MX2008007906A - Hinge bracket for a pocket door - Google Patents

Abstract

A hinge bracket attachable to a pocket door slide system wherein the pocket doorslide system comprises components capable of achieving a full inset or partial overlay pocket door position without the hinge bracket, and wherein use of the hinge bracket enables the pocket door slide system to achieve a substantially full overlay pocket door position.

Description

HINGE CLAMP FOR A SLIDING DOOR Field of the Invention The present invention relates to hinge and slide suspension systems for supporting cabinet doors. More particularly, the present invention relates to a hinge clamp for use in the conversion of common sliding door sliding systems that achieve a partial overlap or inserted configuration when the door is in a closed position to achieve an overlapping configuration Complete when the door is in a closed position.

Background of the Invention It has become more common for cabinets to be used as entertainment centers for home televisions or other audio and / or visual equipment. The design of such cabinets has evolved into an absolutely common product style. The entertainment centers often include a vertical cabinet that can be camouflaged by style and finish to look as if it were one of the pieces of furniture in a room. This type of cabinet typically has a pair of large doors that enclose a front opening in a Ref. 193871 upper portion of the cabinet. These doors can be opened to reveal a television, stereo or other entertainment system that has been conventionally hidden from view until it is desired to be used. Many times, these cabinets are found in hotel rooms where a series of drawers are combined in a lower portion of the same cabinet, providing storage as well as entertainment center supplies. Because it has been found desirable to keep entertainment center components out of sight when not in use, the doors in such cabinets provide an important concealment function. As the design of this type of cabinets evolved, it was not satisfactory to have the doors only articulated on the sides of the walls of the cabinets because they could turn again in a semi-closed or completely closed position but could potentially hide the center of the cabinets. entertainment or present an obstacle in the vicinity of the cabinet. As a result, the suspension systems to articulate the doors in such cabinets were developed to allow the doors to be articulated to an open position, and then, to cross back into the interior of the cabinet, into a so-called "bag" space in parallel alignment with the side walls of the cabinet. Door suspension systems have typically been based on the use of sliding drawer technology, notably precision drawer slide technology using telescopic slide members and ball or roller bearings, such as found in office furniture and similar applications, although other more simplistic drawer sliders can be used. In the case of such door applications, however, a specialized sliding adapted in a way that allows the door to be mounted to a portion of the sliding element is necessary, while at the same time allowing it to articulate when it reaches the fully open position. In this way, the functionality of the suspension system provides both a closing and an articulated opening relationship with respect to the door and the hinge, as well as a translational action between a forward position at a ninety degree angle to the front of the cabinet, and a backward position inside the body of the cabinet. Given its movement and storage position within the cabinet, doors of this type have come to be known as "sliding doors". In turn, the sliding suspension systems that support each sliding door in these applications have come to be known as "sliding door slides". A number of sliding door sliding systems have been developed in the prior art, with particular structures designed to protect the doors from hanging, racking or otherwise misaligning when they are in position to be moved backwards in the cabinet or forward of the cabinet. For example, there are systems that use a rigid follower strip, bar or anti-transfer plate, made for example of wood, metal or other suitable materials or combinations thereof, and are connected to the upper and lower sliding door slides and their hinge assembly assemblies, such as are shown in U.S. Patent No. 5,108,165, to positively maintain the alignment of such components. Alternatively, there are sliding door sliding systems that use a cable system to keep the door aligned by connecting the sliding assemblies and their hinges, as described in U.S. Patent Nos. 4,974,912 and 5,395.65. Additional alternative alignment components for sliding door sliding systems are described in U.S. Patent Publication US 2004/0046488. These systems use rack and pinion components that offer a pair of rack and pinion gears for each slide, which are connected