CN113090148A

CN113090148A - Reinforced hinge with damping element for piece of furniture

Info

Publication number: CN113090148A
Application number: CN202010023639.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 罗伯托·科尔贝塔
Original assignee: Danke Co ltd
Current assignee: Danke Co ltd; Danco Inc
Priority date: 2020-01-09
Filing date: 2020-01-09
Publication date: 2021-07-09

Abstract

A hinge for piece furniture, comprising: a first articulated portion or body adapted to be coupled with a structure of a side or upright of a piece of furniture or a door movable with respect to such a structure; a connecting member affected by the spring and connected to the first hinge portion; and a second hinge portion adapted to be connected to couple with the other of the structure and the door, such as a side portion or an upright portion; the connecting member comprises first and second interconnecting elements connected to the first and second hinge parts, respectively; a damping element is provided, adapted to brake at least the closing movement of the hinge that moves the door towards the structure of the piece of furniture, this damping element being associated with the second interconnection element of the connection member, this damping element being a rotary damper adapted to cooperate with a toothed element integral with the first interconnection element of the connection member, said rotary damper and said toothed element being connected to each other in a selectively connectable manner.

Description

Reinforced hinge with damping element for piece of furniture

Technical Field

The invention relates to a hinge for piece furniture.

Background

Hinge elements for piece furniture provided with damping elements suitable for braking the movement of a door of the piece of furniture on a structure (a side or upright of the piece of furniture) for example when closing the piece of furniture have been known for a long time. Such articulations are realized in a number of ways that differ from each other. For example, they comprise a damping element as a main part of the hinge: typically, such damping elements comprise a piston movable inside an oil hydraulic cylinder and are longitudinally fixed to a hinge or connecting member of the hinge. Such a damping element is adapted to cooperate with the first portion of the hinge member connected to the door when the door is moved, typically closed. In this way, the closing movement is braked or damped, so that in the above-described construction a violent slapping of such a door is prevented. In another solution, the damping element (in this case also with a movable piston inside the cylinder) is fixed to the part of the hinge that is constrained to the structure of a piece of furniture and acts directly on the connecting member when the door is closed.

In another known solution, a damping element (in this case also defined by a piston movable inside a hydraulic cylinder) is longitudinally inserted inside a first element of a connecting member of a hinge and cooperates with a drive device inserted between said first element of said hinge member and a second element of such hinge member.

However, known solutions are often difficult and expensive to implement, since they are implemented together with their associated damping elements, for example, during the manufacturing steps. Furthermore, the size or space occupation of some known hinge features is not negligible, both due to, for example, the positioning of the damping element outside the connecting member and due to the piston/cylinder configuration of such damping elements; this also affects the appearance of the piece of furniture.

Other known solutions have a unique application in which the damping hinge (in this case also with the piston inside the cylinder) is "supported" and the damping element is fixed to the connecting member or another part of the hinge. It is therefore not possible to separate the component parts (damping element and the connecting member or another part of the hinge, for example to fix the other part of the hinge to the body of the door of the piece of furniture) from each other. Thus, even if the hinges (connecting members and body) are substantially identical as a whole, the furniture manufacturer should store both damped and undamped hinges. This results in a greater investment in terms of component parts and the need to have available space for storing such component parts.

The documents AT4486U1 and WO2010/082028 both describe a hinge for piece furniture, in which the damping element is a rotary damper. The preamble of claim 1 is set forth in these documents. AT4486U1 comprises the preamble of the main claim of this document.

CN103015825 describes a damping hinge for piece furniture, wherein a damping element or shock absorber can also cooperate with a spring.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a damped hinge, i.e. a hinge provided with a damping element, which overcomes the drawbacks of the known solutions.

In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a hinge of the type described, which is characterized by dimensions smaller than those of known hinges, is easy to implement and assemble, and makes it possible to use the damping element only when necessary, even if equipped with it.

These and other objects that are obvious to a person skilled in the art are achieved by a hinge according to the appended claims.

