invention, the panel is a door and pluralities of pairs of hinge members are used on opposite sides of the door to form conventional hinge arrangements.

In a second variation of the first aspect of the invention, a plurality of pairs of hinge members are provided on more than two opposite sides of a panel or door to give multiple hinging I O options.

In a third variation of the first aspect of the invention, locking means are provided to retain the pins in their respective sleeves.

In a fourth variation of the first aspect of the invention, no distal end is provided to the end pin but separate means are provided to move the pin(s) between the interlocked and unlocked positions.

In a fifth variation of the first aspect of the invention, the separate means to move the pins is a member attached radially to the pin and movable in a slot in the sleeve.

In a sixth variation of the first aspect of the invention, locking means are provided to prevent pins from moving axially within the sleeve member.

In a fifth variation of the first aspect of the invention, the hinge plates are cranked in nature.

In a second aspect of the hinge connector system of the invention, a plurality of hinge connectors is used to provide a means to assemble t disassemble items consisting of two or more panel members into a structure.

In a first variation of the second aspect of the apparatus of the invention, the structure consisting of two or more panel members is an item of fumiture.

In a second variation of the second aspect of the invention, hinge connectors are used to connect two panel members together in a single plane butting arrangement.

In a third variation of the second aspect of the invention, hinge connectors are used to connect two panel members in an L-butt, comer arrangement.

In a fourth variation of the second aspect of the invention, hinge connectors are used to connect two, or three, panel members in a T-butt arrangement.

In a fifth variation of the second aspect of the invention, hinge connectors are used to connect three, or more, panel members in a cruciform arrangement.

In a sixth variation of the second aspect of the invention, the pins and sleeve members have non-circular sections to facilitate alignment of Lbutt, T-butt and cruciform panel arrangements.

In a seventh variation of the second aspect of the invention, locking means are provided to retain the pins in their respective sleeves.

In an eighth variation of the second aspect of the invention, no distal end is provided to the end pin but separate means are provided to move the pin(s) between the interlocked and unlocked positions.

In a ninth variation of the second aspect of the invention, the separate means to move the pins is a member attached radially to the pin and movable in a slot in the sleeve.

In a tenth variation of the second aspect of the invention, locking means are provided to prevent pins from moving axially within the sleeve member.

In an eleventh variation of the second aspect of the invention, the hinge plates are cranked in nature.

A preferred application of the principle of the invention has the form of a conventional hinge but with a pin cut into as many segments as there are sleeve members on the two plates. The pin segments are inserted into each of the sleeve members and one longer pin is inserted into one of the end sleeves, with the distal end projecting beyond the edge of the hinge plate. As with conventional hinge members, the two castellated sleeve sections may be interengaged. If, in this interengaged alignment, the distal end of the end pin is pushed axially towards the sleeved portion, the non-distal end of this end pin will bear on the end of the pin in the first sleeve of the other hinge plate, causing it to move axially. This will lead to a cascade movement with each pin bearing on the next and being forced partly into the adjacent sleeve interlocking the two plates together.

Ideally, the length of the distal section of the end pin will be about had that of the sleeve length so that, when the distal end is, pushed fully in, the butt between any two pins will be near the centres of the sleeves and the pin at the other end of the hinge will be half out of its sleeve, forming a second distal end.

To separate the two halves of the hinge, the second distal end is pushed axially back fully into its sleeve, moving all the pins back flush into their respective sleeves and the end pin back to its distal position. This releases the interlocking and the two halves of the hinge will separate.

With the pins in the interlocked position, the hinge connector(s) can function as a conventional hinge(s), e.g. for as door. The invention teaches the provision of pairs of hinges on opposite sides of the door and on adjacent jambs of the doorframe so that, when the door is in the closed position, both sets of pairs of hinges will interengage. Because of the rapidity with which the two parts of the hinge can be interlocked / released, the door can be changed from, say, left hand opening to right hand opening, or vice versa, in just a few seconds, as and when required. This would be done by closing the door, which may be assumed to be left hand opening. The distal end(s) of the end pin(s) in the right hand hinge connector(s) would be pushed fully into the end sleeve(s) causing the hinge connector(s) to become interlocked and to create a second distal end(s). Then, the second distal ends of the pin(s) in the left hand hinge connector(s) would be pushed fully into their end sleeve(s), thus unlocking the hinge connector. The door will now open to the right hand side.

It will be noted that when both left and right hand hinge connectors are in the interlocked position, the door will be fimmly closed and unopenable. Similarly, when both are unlocked, the door may be removed from its frame.

The principle of the invention can be used as a simple connection means, i.e. without the hinging option, for example, to assemble panel sections together. One instance is to assemble flat pack furniture without the need for glue. Such furniture could be disassembled if required.

e.g. to move house, allowing treasured possessions to be moved safely.