via an axle. While such systems can be constructed in many ways and can be used with a pair of hinges on a standard door, such rack and pinion systems can be constructed to be particularly well-adapted to maintain the alignment of very large sliding doors that require more of two hinges. In all these or other sliding door slider systems of the prior art, the slides are typically mounted to the inner surface of the outer side walls of the cabinet. In turn, the hinges commonly known as a "Euro-hinge", manufactured for example by Arutro Salice SpA, typically have either a 35 mm or 40 mm hinge mounting cup, and are mounted to the slides to achieve doors complete inserts, that is, doors that when articulated to the closed position are recessed to have their front surface substantially flush with, or in the same plane as, the front edges of the side walls of the cabinet. These hinges have numerous advantages, including their three-way adjustability and the ability to easily remove the hinged door from the cabinet. With full inserted doors, there is an opening between the outer edge of each door and the respective adjacent cabinet side wall when the door is in the closed position. In applications where the piece of furniture has a cabinet above drawers and the drawers are also inserted style, this is acceptable. However, a popular style is full overlap, where the doors and drawers completely overlap the sides of the cabinet which are typically 3/4"(1.905 cm) in thickness.It is desirable to match the sliding doors to the full overlapping drawers, but until the date, systems capable of achieving full overlap for sliding doors when in a closed door position require specialized sliding components, or specific components needed to modify the cabinet, which are unique to a full overlay application, as opposed to use commonly-accumulated components and cabinet structures of an inserted system An example of a system having specialized sliding components is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2004/0239216. However, such systems are more complicated and costly, the need to accumulate specialized slides, which are a rather expensive part of a sliding door sliding system, only for use in full overlap sliding door applications, is not desirable. Similarly, an example of a cabinet that requires specialized components to modify the cabinet to achieve a complete overlay system is described in U.S. Patent No. 5, 108,165. This cabinet system requires specialized columnar frame members that are mounted to an internal cabinet wall to space the complete hinge and slide system of the internal wall, as well as a specific anti-transfer plate to achieve the full overlap result. Once again, the specialized nature of the components and assembly is not desirable. Alternatively, some systems have attempted to use hinges mounted on a follower strip of shredded wood to achieve partial overlap of sliding door. However, due to the limitations of the strength of the wood and the need to fasten the hinge bases to the follower strips in the thinned sections, only modest improvement in door overlay has been achieved using these designs. As a result, these modified systems are not able to achieve a complete overlap position, and therefore do not cover the entire front edge of the adjacent side wall. Therefore, it could be advantageous to be able to convert conventional sliding door sliding system hardware, which uses relatively standard drawer slides and common Euro-hinge components regularly accumulated by cabinetry manufacturers and designed to achieve inserted or overlapping position. partial, to a system that can alternatively achieve a complete overlap position for sliding doors when in the closed position. It could also be advantageous to be able to achieve the full overlap position without considering which sliding door slide system is used to maintain the alignment of the door, where it is of the type which uses an anti-transfer bar, cable system, pinion and zipper, or other procedure to coordinate the movement of the drawer slides. Additionally, it could be advantageous to be able to use a single clamp for all mounting positions of the hinge, if it is on the left or right side of the cabinet and if it is for use with a top or bottom slide. It could also be advantageous to be able to achieve such a hardware conversion, if the particular application has one or two hinges associated with each slide unit. In the full overlap position, each door is positioned to completely cover the front edge of the respective adjacent cabinet side wall. For the recognition of the inventors, prior to the development of the present invention, the Euro-hinge and common sliding style hinges used for partial overlap or insert sliding doors were not able to be conveniently adapted to achieve a full overlap position for doors sliding when they are articulated to the closed position.