Drawings

In order that the invention may be more readily understood, the following drawings are attached hereto for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to be limiting, in which:

figure 1 shows a perspective view of a damping hinge not according to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows an exploded perspective view of the hinge depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

figure 4 shows a perspective view of a hinge according to the invention;

FIG. 5 shows an exploded perspective view of the hinge depicted in FIG. 4; and

fig. 6 shows a cross-sectional view along line 6-6 of fig. 4.

Detailed Description

With reference to fig. 1-3, a damping hinge is generally designated by reference numeral 1 and is suitable for connecting a door of a piece of furniture to the structure of a side or upright of the piece of furniture (neither of which is shown) to allow its movement. Such a hinge comprises: a first part (or body) 2 adapted to be associated with a door, a connecting member 3 connected to the first part, and a second part 4 connected to the connecting member 3 and adapted to be connected to a structure such as a side or upright of a door. Obviously, the first portion 2 can be associated with a door and the second portion 4 can be associated with the structure of a piece of furniture.

The connecting member 3 includes: a first element 5 connected to the first hinge part 2 and a second element 6 connected to the second hinge part 4. A substantially helical spring 7 having

end arms

7A and 7B and a protruding intermediate portion 7C is interposed between the first and second elements. The second hinge element 6 receives a damping element 8.

The first and second elements of the connecting member 3 will hereinafter be referred to as first and second interconnecting

elements

5 and 6, respectively. Together they form an articulated quadrilateral connection, subject to the action exerted by the spring 7, which allows the movement of the articulated element 1.

More specifically, the first interconnecting member 5 comprises two

component parts

10 and 11. The first component part 10 comprises pairs of

end wings

14 and 15 having through

holes

14A and 15A, respectively; and the second component part comprises a folded portion 18 delimiting a hole 19 at the first end 17 and a wing 21 having a through hole 22 at the second end 20.

The clevis pin 23 comprises

arms

24 and 25 adapted to pass through a pair of

holes

26 and 27, respectively, facing the first hinge portion or body 2. The first arm 24 also cooperates with the hole 14A of the first component part 10 of the interconnection element 5 and constrains it to such a body. The hole 19 of the second component 11 of such element 5 receives the arm 25 of the pin 23, constraining it to the body 2.

The pin 31 passes through the turns of the spring 7 and constrains it (by passing through the hole 15A) to the wing 15 of the first component part 10 of the first interconnection element, said pin 31 also passing through the coaxial hole 33 of the first component part 34 of the second interconnection element 6, thus constraining the second interconnection element to the first component part 10 of the first interconnection element 5. The hole 33 is provided in a wing 35 of the component part 34. The component part 34 comprises a portion 37 interposed between said wings 35 on which the

arms

7A and 7B of the spring 7 rest.

The first component part 34 of the second interconnecting element 6 has parallel side walls 38 protruding from the edges of a flat portion 40 comprising a hole 41 and a slot (or oblong hole) 42. The wall 38 includes corresponding

coaxial bores

43 and 44.

The holes 43 are adapted to receive pins 48, which pins 48 also cooperate with the through holes 22 of the wings 21 of the second component part 11 of the first interconnecting member 5. Such a pin 48 furthermore passes through a hole 50 of a toothed element 51 having a projecting wing 52, which wing 52 has a free edge 53 shaped like a toothed sector. Such a toothed element 51 is fixed to the two interconnected elements, i.e. it is inserted firmly between the above-mentioned wings 21. This is also achieved in that the intermediate portion 7C of the spring 7 exerts a given pressure on the toothed element 51.

The rotary damper 55 is of a type known per se and is provided with a body 56 having a toothed circumferential surface 57 directly cooperating with the wing 52, which is adapted to cooperate with the partially toothed wing 52.

The rotary damper is of a type known per se and can rotate in a damped manner about its own hole 60 and pin 61, thanks to a viscous fluid contained in the body 56 or a helical spring inside such body. The rotary damper is of a type known per se and therefore it will not be described further hereinafter.

As previously mentioned, the rotary damper 55 has a through hole 60 in which a pin 61 is placed, which pin also connects the coaxial holes 44 of the first component part 34 of the second interconnecting element 6. The rotation damper 55 is placed between the two side walls 38 of the first component part 34 and can rotate between them, so that at least the closing movement of the hinge 3 is damped. Such a damper 55 may also be a dual-acting damper, damping the opening and closing movement of the hinge (and thus the structural door of the side or upright part of the piece of furniture).