When used as a connector, double and triple hinge connector plate arrangements are possible. There are also means of locking the pins in the chosen position so that the connection may be made semi-permanent. In this application of the invention, the pins and sleeves may have non- circular sections, e.g. square or rectangular, to facilitate making L- buff comer or T-butt joints between adjacent panels.

For a clearer understanding of the invention and to show how it may be put into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example only, to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of the hinge connector of the invention; Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of a pin in a hinge sleeve, showing a means of moving the pin axially within the sleeve and with the pin segment aligned wholly within the sleeve; Figure 3 is a plan view of the sleeve shown in Fig. 2 but with segment 5 fully extended to the right; Figure 4 is a side elevation of a door showing left and right hinge connectors; Figure 5 is a sectional plan view through the door shown in Fig. 4 showing left and right hinging; Figure 6 is a diagrammatic representation of three panels connected together in a T-butt joint arrangement.

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic representation of the three hinge members forming the Fig. 6 T-butt joint arrangement; and Figure 8 is a part plan view of a two hinge member piano-type hinge connector with a pin movement locking arrangement.

In the following description, the same reference numeral is used for the same components or for different components fulfilling an identical function.

Fig. 1 shows an exploded, perspective view of the apparatus of the invention 1, consisting of two hinge plates 2 and 3 with interconnecting, castellated sleeve members 4. Three sleeve members 4A, 4C and 4E are shown on hinge plate 2 and two members 4B and 4D on hinge plate 3. Between plates 2 and 3 is segmented pin 5, consisting of five separate elements 5A, 5B, 5C, ED and BE. When the hinge connector 1 is assembled, pin segment 5A fits in sleeve 4A, pin segment 5B fits in hinge sleeve 4B, etc. Heads 7 are provided on pin segments 5A and BE for ease of use. Pin segment BE is longer than hinge sleeve 4E and so, when hinge connector 1 is assembled, the distal end (nearer the top of the page) will project from the end of hole 8 in sleeve 4E beyond the top edge of hinge connector 1 (as shown in Fig. 1.) A hinge plate 2 (3) and its attached sleeves 4A, 4C, 4E (4B, 4D) forms a hinge member and two, or more, hinge members form a hinge connector of the invention. Sleeves 4A and 4E are end sleeves and carry pins 5A and BE, which have the distal ends for operating the interlocking / unlocking of hinge connector 1. Screw holes 6 are provided for fixing.

When hinge connector 1 (Fig. 1) is assembled with all pin segments 5 in their respective hinge sleeves 4, the two halves may be brought together, so that their respective sleeve castellations interengage and then the distal head 7 on pin BE may be pushed axially 7E to move the segmented pin sections 5 axially along, in a cascade motion, so that pin BE, partly enters sleeve 4D, pin ED partly enters sleeve 4C, pin 5C partly enters sleeve 4B, pin 5B partly enters sleeve 4A and pin 5A is pushed partly out of sleeve 4A, to give a new distal end. The result is that each sleeve 4 is now interlocked to each of its adjacent sleeves and hinge connector 1 acts as a conventional hinge.

To separate hinge connector 1, the new distal head 7 of pin 5A is pressed axially inwards 7A, towards the rest of the hinge member, thus pushing all the other pins 5 fully back into each of their respective sleeves so that the interlocked sleeve castellations are now free and the two halves 2 and 3 may be separated by pulling apart the interengaging sleeves 4.

Fig. 4 shows an arrangement whereby a door 13 may be fitted with, for example, four hinge connectors of the invention, two 14 on the left hand side and two 15 on the right hand side. In this arrangement, the door may be hinged to either the right hand side or the left hand side, by moving the pins 5 to the appropriate positions on each side. For example, K the door is to be hinged 14 to the left, pins 5 on hinges 14 are pressed 7E so that the pins interlock with adjacent sleeves 4 and the pins 5 in hinges 15 are moved 7A to the unlocked position. Fig. 5 shows this arrangement in plan view with the door mounted in jambs 16 and closing against lips 1 6A. As shown, the door may hinge either to the left 17 or to the right 18.

Door 13 may be secured from the inside by setting the pins in all hinges 14 and 15 to the interlocked position. This would provide extra protection against intruders. It could also be used to secure, on a semi- permanent basis, a door, which was not being used.

Ideally, pins 5 are an interference fit in sleeves 4 so that they may be pressed and moved axially with a relatively small axial force 7A or 7E, yet when the two halves of hinge connector 1 are separated, pins 5 will not fall out of sleeves 4. Close tolerances will be required to give an adequate degree of interference fit, so that pins 5 do not fall out when the hinge is separated, yet not require excessive axial force 7A or 7E to cause pins 5 to move through the plurality of sleeve bores 8. Magnetic pins 5 in steel sleeves 4, or grease in the bores, may also be used to retain the pins in the sleeves.