Brief Description of the Invention The purpose and advantages of the invention will be described or otherwise evident from the description and figures that follow, as well as will be learned by the practice of the invention. The present invention is generally included in a hinge clamp connectable to a sliding door slide system wherein the sliding door slide system comprises components capable of achieving a full or partially inserted overlap sliding door position without the hinge clamp , and wherein the use of the hinge clamp makes it possible for the sliding door sliding system to achieve a substantially complete overlap sliding door position. In another aspect of the invention, the hinge clamp has a first planar portion and at least a second planar portion with the first and second planar portions disposed in two planes substantially parallel and spaced apart. In a related further aspect of the invention, the hinge clamp has at least an off-center portion connecting the first planar portion to a second planar portion. In another aspect of the invention, the hinge clamp has a first planar portion located in a first plane and a pair of second planar portions located in a second plane spaced apart and substantially parallel to the first plane. In a related further aspect of the invention, the hinge clamp has a pair of offset portions, wherein each offset portion connects the first planar portion to a second planar portion. In yet another aspect of the invention, a sliding door sliding system is adapted to mount a door to a cabinet having a side wall wherein when the door is in a closed position an external edge of the door is substantially in the same flat as an outer surface of the side wall, the sliding door slide system has at least two sliding door slides, each sliding door slide has a slidable member, and a hinge clamp is connectable to the slidable member by at least one fastener in a first location in the hinge clamp and has at least a pair of holes spaced 32 mm apart and are connectable to at least one respective hinge at a second location in the hinge clamp, wherein the hinge is additionally adapted to be connected to a door. In a related further aspect of the invention, the first location is located in a first flat portion of the hinge clamp and the respective second location is located in a respective second planar portion of the hinge clamp, wherein the first flat portion is in the foreground and the respective second planar portion is in a second plane spaced apart and substantially parallel to the first plane. In a further related aspect of the invention, the hinge clamp comprises at least two second locations, with each second location being placed in a respective second planar portion. Accordingly, the present invention provides an alternative to the specialized drawer cabinet and slide components of the prior art necessary to achieve a full overlap position for sliding doors. The present invention also simplifies the structure necessary to achieve full overlap sliding doors using simple hinge clamps to convert conventional sliding door slide system components that were designed for partial or inserted overlay doors. With the present known Euro-hinge geometry, substantially complete overlap can be achieved in cabinets having a sidewall thickness of up to about 3/4"(1.905 cm.) It will be appreciated that changes in the hinge geometry can produce Increased or decreased lateral wall overlapping capabilities It will be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and provide for explanation purposes only, and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed. the present invention will become more fully apparent in the following description of the preferred embodiments and the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying figures in which similar parts have similar reference numerals, and wherein: Figure 1 is a front perspective view of an earlier technique, conventional sliding door slide for an inserted door configuration, as could be configured with a follower strip alignment system and with the slide mounted to the inner surface of an external wall of a cabinet. Fig. 2 is a front perspective view of a first embodiment according to the invention where a hinge clamp is used with the hardware of each sliding door slide system of Fig. 1 to convert a complete overlay system, wherein The system is shown in relation to a cabinet and the slide is mounted to the external surface of an internal cabinet wall. Figure 3 is a more insulated front perspective view of the converted sliding door slide system of Figure 2 with the slider mounted to the external surface of an internal cabinet wall. Figure 4 is a front perspective view of a second embodiment in accordance with the invention where a hinge clamp is used with the hardware of each conventional sliding door system that is configured with a cable alignment system to convert to a complete overlap system, and wherein the slide is mounted to the external surface of an internal cabinet wall. Figure 5 is a front perspective view of a third embodiment according to the invention where a hinge clamp capable of accepting a plurality of hinges is used with the hardware of each conventional sliding door system which is configured with a system of rack and pinion alignment to convert a complete overlay system, and where the slide is mounted to the external surface of an internal cabinet wall. Fig. 6 is a front perspective view of a further embodiment of a hinge clamp according to the invention where the hinge clamp is adapted for use with the hardware of conventional sliding door systems and is adapted to mount a first flat portion to the hinge mounting holes in a slide and a second flat portion adapts to accept two hinges in a conversion to a complete overlay system using two hinges per slide. Fig. 7 is a front perspective view of yet another embodiment of a hinge clamp according to the invention where the hinge clamp is adapted for use with the hardware of conventional sliding door systems and is adapted to mount a first flat portion to the hinge mounting holes in a slide and a pair of second flat portions are each adapted to accept a hinge in a conversion to a complete overlay system using two hinges per slide. Figures 8A-8D are top cross-sectional views of an embodiment according to the invention showing a sliding pattern in a series of positions being moved to its fully forward position, parallel to the outer lateral wall of the caribbean, to articulate a closed position where it is in a complete overlap position relative to the external cabinet side wall. It should be understood that the figures are not necessarily to scale and provide several views of assemblies that are within the spirit and scope of the invention that can be used in various configurations of sliding door sliding systems. While some mechanical details of such systems, including other sectional and plan views of the particular components, have been omitted, such details are well within the understanding of those skilled in the art in light of the present disclosure. It should also be understood that the present invention is not limited to the preferred embodiments illustrated.

