US3862470A

US3862470A - Door hinge

Info

Publication number: US3862470A
Application number: US334269A
Authority: US
Inventors: David T Swank
Original assignee: Flexible Co
Current assignee: Flexible Co
Priority date: 1973-02-21
Filing date: 1973-02-21
Publication date: 1975-01-28
Anticipated expiration: 1992-01-28

Abstract

A concealed door hinge is disclosed capable of simultaneously pivoting two adjacent doors from a central frame. The door hinge is easily installable and is adaptable for automatic closure of the door by action of gravity. The invention insures security between adjacent doors making the hinge desirable for use in security locker arrays. The foregoing abstract is merely a resume of one general application, is not a complete discussion of all principles of operation or applications, and is not to be construed as a limitation on the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Description

United States Patent 1191 Swank Jan. 28, 1975 1 DOOR HINGE [75] Inventor: David T. Swank, Millersburg, Ohio [73] Assignee: The Flexible Company, Loudonville,

Ohio

[221 Filed: Feb. 21, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 334,269

[52] US. Cl [6/128 R, 16/136, 16/152, 16/153,16/171- [51] Int. Cl. E05d 9/00 [58] Field of Search 16/176, 171, 168, 164,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,323,344 12/1919 Willard 16/128 R 1,719,253 7/1929 White 16/128 R X 1,747,003 2/1930 Hammer 232/24 1,944,386 1/1934 Winslow 16/152 2,020,553 11/1935 Hughes 16/128 R 2,700,791 2/1955 Vogel 16/168 X 2,754,536 7/1956 Troche et al.... 16/128 R 3,008,176 11/1961 Paine et a1. 16/176 X 3,083,402 4/1963 Foltz 16/153 3,594,851 7/1971 Swatton 16/136 3,784,089 1/1974 KOCh 232/24 FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS 210,146 6/1966 Sweden 16/171 635,744 2/1963 Belgium 113/128 R 899,670 8/1944 France 16/128 R Primary ExuminerRoy D. Frazier Assistant Examiner-Peter A. Aschenbrenner Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Woodling, Krost, Granger & Rust ABSTRACT 3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures noon HINGE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to hinges and more particularly to a hinge for simultaneously suspending two doors.

Pivot assemblies to suspend doors and the like have been known to the prior art for a great number of years. However, progress to make stronger and less expensive door hinges is still a current challenge to this art. The challenge to make a stronger and less expensive door hinge is especially predominant in the use of lockers in schools, factories and especially in bus and airport depots. In these installations, an array of lockers provides temporary storage for transients or security storage for assigned persons. A very expensive portion of the array of lockers is due to the hinge construction of each door of the locker array. The hinges must be strong to protect valuables from vandalism and yet be economically feasible to enable marketing of a large array of lockers. Many of the prior art hinges installed on lockers were exposed hinges requiring as many as four hinges to maintain proper security in depots subject to vandalism.

The installation of four hinges per door made the construction and alignment of the hinges during manufacture, a difficult and costly step. However, eliminating two of the four hinges reduced the security of the locker. The four-hinge door had the additional disadvantage that it did not lend itself well to an automatic door closing provision.

Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide an improved door hinge which has concealed pivots to provide a more secure locker.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved door hinge which is capable of simultaneously pivoting two adjacent doors.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved door hinge which is adaptable for automatic closing of the doors.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved door hinge which is easily installable.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved door hinge which is secured between adjacent lockers.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved door hinge which is of substantial economic savings over the prior art door hinges.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention may be incorporated in a hinge to provide simultaneous pivots from a frame for a first and a second door wherein each door has a surface having a pivot aperture, comprising in combination, means for establishing the first door on one side of the frame with the pivot aperture of the first door adjacent to the frame, means for establishing the second door on the other side of the frame with the pivot aperture of the second door adjacent to the frame, hinge means, and means for fastening said hinge means to the frame with said hinge means extending from said sides of the frame to cooperate with the pivot apertures to provide simultaneous pivots for the first and second doors.