One means of overcoming this problem is to provide each sleeve 4 with a locking peg 9 sliding in a groove 12, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Here, a hole 11 is provided in pin 5 so that peg 9 may be tapped in as a tight interference fit and head 10 will slide proud of slot 12 in sleeve 4.

In such an arrangement, the longer, distal ended pin BE would not be required as the plurality of pins 5 could be moved via head 10 on end pins 5A and 5E. To disconnect hinge connector 1, the head 10 on peg 9 in pin 5A (or BE) would be used to move pin sections 5 axially back fully into their respective sleeves 4.

The ends of pins 5 may be rounded or chamfered (not shown) to provide easier entry to the adjacent sleeve 4; this would be particularly useful K sleeves 4 were not exactly aligned with each other.

The principle of hinge connector 1 may also be used to connect releasably panel members together, e.g. such as on an item of fumiture, like a wardrobe. Figs. 6 and 7 show how a triple element hinge connector 22A, 22B and 22C with offset, interengaging sleeves 23A, 23B and 23C may be assembled (Fig. 6) to connect together 3 panels 19, 20 and 21. The arrangement shown in Fig. 6 allows three panels to be connected in a T-butt arrangement but the principle could equally be used, say, to fit two corner members of a wardrobe together, e.g.19 and 21 or 20 and 21. Similarly, panels 19 and 20 could be connected together to fomm a single panel.

Also, if panels 19 and 20 were a single item, a double element hinge connector could be used to locate and fix a vertical dividing panel, e.g. 21, in a wardrobe, or a horizontal shelf in a bookcase or wardrobe.

In most cases, panels 19,20 and 21 are connected at right angles or 180 to each other end the use of pins 5 and sleeves 4 with non-circular sections (not shown) may facilitate assembling such joints. Suitable non- circular sections are square or rectangular.

In any of these options, hinge connector 22 could be a long, piano-type hinge, or a number of shorter hinges of the type shown in Fig.1. To give unimpeded use of the space, the positions of hinge sleeves 4 or 22 would be carefully arranged, e.g. on the outside at the back of wardrobes or on the undersides of shelves, or partly recessed into the fabric of the panels, etc. Fig. 8 shows a part representation of a piano type hinge where pegs 29A and 28B, similar to those 9 shown in Fig. 2, are used to operate pins 5 (not shown). Here, side channels 27A and 27B are shown at right angles to axial channels 26A and 26B so that pins 28A and 29A may be moved into side channels 27A and 27B respectively (as shown) to lock pins 28A and 29A against movement in the axial direction. As shown, the side channels 27A or 27B are provided at the opposite ends of either slot 26A and 26B respectively, each forming part of a sleeve 25A or 25B on piano hinge 24A or 24B respectively. Slots 26A, 27A and 26B, 27B are provided in the end sleeves 25A' and 25B' of piano hinges 24A and 24B respectively.

In order to operate interlocked pins, head 27A, or 27B, is rotated into the line of channel 26A or 26B and moved axially to the other end of its allowable travel. The positions of the heads of each peg are shown 29A and 29B or 28A and 28B, according to whether the pins (not shown) in the hinge sleeve 25 are in the interlocked or unlocked positions.

Fig. 1 shows conventional hinge plates 2 and 3, with three sleeves 4 on plate 2 and two sleeves 4 on plate 3, but the number of sleeves can vary from a few right up to the piano hinge principle. Provided that they are used as 'mirror-image' pairs, hinge plates having only a single sleeve are also possible. Cranked hinge plates, such as found on cupboard doors, may also be used with the principle of the invention. The hinge plates should be rigid, so that they retain their sleeve alignment while the panels are being assembled.

The arrangement of hinge connectors on all four sides of a door or access panel will provide a high level of security against opening. Similarly, the door shown in Fig. 4 could be secured from the inside against entry by setting the pins 5 in all four hinge connectors 14 and 15 to the interlocked position'. This could be used as a burglar security measure or if one of several doors into a room was to be permanently closed to access.

The apparatus of the invention makes a considerable contribution to the convenient operation of doors and to the assembly / disassembly of the sort of high quality furniture that people would be anxious to retain when moving house and other applications will be evident to the skilled man. For example, Fig. 4 shows a door 13 with hinges on opposite sides. Such a door, or access panel could have pairs of hinge connectors 1 on all four sides so that the panel could be hingeable to the right or to the left or to the top or to the bottom, as required. This might have considerable advantages on ships, planes or military vehicles.