Detailed Description of the Invention With reference generally to Figures 2-8D, it will be appreciated that the present invention can generally be included within numerous configurations within the sliding door sliding door systems.

According to Figure 1, a conventional sliding door system 10 of the prior art for inserted door configuration is shown. The sliding door slide system 10 includes a pair of complementary upper and lower hinge and slide systems, one of which will be described in detail for clarity and ease of vision. However, it will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the two are complementary and are essentially configured as a mirror image of each other. Accordingly, the sliding door slide system 10 includes slides 12 mounted, such as by conventional screw fasteners (not shown) to the inner surface 1 of a right outer side wall SW of a cabinet. The slides 12 are shown having an external track 14 and an internal sliding member 16 which may include, for example, ball bearing retainers 18 which allow the inner sliding member 16 to move back and forth with respect to the track 14. The sliding door sliding system 10 additionally includes a back plate 20 mounted to the internal sliding member 16, such as by welding at two or more welding points, or by another suitable fastening means for the connection or manufacture of an integral piece.

To provide the hinge movement necessary to move a door from an open position, parallel to the side wall SW, to a closed position, inserted and perpendicular to SW, the hinges 30 are provided. In this prior art embodiment, the system 10 is equipped with Euro-hinge style hinges 30 which are well known in the art. The hinges 30 include a base 32 mounted to the backing plate 20, such as by conventional screw fasteners 34, a body 36 connected to the base 32, articulated arms 38 extended from the body 36 and connected at a door mounting rate 40. The door mounting rate 40 is configured to be mounted by conventional means to a recess in a door (not shown) that is conventional in the art. Also noteworthy, the holes through the articulated base 32 for mounting a back plane typically have a standard spacing of 32 mm apart. To maintain the proper door alignment, the system 10 also includes a follower strip 42 or anti-transfer plate mounted to the back plates 20 of the upper and lower hinge and slide systems. The follower strip 42 is shown to be made of a solid material, such as wood, for ease of mounting to the backing plate 20 with conventional fasteners, such as screws or the like (not shown). The follower strip 42, which will be appreciated can be in many different forms, serves to keep the sliding internal members 16 mobile in unison to prevent the racking of the running door. This conventional sliding door system 10 of the prior art, as described, uses conventional hinge and slide components designed to achieve an inserted door position when the sliding door is in a fully closed position. As such when in the closed position, the outer or front surface of the sliding door will be relatively level with or in the same plane as the front edge of the side wall SW. However, as previously mentioned, the door will not match the style of full overlay drawers. Now returning to FIGS. 2 and 3, a cabinet C is shown in FIG. 2 having a full overlap sliding door sliding system 110 consisting of the present invention. Cabinet C comprises at least one upper panel T, a lower panel B, external SW side walls left and right. The inner walls IW left and right, and sliding doors left and right L and R, respectively. The left and right IW internal walls can be held in place within the enclosure C in a conventional manner, such as by using L-shaped clamps and conventional screw fasteners, or by other suitable means. It will be appreciated that each door has a respective system 110, although the right inner wall effectively conceals the right view system. The C cabinet can take many forms, it need not be part of an entertainment center, and it will be understood that it is generally representative of the upper portion of an entertainment center that has sliding doors. As seen in Figures 2 and 3, the sliding door slide system 110 is also constructed with hinged top and bottom slides, one of which will be described in detail for clarity and ease of vision. Again, however, it will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the two are complementary and are essentially configured as a mirror image of one another to achieve a sliding door sliding system 110. With respect to the left door L, the system 110 is mounted to the outer surface O of the left inner wall IW of the cabinet C. More particularly, each of the slides 12 of the suspension system 