Other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the following description and claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is the preferred embodiment showing a sectional view of a door hinge to simultaneously pivot adjacent doors from a frame;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a modification of the door hinge shown in FIG. 1 to pivot a single door;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a locker array suitable for incorporating the disclosed invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a modification of the door hinge shown in FIG. 1 including provisions for automatically closing the door;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the door hinge shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a modification of a door hinge in FIG. 1 including provisions for automatically closing the door; and,

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a spacer shown in FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a hinge to provide simultaneous pivots from a frame 10 for a first door 11 and a second door 12 wherein each door has a surface having a

pivot aperture

13 and 14, respectively. The first door 11 is established on one side of the frame 10 with the pivot aperture 13 of the first door 11 adjacent to the frame 10 and the second door 12 is established on the other side of the frame 10 with the pivot aperture 14 of the second door 12 adjacent to the frame 10. Hinge means 17 is fixed to the frame 10 with the hinge means 17 extending from the sides of the frame 10 to cooperate with the

pivot apertures

13 and 14 to provide simultaneous pivots for the first door 11 and the second door 12.

The first and second doors 11 and 12 are shown as sheet metal members wherein the first door 11 has a flange or portion 19 established substantially perpendicular to a front surface 20 of the first door 11 which portion 19 contains the pivot aperture 13. Similarly, the second door 12 has a flange or portion 21 containing the pivot aperture 14 which portion 21 is established substantially perpendicular to a front surface 22 of the second door 12. In this embodiment, the axis of the hinge means 17 is shown being substantially vertical with the first door 11 being a top door and the second door 12 being a bottom door relative to the frame 10. The frame 10 is shown located between the first and second doors 11 and 12 and having a frame aperture 15 which is located adjacent to the

pivot apertures

13 and 14 of the first and second doors 11 and 12. The first door 11 is established adjacent to the frame 10 by spacer means 23 having a spacer aperture which spacer aperture is adjacent to the frame aperture 15 and the pivot aperture 13. The second door 12 is established by other means such as a bottom hinge, not shown, to be adjacent to the frame 10 with the pivot aperture 14 in close proximity to the frame aperture 15. The hinge means 17 has pivot means shown as

sleeves

24 and 25 which extend from a given line through the hinge means 17 in proximity to the frame aperture 15 in two substantially opposite directions along the axis of the hinge means l7.The

sleeves

24 and 25 abut the frame 10 and extend from the sides of the frame 10 to cooperate with

apertures

13 and 14 to provide pivots for the first and second doors 11 and 12. The hinge means 17 includes a first and a

second fastener

31 and 32, respectively, which are engageable with one another through the frame aperture 15 to secure the hinge means 17 to the frame 10. The first and

second fasteners

31 and 32 in this embodiment are shown as threaded fasteners, the first fastener 31 being a socket head cap screw whereas the second threaded fastener 32 is a selflocking nut such as a nut with a deformable insert or a nut with partly deformed threads. The first and

second fasteners

31 and 32 engage the

sleeves

24 and 25 against the frame and a portion of the first fastener 31 extends through the frame aperture to engage with the second fastener 32. In FIG. 1 the

sleeves

24 and 25 extend from substantially the same location of the frame 10 to suspend the first door 11 along the same pivotable axis as the second door 12. The second fastener 32 is shown as a self-locking nut to insure security between adjacent lockers. For example, the hinge means 17 engaged with the frame 10 by the first and

second fasteners

31 and 32 cannot be removed without access to both the top and bottom of the frame 10, that is, access to two adjacent lockers. The

fasteners

31 and 32 have been shown as threaded fasteners but it is understood that engagement need not be by threads but can be by welds, rivets, jam washers and the like.

FIG. 2 is a modification of FIG. 1 showing a hinge means to suspend a single door 39 from a frame 40 which is shown as a sheet metal frame including a subframe 41 attached to the frame 40 by

welds

42 and 43 creating a tubular frame assembly. The door 39 has a bottom portion 53 having a pivot aperture 54 which is located adjacent to a frame aperture 55 of the frame 40. A weld nut 57 is fastened to the underside of the frame 40 by

welds

58 and 59. The bottom portion 53 of the door 39 is spaced from the frame 40 by spacer means 61 in a manner similar to the spacer means 23 in FIG. 1. Pivot means shown as a sleeve 64 extends through an aperture of the spacer means 61 to abut the frame 40 to pivot the door 39 from the frame 40. A threaded fastener 65 extends through the sleeve 64, spacer means 61 and frame aperture 55 to the weld nut 57 to provide a bottom pivot for the door 39. A combination of the hinges shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are adequate to completely suspend a plurality of locker doors located within a locker array.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a locker array including eight lockers 71-78. The tubular frame 40 shown in FIG. 2 extends about the perimeter of the eight lockers 71-78 whereas the lockers are separated by three frames 10A-10C which are similar in detail to frame 10 in FIG. 1. The hinges shown in FIG. 2 are used to provide top pivots for

