GB890165A - Improved vehicle door hinge construction - Google Patents

Abstract

890,165. Vehicle doors. FORD MOTOR CO. Ltd. July 28, 1959 [July 30, 1958], No. 25831/59. Class 103(2). [Also in Group XXV] A vehicle door mounting arrangement comprises a longitudinally extending hinge member 16 pivoted at one end to a pillar 17 of the vehicle body and at the other end to the door 12 and a control arm 66 also pivoted at one end to the pillar and at the other end to the door, the plane containing the pivot axes of the hinge member and conrol arm at the pillar end thereof being in slightly non-parallel relationship to the plane containing the pivot axes of the hinge member and control arm at the door end thereof so that as the door opens it moves bodily outwards with the plane thereof becoming slightly angularly displaced relative to the plane of the side of the vehicle body. In a prototype structure the hinge member and control arm turned through 115 degrees from the closed to the fully opened position while the plane of the door turned through 14 degrees. The hinge member is in the form of a panel which is pivoted to the pillar 17 by upper and lower hinges 18, 19 and to the door by upper and lower hinges 55, 56, and the control arm consists of two sections 67, 68 joined by bolts 69 which pass through slightly elongated bolt holes to permit slight longitudinal adjustment of one section relative to the other, the range of this adjustment being insufficient to bring the planes containing the pivot axes into parallel relationship. The door is slightly canted so that as it is opened the centre of gravity rises until the hinge member and control arm are substantially normal to the longitudinal centre line of the vehicle body, and thereafter falls, the door consequently having a natural hold open action when it is fully open. A door holder 78 and stop 82 (see Group XXV) are provided on the section 68 and the door leaf 63 of the hinge 56 to which it is pivoted.