110 is assembled, such as by conventional screw-type fasteners (not shown) to the outer surface O of the left inner wall IW of the cabinet C. The slides 12 can be constructed as described in relation to the conventional slides of the prior art in figure 1, having an external guide 14, an internal sliding member 16, and ball bearing retainers 18. Similarly, the suspension system 110 additionally includes a back plate 20 mounted to the inner sliding member 16, as it is described with reference to Figure 1. Each of the sliding and hinge systems of the sliding door sliding system 110 also includes a hinge clamp 60 mounted to the backing plate 20 by conventional fasteners. The hinge clamp 60 has first and second flat portions 62 and 64, and an off-center portion 66 connected to and between the flat portions 62 and 64 to locate the flat portions 62 and 64 in respective substantially parallel planes spaced apart. The offset is preferably in the range of .59 to 1.13 inches (1.49 to 2.87 cm) to accommodate common hinge heights and component thicknesses. The first flat portion 62 preferably has a pair of mounting holes 68 by which the hinge clamp 60 can be mounted to the backing plate 20 by conventional fasteners. The mounting holes 68 are preferably in the same configuration as the mounting holes of a conventional hinge base 32 could be, such as with a spacing of 32 mm, so that new clamping holes need not be made in the mounting plate. backrest 20 for accommodating the hinge clamp assembly 60. The sliding door slide system 110 uses the same conventional Euro-hinge hinges 30 as used in the prior art system 10. However, hinge 30 is mounted on the inner surface of the second flat portion 64, which preferably has a pair of mounting holes 70 for mounting the hinge 30 by conventional fasteners. To easily accept the mounting of the hinge base 32, the holes 70 are preferably of the same configuration as the original mounting holes in the backing plate 20, such as 32 mm apart. In addition, the respective mounting holes 68 and 70 are preferably aligned, to maintain the same location before and after the left door L with respect to the sliding member., as best seen with respect to the backing plate 20. If the respective mounting holes 68 and 70 are aligned and centered with respect to the clamp 60, then the clamp 60 will be universally adapted for left and right doors and both for assemblies superior sliding as inferior. It will be appreciated that if the respective mounting holes 68 and 70 are aligned but not centered with respect to the clamp 60, each upper and lower clamp 60 could be a mirror image of one another, and therefore, it may be preferable to have a tongue or other location features to ensure proper orientation of the clamp 60 to prevent improper assembly. In this configuration, the left door L is then mounted to the hinge door mounting cup 40 in a conventional manner. The sliding door sliding system 110 is also capable of using the same door alignment hardware as in the prior art system, which includes the follower strip 42 mounted to the backing plates 20 of the upper hinge and slide systems and lower. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that by using the hinge clamp 60, the assembly of the conventional hinge and slide components that are designated for inserted sliding door slide systems can be reconfigured to achieve the desired full overlap sliding door systems. . Returning to Figure 4, an additional embodiment according to the invention is shown. Figure 4 illustrates that the hinge clamps 60 can be used with sliding door slider systems having alternative door alignment means. For example, the sliding door slide system 210 of FIG. 4 represents a system using conventional prior art hinge and slide components of the type having a cable system 80 for synchronizing the upper and lower hinge and slide systems. to maintain the proper door alignment. Accordingly, the sliding door slider system 210 is also constructed with upper and lower hinge and slide systems, similar to those in Figures 2 and 3, and could be mounted to the outer surface O of the left inner wall IW of the sliding door. cabinet C. However, the sliding door slider system 210 has alternative backup plates 82, pulleys 84, cables 86, forward cable end assemblies 88 and rear cable end assemblies (not shown), as substituted for backing plates 20 and follower strip 42. Accordingly, by using hinge clamps 60, the sliding door sliding system 210 can be converted from the conventional configuration, in which it could be designed to be mounted to the inner surface of a external side wall and to achieve a sliding door position of partial or inserted overlap, to a new configuration in which it is mounted to an