Claims

What I claim is:- ; 1 A first aspect of a hinge connector system for

hinging an opening panel either to a first side, or to the opposite side or for locking the panel in the closed position comprising:- I i) a pair of hinge members, each such member consisting of a plate, adapted to be 1 secured to a panel or frame member, and having a castellated sleeve member(s) along an edge; ii) a pin(s), located axially within the t each sleeve member(s) and having essentially the same axial length as the sleeve member(s), and having freedom to move in the axial direction through the sleeve member(s) and to project, in the axial direction, beyond the end of the sleeve member(s) ; and iii) at least one pin, located in an end sleeve member of one of the pair of hinge members, ; and having a length greater than that of the sleeve member so that its distal end projects axially beyond the end of the sleeve in a direction away from the other sleeve member(s) on that hinge member and beyond the end of the hinge connector; characterized in that the sleeve member(s) on each one of the pair of hinge member(s) are offset relative to those of the sleeve member(s) of the other of the pair so that the pair of hinge members may be aligned with their sleeve members in an interengaging manner and that, when so aligned, the distal end of the one pin is pressed and moved axially towards the interengaging sleeve member(s) causing the one pin to contact the end of the pin in the next interengaging sleeve, moving it axially, and so on for all pins through all the sleeve members of the hinge connector, causing each of the pins to extend partly into the bore of the adjacent sleeve member, interlocking each adjacent pair of sleeve members together and thus interlocking the pair of hinge members together and causing the pin in the sleeve member furthest from the distal end of the one pin to project from its sleeve member, beyond the end of the hinge connector, and to form a second distal end and that the interlocked hinge connector may be unlocked by pressing on the second distal end of the pin to move it axially back to its original position whereby its cascade action on all the other pins will move them all fully into their respective original positions and the one pin to its distal end position thus allowing the interengaging sleeve members to be parted and the pair of the hinge members to be separated and further characterized in that the pairs of hinge members are used on the panel and its frame in pairs with a first pair of hinge members located on the first side of the panel and frame and a second pair of hinge members located on the side opposite to the first side of the panel and frame, allowing the panel to open to the first side when the first pair of hinge members is interlocked and the second pair of hinge members is unlocked or allowing the panel to open to the opposite side when the first pair of hinge members is unlocked and the

UPS

second pair of hinge members is interlocked or firmly holding the panel in the closed position when both first and second hinge members are in the interlocked position.

2 A hinge connector system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the panel is a door and S pluralities of pairs of hinge members are used on opposite sides of the door to form conventional hinge arrangements.

3 A hinge connector system as claimed in claims 1 or 2, wherein a plurality of pairs of hinge members are provided on more than two opposite sides of a panel or door to give multiple hinging options.

4 A hinge connector system as claimed in claims 2 or 3, wherein locking means are provided to retain the pins in their respective sleeves.

5 A hinge connector system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein no distal end is provided to the end pin but separate means are provided to move the pin(s) between the interlocked and unlocked positions.

6 A hinge connector system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the separate means to move the pins is a member attached radially to the pin and movable in a slot in the sleeve.

7 A hinge connector system as claimed in claim 6, wherein locking means are provided to prevent pins from moving axially within the sleeve member.

8 A hinge connector system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the hinge plates are cranked in nature.

A second aspect of a hinge connector system wherein a plurality of hinge connectors are used to provide a means to assemble / disassemble items consisting of two or more panel members into a structure.

11 A hinge connector system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the structure consisting of two or more panel members is an item of furniture.

12 A hinge connector system as claimed in claim 1 1, wherein the hinge connectors are used to connect two panel members together in a single plane, butting arrangement.

13 A hinge connector system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the hinge connectors are used to connect two panel members in an L-butt, comer arrangement.

14 A hinge connector system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the hinge connectors are used to connect two, or three, panel members in a T-butt arrangement.

15 A hinge connector system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the hinge connectors are used to connect three, or more, panel members in a cruciform arrangement.

16 A hinge connector system as claimed in claims 10 to 15, wherein the pins and sleeve members have non-circular sections to facilitate alignment of L-butt, T-butt and crucifomm panel arrangements.

17 A hinge connector system as claimed in claims 10 to 16, wherein restraining means or locking means are provided to retain the pins in their respective sleeves.

18 A hinge connector system as claimed in claims 16 or 17, wherein no distal end is provided to the end pin but separate means are provided to move the pin(s) between the interlocked and unlocked positions.

19 A hinge connector system as claimed in claim 18, wherein the separate means to move the pins is a member attached radially to the pin and movable in a slot in the sleeve.

A hinge connector system as claimed in any of claims 10 to 19, wherein locking means are provided to prevent pins from moving axially within the sleeve member.

21 A hinge connector system as claimed in any of claims 10 to 20, wherein the hinge plates are cranked in nature.

22 A hinge connector, as claimed in the above description with reference to the accompanying drawings.