lockers

71 and 72 and bottom pivots for

lockers

77 and 78. The hinges shown in FIG. 1 provide simultaneous bottom and top pivots for

lockers

71, 73; 72, 74; 73, 75; 74, 76; 75, 77 and 76, 78. Whereas, the prior art required at least sixteen hinges to suspend eight locker doors, that is, two hinges per door; the dis closed invention requires only ten hinges including four hinges as shown in FIG. 2 and six hinges as shown in FIG. 1. In general, the prior art incorporated four exposed hinges per door totaling 32 hinges for an eight locker array but with the disclosed invention, only ten concealed hinges are required to suspend doors of the same eight locker array of FIG. 3. The use of concealed hinges instead of exposed hinges adds to the security of the locker array.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of hinge means 17A which is a modification of the hinge means 17 shown in FIG. 1 and including means for producing an upward movement of the center of mass of one of the first and second doors 11 and 12 when that door is pivoted from a first position to a second position to enable an automatic return to the first position by action of gravity. The hinge means 17A comprises a U-shaped member 80 forming a slot 81 to cooperate with a portion of the frame 10 shown in FIG. 1. A first and a second pivot means 24A and 25A are fastened to opposite sides of the U-shaped member 80 to extend from the hinge means 17A in two substantially opposite directions with the pivot axis of the first pivot means 24A displaced from the pivot axis of the second pivot means 25A. The displacement of the pivot axis from one another is in two directions relative to the U-shaped member 80. The U-shaped member 80 can be of any sturdy metallic material which may be bent subsequent to the fastening of the first and second pivot means 24A and 25A.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the hinge means 17A shown in FIG. 4 installed on a frame 10D similar to the frame 10 in FIG. 1. The first pivot means 24A has a head 84 which is fastened to the U-shaped member 80 by welds 86 and 87 whereas the second pivot means 25A has a head 89 which is fixed to the U-shaped member 80 by

welds

90 and 91. When the hinge means 17A is assembled as shown in FIG. 4, the hinge means 17A is then established on the frame 10D as shown in FIG. 5 to be welded thereto by welds 93 and 94. Although the welds in FIG. 5 are shown as spot welds, the pivot means 24A and 25A and the attachment of the U-shape member 80 to the frame 10 can be made in any suitable manner. The assembly produces a utilized hinge means for simultaneously pivoting adjacent doors wherein the axis of the first pivot means 24A is displaced from the axis of the second pivot means 25A. In FIG. 5 the axis of pivot means 24A is shown displaced to the left of the axis of pivot means 25A and in addition the axis of pivot means 25A is displaced in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the paper. The hinge means 17A shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 has the advantage that a frame aperture in the frame 10D is not required. When the hinge means 17A shown in the FIGS. 4 and 5 is used for suspending the top and bottom of a given door, the top pivot will be offset from the bottom pivot to produce a vertically upward movement of the center of mass of the door when the door is pivoted. The pivots can be offset such that the center of mass of the door will raise when the door is opened thereby enabling automatic return of the door to the closed position by action of gravity.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a modification of FIG. 1 incorporating an automatic door return. The first door 11 has a portion 19A which forms an obtuse angle with the front surface 20 of the first door 11. The frame 10 has an indented portion 96 to secure spacer means 23A from rotation with the spacer means 23A establishing the first door 11 to be adjacent to the frame 10. The top surface of the spacer means 23A forms an acute angle realtive to the frame 10 and cooperates with the angle of the bottom portion 19A of the first door 11. A point 103 on the bottom portion 19A of the first door 11 rests on a corner 100 of the spacer means 23A. The cooperation between the spacer means 23A and the bottom portion 19A produces a vertical movement of the center of mass of the first door 11 when the door is rotated. By proper indexing the spacer means 23A, the assembly can be established to automatically return the first door 11 to a closed or an open position.

formed by the pivot means 24, the point 103 moves, for 1 example, to corner 102 thereby raising the center of mass of the first door 11. When the first door 11 is released, the first door 11 will rotate to the closed position by action of gravity.

The invention has been described in particular using threaded fasteners in FIGS. 1, 2 and 6 and welded pivot means in FIGS. 4 and 5 but it is to be understood that these representations are only by way of example and are not to be considered limiting upon the term hinge means as used in this disclosure.