external surface of an internal wall and can achieve a sliding system of sliding door of complete overlap. A further alternative embodiment is shown in Figure 5, for use in hinge and slide suspension systems designed to support very large cabinet doors. In Figure 5, the sliding door slide system 310 is configured to allow a cabinet door to be mounted by four hinges, and incorporates a rack and pinion door alignment system of the prior art 90, described in the Publication U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 2004/0046488, to accommodate the increased mass of a large door, while conventional hinge and slide components are still used. As with the other embodiments, the sliding door slide system 310 is constructed with upper and lower hinge and slide systems, one of which will be described in detail for ease of vision clarity. Once again, it will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the two are complementary and are essentially configured as a mirror image of one another. The sliding door slide system 310 is shown for use with a left cabinet door. More particularly, each of the slides 12 of the system 310 is mounted to the external surface O of a left inner wall IW of a cabinet, by means of attachment similar to those used with other embodiments. The slides 12 can again be constructed as described in relation to the conventional slides of the prior art in Figure 1, which has an external guide 14, an internal sliding member 16, and ball bearing retainers 18. In this embodiment , the sliding door sliding system 310 additionally includes alternative backup plate 92 mounted to the inner sliding member 16, and has a synchronization shaft or axis 94 mounted thereto by means of bearing-type shaft-like housings 96. The pinion gears 98 are mounted on the shaft 94 and engage the tooth of the track member 100 which is mounted in cooperation with the slide 12 to the outer surface O of the left inner wall IW. This system also uses an alternative hinge clamp 360 in accordance with the invention to accommodate the mounting of two hinges 30 for each respective slider 12. As shown in Figure 5, the hinge clamp 360 has a first planar portion 362 and a pair of second flat portions 364, with a pair of respective off-center portions 366 connecting the first planar portion 362 to the respective pair of the second planar portions 364, and whereby the first planar portion 362 and second planar portions 364 are located in planes respective substantially parallel spaced apart. As in the previous mode, the offset is preferably in the range of .59 to 1.13 inches (1.49 to 2.87 cm). The first flat portion 362 preferably has two pairs of mounting holes 368 by which the hinge clamp 360 can be mounted to the back plate 92 by conventional fasteners. Mounting holes 368 are preferably in the same configuration as could be the mounting holes for a pair of conventional hinge bases 32, such as the 32 mm common spacing previously noted, and so that new fastening holes are not needed in the back plate 92 to accommodate the hinge clamp assembly 360. The sliding door system 310 uses the same conventional Euro-hinge style hinges 30 as in the prior art system 10. However, a hinge 30 is mounted to the inner surface of each of the pair of second flat portions 364, and each preferably has a pair of mounting holes 370 spaced apart in a manner consistent with a hinge base 32 for mounting a hinge 30 by conventional fasteners. , such as with the 32 mm common spacing previously indicated. Similarly with the other embodiments, the respective mounting holes 368 and 370 are preferably aligned in the bracket 360, to maintain the same location before and after the left door L with respect to the sliding member, as best seen with respect to the front edge of the back plate 92. In this configuration, the left door L is then mounted to the door mounting cup 40 of each hinge 30 in a conventional manner. The sliding door sliding system 310 therefore uses alternative hinge brackets 360 to convert the designed hardware as a sliding door sliding system inserted for a large door to a full overlay sliding door sliding system. Returning to FIGS. 6 and 7, two examples of additional alternative embodiments of hinge clamps according to the invention are shown. These examples represent additional hinge clamps of the invention adapted to convert common sliding door sliding hardware from a design for use with a sliding hinge and to achieve a door inserted into a design for use with two hinges per slide and to achieve a Full overlay door. In figure 6, a hinge clamp 460 is somewhat similar to the clamp 60 of Figures 2-4, but the clamp 460 is adapted to have a first flat portion 462 mounted to a pair of holes 468 to the