GB2174751A - Hinges for doors and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

A hinge (1) comprises a right- angled bracket having two arms (2a and 2) a first of which (2a) is for attachment to the body of an article such as the upright member (3) of a door frame. A hinge pin (4) is carried by the second arm (2) at its end remote from its junction with the first arm with the hinge axis parallel to the line of junction of the bracket arms. Two hinge plates (5a and 5b) are pivotally mounted on the hinge pin and are each pivotable outwardly from a position substantially in the same plane as that of the second arm to enable for example two doors one attached to each hinge plate to be opened independently of each other. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in or Relating to Hinges For Doors and the Like This invention relates to hinges for doors for example fitted to furniture such as cabinets or for lids attached in pairs to containers such as boxes.

The conventional hinge comprises a pair of hinge plates pivotable around a common hinge pin, fixing holes being provided in each hinge plate to enable the hinge to be attached one hinge plate to, for example, an upright member of a door frame and the other to an upright edge of a door. Such hinges are usualiy utilised in pairs and are capable of supporting only one door. If a pair of doors so mounted are located with their upright hinged edges adjacent to one another the amount of movement is restricted since at a particular degree of opening one doorwould strike against the other.

It thus becomes necessary should full independent opening of the doors to the extent of about 1800 be required to mount the doors in non-adjacent, ie spaced relationship, so that flush close fitting of the doors is not possible and the upright members of the door frames are revealed, in some instances, undesirably from the point of view of the appearance of the furniture to which the door may be fitted. Moreover, when a pair of doors is fitted it is necessary to provide separate hinges for each door and to fit, and locate with care, each of the hinges, so that precise and parallel disposition of the doors, one relative to the other and in respect of the item of furniture as a whole, is achieved.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved design of hinge.

According to the invention a hinge comprises a right-angled bracket having two arms, a first arm for attachment to the body of an article such as the upright member of a door frame, a hinge pin carried by the second arm at its end remote from its junction with the first arm with the hinge axis parallel to the line of junction of the bracket arms, and a pair of hinge plates pivotally mounted on the hinge pin and each pivotable outwardly from a position substantially in the same plane as that of the second arm to enable for example a door when attached thereto to be opened.

The invention also comprises an item of furniture having at least a pair of doors pivotally supported on hinges according to the invention and the doors may be pivotable through an angle of substantially 1800. The doors may have parallel substantially abutting edges, when closed, so that a flush uninterrupted surface across the doors is provided.

The furniture may be provided with a plurality of cupboards each having adjacent doors supported on the said hinges.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is an isometric view of a hinge for a pair of doors and Figure 2 is an isometric view of the hinge of Figure 1 with a door shown in chain-dotted line attached to one side of the hinge and the hinge attached to part of a cupboard door frame.

A hinge 1 is made from mild steel plate of 1.5 mm thickness though other material such as brass or metal alloy could be utilised and instead of constructing the hinge from plate, eg, die-cast parts can be made.

The hinge 1 comprises a right-angled bracket 2 having two arms 2a and.26, the arm 2a being attached, as shown in Figure 2, to the upright member 3 of a cupboard door frame. A hinge pin 4 is carried by the arm 2b at its free end, the longitudinal axis of the hinge pin being parallel to the line of junction of the bracket arms 2a and 2b.

A pair of hinge plates 5a and Sb are pivotally mounted on the hinge pin 4 and in the closed position of the hinge, shown in Figure 1,the hinge plates are disposed in apertures 6 formed in the arm 2b so that the hinge plates lie in substantially the same plane as that of the arm 2b.

Each hinge plate is provided with a pair of countersunk holes 7 for the receipt of countersunk head screws to attach the plates to an edge 8a of a door 8 (see Figure 2). The countersink on each of the holes 7 of hinge plate 5a is provided on the face seen in full in the illustration of Figure 2 which also shows the countersink on each of the holes 7 of hinge plate Sb to be provided on the relatively opposite or opposed face (see the dotted lines in Figure 2). Thus one.door 8 can be attached to hinge plate 5a as shown in Figure 2 and a second adjacent door can be fitted to the adjacent hinge plate Sb this not being illustrated in Figure 2 for the sake of clarity.However, when the two doors are closed they fit against the door frame surface and the adjacent edges of the doors are substantially abutting with the hinge plates 5a, 5b disposed in their respective apertures 6, a flush substantially uninterrupted surface being provided across the two doors with the upright member 3 of the door frame obscured.

While each door has a hinge common to both doors, a pair of spaced-apart hinges are provided so that the doors are both supported at each end by the same pair of hinges. The hinges are attached to the upright member 3 by means of countersunk holes 9 provided in hinge arm 2a.

It will be appreciated that, by virtue of the hinge design, each door can be independently opened to an extent of substantially 1800.

It will also be apparent that the fitting of the doors on to the surface of the door frame provides optimum space within the cupboard compared with a doot hinged to fit into a recess in the cupboard.

On account of the fact that the arm 2a has a length sufficient to enable two hinge plates to be accommodated by arms 2b a long hinge of great stability, compared with conventional single hinges, is obtained. Moreover there is an economy of material, fixing screws and fixing time when compared with use of a pair of hinges. Furthermore alignment of doors is automatically achieved when fitting pairs of doors with hinges according to the invention so that time and effort is saved and skill minimised.

If it is desired to fit only a single door on, for example, an end of a cupboard, a hinge in accordance with the invention can be utilized and if the cupboard with door attached is disposed in the angle of a corner in a room, a pair of hinges top and bottom can be placed at the extreme edge of the cupboard yet still allow a 900 opening as will be visualised with reference to Figure 2. Only one hinge plate on each hinge need be utilised.

Claims (9)

1. A hinge comprising a right-angled bracket having two arms, a first arm for attachment to the body of an article such as the upright member of a door frame, a hinge pin carried by the second arm at its end remote from its junction with the first arm with the hinge axis parallel to the line of junction of the bracket arms, and a pair of hinge plates pivotally mounted on the hinge pin and each pivotable outwardly from a position substantially in the same plane as that of the second arm to enable for example a door when attached thereto to be opened.

2. A hinge according to claim 1 wherein a pair of apertures are provided in the second arm one for each hinge plate and within each of which one of the said hinge plates is locatable.

3. A hinge according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the hinge plates each are provided with holes for the receipt offixing means for attachment of the hinge plate to for example a door, the said holes being countersunk on the faces of the hinge plates so that when the hinge plates each lie substantially in the same plane as that of the second arm the countersinks are on opposed faces of the hinge plates the one relative to the other.

4. A hinge according to any of the preceding claims wherein the first arm is provided with spaced apart fixing holes for attachment of the hinge to the body of an article.

5. An item of furniture having at least a pair of doors pivotally supported by hinges as claimed in any of the preceding claims, two doors being attached one to each of the hinge plates of each hinge.

6. An item offurniture according to claim 5 wherein each door is independently pivotable on the hinges through an angle of substantially 1800.

7. An item offurniture according to claim 5 or 6 wherein the two doors have parallel edges to which the hinges are attached, the parallel edges of the doors substantially abutting in the closed state of the doors so that a substantially uninterrupted flush surface across the two doors is obtained.

8. An item of furniture according to any of claims 5 to 7 wherein a plurality of cupboards are provided each having a door, adjacent doors being supported on the said hinges.

9. A hinge constructed and arranged substantially as described herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.