The present disclosure includes that contained in the appended claims, as well as that of the foregoing description. Although this invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularlity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

What is claimed is: l. A concealed hinge to provide simultaneous pivots from a frame having a frame aperture to a first and a second door wherein each door has a pivot surface having a pivot aperture, wherein the pivot surface is substantially perpendicular to the front surface of the door, comprising in combination:

means for spacing the first door from one side of the frame with the pivot surface and the pivot aperture of the first door adjacent to the frame aperture;

means for spacing the second door on the other side of the frame with the pivot surface and the pivot aperture of the second door adjacent to the frame aperture;

hinge means including a male and a female threaded fastener and a first and a second sleeve, each sleeve having an outside diameter for pivotable cooperation with the pivot apertures;

and means including said male and female threaded fasteners for fastening said hinge means to the frame with said sleeves extending from the frame through the pivot apertures to independently pivot the first and second doors and to substantially conceal said hinge means by the front surfaces of the doors in conjunction with the frame.

2. A concealed door hinge to provide a simultaneous bottom pivot for a first door and a top pivot for a second door from a frame having a frame aperture wherein the bottom of the first door and the top of the second door each has a pivot aperture, comprising in combination:

spacer means having a spacer aperture being substantially equal in size to the pivot aperture for spacing the bottom of the first door above the frame with the pivot aperture of the first door adjacent to the frame aperture;

means for establishing the top of the second door below the frame with the pivot aperture of the second door adjacent to the frame aperture;

hinge means including a male and a female threaded fastener with said male fastener having a crosssection substantially equal in size to said frame aperture; said hinge means including a first and a second sleeve each having an inside diameter for receiving said male fastener and each having an outside diameter for pivotable cooperation with the pivot apertures;

means for fastening said threaded fasteners and said sleeves to the frame with said male fastener extending through the frame aperture with said first sleeve receiving said male fastener and extending from the frame and through said spacer aperture in said spacer means to cooperate with the pivot aperture on the bottom of the first door to provide a bottom pivot and with said second sleeve receiving said male fastener and extending from the frame to cooperate with the pivot aperture on the top of the second door to provide a top pivot,

and said fastening means locating said hinge means on the frame for substantially concealing said hinge means by the front surfaces of the first and second doors and the frame.

3. A door hinge as set forth in claim 2, wherein said spacer means includes a top surface which forms an acute angle relative to the axis of one of said sleeves to produce an upward movement of the center of mass of the first door when the first door is pivoted from a first to a second position to enable automatic return to said first position by action of gravity.

Claims

1. A concealed hinge to provide simultaneous pivots from a frame having a frame aperture to a first and a second door wherein each door has a pivot surface having a pivot aperture, wherein the pivot surface is substantially perpendicular to the front surface of the door, comprising in combination: means for spacing the first door from one side of the frame with the pivot surface and the pivot aperture of the first door adjacent to the frame aperture; means for spacing the second door on the other side of the frame with the pivot surface and the pivot aperture of the second door adjacent to the frame aperture; hinge means including a male and a female threaded fastener and a first and a second sleeve, each sleeve having an outside diameter for pivotable cooperation with the pivot apertures; and means including said male and female threaded fasteners for fastening said hinge means to the frame with said sleeves extending from the frame through the pivot apertures to independently pivot the first and second doors and to substantially conceal said hinge means by the front surfaces of the doors in conjunction with the frame.

2. A concealed door hinge to provide a simultaneous bottom pivot for a first door and a top pivot for a second door from a frame having a frame aperture wherein the bottom of the first door and the top of the second door each has a pivot aperture, comprising in combination: spacer means having a spacer aperture being substantially equal in size to the pivot aperture for spacing the bottom of the first door above the frame with the pivot aperture of the first door adjacent to the frame aperture; means for establishing the top of the second door below the frame with the pivot aperture of the second door adjacent to the frame aperture; hinge means including a male and a female threaded fastener with said male fastener having a cross-section substantially equal in size to said frame aperture; said hinge means including a first and a second sleeve each having an inside diameter for receiving said male fastener and each having an outside diameter for pivotable cooperation with the pivot apertures; means for fastening said threaded fasteners and said sleeves to the frame with said male fastener extending through the frame aperture with said first sleeve receiving said male fastener and extending from the frame and through said spacer aperture in said spacer means to cooperate with the pivot aperture on the bottom of the first door to provide a bottom pivot and with said second sleeve receiving said male fastener and extending from the frame to cooperate with the pivot aperture on the top of the second door to provide a top pivot, and said fastening means locating said hinge means on the frame for substantially concealing said hinge means by the front surfaces of the first and second doors and the frame.