mounting holes in a slide that it could have been used to accommodate a single hinge for an inserted door, and has a second flat portion 464 with two pairs of hinge mounting holes 470 to accept two hinges of a conventional sliding door slider system. The first planar portion 462 and second planar portion 464 are connected by the offset portion 466 to locate the planar portions 462, 464, in respective substantially parallel planes spaced apart. The hinge clamp 560 shown in Figure 7 is somewhat similar to the clamp 360 of Figure 5, but the clamp 560 is adapted to have a first flat portion 562 mounted in a pair of holes 568 to the holes in the hinge. mounted on a slide that could have been used to accommodate a single hinge for an inserted door, and has a pair of second flat portions 564, each having a pair of hinge mounting holes 570 to collectively accept two hinges of a system sliding sliding door conventional. A pair of respective off-center portions 566 connect the first planar portion 562 to the respective pair of second planar portions 564 in respective substantially parallel planes spaced apart. The embodiments shown in Figures 2-7 demonstrate that the present invention can be used in various configurations to achieve a closed door position of full overlap. It will be appreciated that the movement of the door relative to the cabinet will be quite similar in each of these embodiments, and such movement is generally illustrated in Figures 8A-8D. For example, in Figure 8A, the left door L is shown from a top view with respect to the inner wall IW and external side wall SW. In this view, the left door L is in a first position where the door is being moved to its fully forward position, parallel to the external side wall of the cabinet SW. In Figure 8B, the left door L is shown in a second position where the door has moved to its fully forward position and is being hinged to a closed position. In Figure 8C, the left door L is shown in a third position where the door is being hinged even closer to a closed position. In Figure 8D, the left door L is shown in a fourth position where the door L has been hinged to a fully closed position, and is located in a fully overlapped position relative to the outer side wall of cabinet SW. It will be appreciated that the sliding door slider systems and hinge clamps described in accordance with the present invention can be provided in various configurations, having any number of components used for the slides and to maintain door alignment, and without considering whether the system It has two or more slides and one or more hinges per slide. In addition, any variety of suitable building materials, configurations, shapes and sizes of the components and methods for connecting the components can be used to meet the particular needs and requirements of an end user. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made in the design and construction of such components without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention, and that the claims are not limited to the preferred embodiments illustrated. It is noted that in relation to this date, the best method known to the applicant to carry out the aforementioned invention, is that which is clear from the present description of the invention.

Claims (25)

1. CLAIMS Having described the invention as above, the contents of the following claims are claimed as property: 1. Hinge clamp connectable to a sliding door sliding system, characterized in that the sliding door system comprises components capable of achieving a position. of partial overlap or fully inserted sliding door without the hinge clamp, and wherein the use of the hinge clamp makes it possible for the sliding door sliding system to achieve a substantially complete overlap sliding door position.
2. 2. Hinge clamp according to claim 1, characterized in that it additionally comprises a first flat portion and at least a second flat portion with the first and second flat portions arranged in two planes substantially parallel and spaced apart.
3. 3. Hinge clamp according to claim 2, characterized in that it additionally comprises at least an off-center portion connecting the first flat portion to a second flat portion.
4. Hinge clamp according to claim 2, characterized in that the first flat portion is adapted to be connected to a sliding member of the sliding door sliding system.
5. 5. Hinge clamp according to claim 2, characterized in that at least one second flat portion is adapted to be connected to at least one door hinge.
6. A hinge clamp according to claim 2, characterized in that at least one first planar portion is spaced apart from at least one second planar portion in the range of .59 to 1.13 inches (1.49 to 2.87 cm).
