US464406A - Robert - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

B, H. WILES. SPRING HINGE No. 464,406. Patented Dec. 1-, 1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT I-l. WILES, OF FREEPORT, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE FREEPORT HARDVARE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

SPRING-HINGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 464,406, dated December 1, 1891.

Application filed March 21, 189].- Serial No. 885,904- (No model.)

T l 107007111 it may concern.- of the spring is held upon the casing and the Beitknown thatLROBERTHWILES,acitiother end upon the edge of the door, thus zen of the United States of America, residing forcing the two ends of the spring a considat Freeport, in the county of Stephenson and erable distance out of a vertical line. To en- 5 State of Illinois, have invented certain new able this to be done and to insure the return and useful Improvements in Spring-Hinges, of the spring to its normal position, it is necof which the following is a description. essarily made of considerable length, which My invention relates to the class of springlength must be, of course, added to the hinge hinges which are known as double-acting, itself. Besides this disadvantage, the bend to and which are designed to support a door so ing of the spring in this way causes an unas to allow it to be opened in either direction necessary strain upon it and is liable to upset and to return the door to its closed position the wire and destroy the tension of the spring. when released. Hinges of this class as here'- The third sub-class of double-acting hinges tofore constructed may be divided into three stands alone and has been more extensively V I5 sub-classes. Of these sub classes two are applied to gates and similar structureawhieh what are known as three-leaf hinges, which 'it is not necessary to closetightly, than to consist, merely, of an ordinary hinge having doors. 7 In this class the door swings both Ways one leaf secured to the door-casing and the uponthesamepivot,andthespringissoapplied other leaf extending between the door-casing that as the door passes its closed position in 20 and the door and having a thirdleaf pivoted swinging from one side to the other the engageto its-free end and secured to the door. This, ments of the two ends of the spring are reit will be seen, is the combination of two silnspectively shifted--one from the casing to the ple hinges applied to the door so that one al door and the other from the door to the easlows it to be opened in one direction and the ing-which, it will readily be seen by any one 2 5 other in the other direction, said hinges befamiliar with the properties of a coiled spring, ing so united that neither interferes with the reverses the action thereof. To swing the operation of the other. In one of these subdoor either way upon a single pivot, it is necclasses a spring is applied to each of the two essary either to leave a space between the simple hinges in such a manner as to tend to door and its casing or round ofi either one or o keep these hinges closed, so that this class the other to prevent them from either bindpresents a combination of two single-acting ing or separating in certain positions, and spring-hinges. These hinges are objectioneven when this is done the door can only be able for two reasons: First, the cost of thetwo given a limited swing in one or both direcsprings and the attachment of the same to tions. Hence it will be seen that this sub- 3 5 the hinges renders the latter unnecessarily class also has certain unavoidable and objecexpensive, and, secondly, the springs are artionablefeatures. ranged on either side of the door, where they, It is my purpose to remove all of. the ob.- or a bulky casing in which they are inclosed, jections that have been stated as beingiatare exposed to view and make the hinge aptendant upon any or all of these three sub= 9Q 4o pear clumsy. In the other sub-class the mid classes of hinges without the loss of the ad dle leaf of the hinge is divided into two porvantages possessed by any one of them; tions arranged one at some distance above To this end my invention consists in the the other and opening in opposite directions, combination, in a double-acting spring-hinge, and a single spring is applied to the two porof two leaves adapted, respectively, for at- 5 5 tions of this middle leaf, so as to constantly tachment to the door and casing and pivoted tend to bring the three leaves together. In together at each side of the door, so that thishinge as the door is opened one of the either pivot may yield when the door is portions of the middle leaf is carried with the swung away from it, but not when swung todoor, and the end of the spring attached to, ward it, and a coiled spring provided with too 50 said portion is twisted out of position, so that suitable connections with the two leaves to apwhen the door is completely opened one end ply the torsion of the spring at all times to bring saidleaves together without at any time forcing the spring out of a straight axial line. A great variety of constructions may be made, all of which contain the broad features of my invention.

My preferred construction is shown in the drawings presented herewith, in which- Figure'l shows the hinge opened wide with the pivots at one side removed to allow the different parts of the hinge to take a position where they can all be clearly seen. Figs. 2 and 3 are cross-sections taken in line 2 2 of Fig. 1, but showing the hinge as it appears when all of the pins or pintles are in place. Fig. 2 shows the position of the hinge when the door is half open, and 3 when it is closed.

Referring to the different parts of the hinge by means of letters applied thereto,.A and A are two plates adapted for attachment, one to the door and the other to the casing, the central portions of which are cut away, except at the edges, to make room for rods or pintles B B, and the swinging arms 0 O 0 C pivoted upon said pintles and extending in opposite directions therefrom, and also pivoted togetherO C at c c by means of pintle B and O C at c 0 by means of a pintle B '-so that the four arms form a quadrilateral the sides of which are pivoted together at the four corners. When the door, which we will suppose is attached to the plate A in Fig. 2, is swung to the right, as seen in the figure, the platesA A engage withthe arms C C spreading said arms apart upon the pivot B and at the same time the pivots B B as they separate draw the pivots B toward the pivot B which can be done until the arms 0 G strike the arms 0 0 As it is necessary to enlarge these arms somewhat at the ends where they encircle the pivots, the pivots B B are placed back of the faces. of the plates A A, as seen in Fig. 2 and the pivots B are separated and placed at opposite ends of the hinge, so that by shortening the pivot B and arranging it at the middle portion of the hinge the enlarged portions 0 c of the arms 0 C may swing between the enlarged portions ccof the arms 0 0..

Upon the pintle B, I mount a coiled spring D, hearing at its opposite ends upon the arms C C respectively, so that its tension tends to spread=these arms as far apart as their attachment will permit. This spring, unless resisted, brings the different parts of the hinge into the position shown in Fig. 3, which is the position they assume when the door is closed. It is obvious that the spring might Y is closed, and thus make one side of the hinge The four arms I cumbersome and unsightly. O O O O are preferably made of the same length from pivot to pivot; but this is not absolutely essential, the only difficulty in making them of different lengths being either that the door could not be opened to its fullest extent in one or the other direction or that unnecessary material would be used in their construction.

Fig. l'illustratesa. very important advantage possessed by my improved hinge in' its preferred formnamely,the ease with which said hinge canbe applied to the door and casing. To do this the pintlesB B B should be first removed. The torsion of the spring is then sustained by the arms C 0 which rest upon the edges of the plate A',, as is shown in Fig. 3. The plates A A may now be attached tothe door and casing, respect-- ively, and after they are so atta-ched the door may be lifted into position and the pintles B B B inserted with the same ease as if an or-- ters Patent- 1. The combination, in a double acting hinge, of four arms pivoted together in the, form of a flexible quadrilateral, and two plates pivoted, respectively, to opposite corners of said quadrilateral and adapted for attachment, respectively, to thedoor and casing, substantially as described.

2. In a double-acting hinge, the combination of two plates adapted for attachment, respectively, to the door andcasing, four arms jointed together in the form of a flexible quadrilateral having opposite corners pivoted to said plates, respectively, and a spring applied to one of the corners of said quadrilateral and engaging with the two arms pivoted at said corner, so as to tend to bring the plates together, substantially as described.

ROBERT H. WILES.

WVitnesses:

H. BITNER, S. LUNDEEN.

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