7. 7. Hinge clamp according to claim 2, characterized in that the first flat portion and at least one second flat portion have aligned mounting holes, whereby a hinge mounted for use in the complete overlap system may be in the same location before and after with respect to a sliding member of the sliding door sliding system as it could have been in an inserted system.
8. 8. Hinge clamp according to claim 2, characterized in that the first flat portion has at least one pair of mounting holes spaced 32 mm apart.
9. 9. Hinge clamp according to claim 2, characterized in that at least one second flat portion has at least one pair of mounting holes spaced 32 mm apart.
10. Hinge clamp according to claim 2, characterized in that the first planar portion has at least one pair of mounting holes spaced 32 mm apart, and at least one second planar portion has at least one pair of spaced mounting holes. mm apart and are in alignment with the pair of mounting holes in the first flat portion.
11. 11. Hinge clamp according to claim 1, characterized in that it additionally comprises a first flat portion located in a first plane and a pair of second flat portions located in a second plane spaced apart and substantially parallel to the first plane.
12. 12. Hinge clamp according to claim 11, characterized in that it additionally comprises a pair of offset portions, wherein each offset portion connects the first planar portion to a second planar portion.
13. 13. Hinge clamp according to claim 1, characterized in that the sliding door sliding system is adapted to use a follower strip to synchronize the movements of at least two door slides.
14. 14. Hinge clamp according to claim 1, characterized in that the sliding door sliding system is adapted to use a cable system to synchronize sliding movements of at least two door slides.
15. 15. Hinge clamp according to claim 1, characterized in that the sliding door sliding system is adapted to use a rack and pinion system to synchronize sliding movements of at least two sliding doors.
16. 16. Hinge clamp according to claim 10, characterized in that the sliding door sliding system is adapted to use a rack and pinion system to synchronize sliding movements of at least two door slides.
17. 17. Sliding door sliding system adapted to mount a door to a cabinet having a side wall where when the door is in a closed position an outer edge of the door is substantially in the same plane as an external surface of the wall lateral, characterized in that the sliding door sliding system comprises at least two sliding door slides, each sliding door slide has a slidable member, and a hinge clamp is connectable to the slidable member by at least one fastener in a first location in the hinge clamp and has at least one pair of holes spaced 32 mm apart and is connectable to at least one respective hinge at a second location in the hinge clamp, wherein the hinge is further adapted to be connected to a door.
18. 18. Sliding door sliding system according to claim 17, characterized in that the first location is located in a first flat portion of the hinge clamp and the second location is located in a respective second flat portion of the hinge clamp, wherein the first planar portion is in a first plane and the second planar portion is in a second plane spaced apart and substantially parallel to the first plane.
19. 19. Hinge clamp according to claim 18, characterized in that it additionally comprises at least an off-center portion connecting the first flat portion to each respective second planar portion.
20. 20. Hinge clamp according to claim 18, characterized in that the first plane is spaced apart from the second plane in the range of .59 to 1.13 inches (1.49 to 2.87 cm).
21. 21. Hinge clamp according to claim 17, characterized in that the first location is aligned with a respective pair of 32 mm holes in the second location, whereby a hinge mounted for use in a complete overlay system can be in the same location before and after with respect to a sliding member of the sliding door sliding system as it could have been in an inserted system.
22. 22. Hinge clamp according to claim 17, characterized in that it additionally comprises at least one pair of holes spaced 32 mm apart from the first location in the hinge clamp.
23. 23. Hinge clamp according to claim 17, characterized in that it additionally comprises at least two pairs of holes in the first location in the hinge clamp with each respective pair of holes in the first location being spaced 32 mm apart.
24. 24. Hinge clamp according to claim 17, characterized in that it additionally comprises at least two pairs of holes in the respective second location in the hinge clamp with each respective pair of holes in the second location being spaced 32 mm apart.
25. 25. A hinge clamp according to claim 17, characterized in that it additionally comprises at least two second locations, with each second location being located in a respective second planar portion.