The second interconnecting element 6 comprises a second component part 70 interposed between the side walls 38 of the first component part 34 of such second interconnecting element 6 and integral with the second portion 4 of the hinge. Such second component 70 is slidingly (in the longitudinal direction) integral with the first component 34 due to a screw 71 having a mushroom end 72, wherein a narrow portion of the mushroom end is received in a slot 73 (open at one end 74) of such second component.

The second component part comprises parallel walls 77 defining an internal cavity 78 of such component part.

The second screw 90, cooperating with the hole 91 in the wall 92 of the second component part 70 (the wall 77 exiting from the edge of the wall 92) and with the slot 42, allows to adjust the hinge 1 laterally (perpendicular to its own longitudinal axis K).

In use, closing the door relative to the frame of a piece of furniture causes a relative rotation between the

elements

5 and 6 of the connecting member 3 of the hinge. This rotation occurs about pins 31 and 48.

Thus, the fixed toothed element 51 moves the rotary damper 55: in effect, the toothed surface 57 moves over the partially toothed wings 52. This causes such a damper 55 to rotate about the pin 61, thus exerting a damping action on the connecting member 3 once the closing movement has taken place.

Due to the use of the rotary damper 55 together with the toothed surface 57 and the cooperation with the toothed element 51, i.e. with the toothed part of the same, the movement of the articulation takes place in a precise manner and at a constant speed, which can be suitably selected by selecting the type of rotary damper (more or less braked).

The above solution relates to a hinge 1 which is permanently damped and does not fall within the scope of the present invention. In contrast, the solutions shown in fig. 4 to 6 relate to a hinge 1 that is selectively damped, i.e. a hinge in which the function performed by the damping element 8 can be activated and deactivated.

In fig. 4 to 6, those parts corresponding to the already described figures are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The main difference between the embodiment shown in figures 1 to 3 and the embodiment shown in figures 4 to 6 is that the rotary damper 55 defining the damping element 8 is not integral with the first constituent part 34 of the second interconnecting element 6, but is inserted into the internal cavity 78 of the second constituent part 70 and is integral with a support body 100 having parallel arms 101, the rotary damper 55 being associated with a first end 102 of the arm by inserting a pin 61 between coaxial holes 103 cut in such end 102. The arm 101 defines an internal cavity 105 in which the damper 55 is located.

Such an arm is connected to a transverse wall 110 comprising a through hole 120 suitable for housing (riveting) a cam screw 121 placed on the outside of the element 6. Such a screw 121 reaches said hole 120 through a hole 123 cut in the flat portion 40 of the first component part 34 of the second interconnecting element 6 and through an opening 127 in the wall 92 of the second component part 70 of such a second interconnecting element.

The screw 121 is free to rotate within the hole 120 by translating the body 100 within the second component part 70. Which leads to the following results: by rotating the screw 121 in the hole 120, both the body 100 and the member connected thereto (in particular the member of the rotary damper 55) are translated towards the toothed element 51.

In this way, the toothed surface 57 of the rotary damper 55 cooperates with the partially toothed wings 52 of the toothed element 51. Thus, the hinge is damped.

If the screw 121 is rotated 180 deg. relative to the position reached above, the body 10 and the component parts connected thereto, in particular the rotational damper 55, are moved away from the toothed element by travelling along the inner surface of the second component part 70 of the second interconnecting member 6. In this way, the toothed surface 57 of the rotary damper 55 is no longer engaged with the partially toothed wings 52 of the toothed element 51.

In this way, the damper 8 does not exert any damping effect whenever the hinge is closed (or opened, if the rotary damper is a two-way damper).

Thus, the hinge is not damped.

The hinge realised according to the present invention permanently provides an optimal damping action which can be finely adjusted by suitably selecting the number of teeth of the wing 52 of the first toothed element 51.

Thus, the same hinge can be realized by: the hinge is made to be a damped or non-damped hinge according to the user's judgment and, if it is damped, this effect can be achieved in a unidirectional manner (only upon the closing movement on the door of the structure of the side or upright part of the piece of furniture) or in a bidirectional manner (i.e. upon the opening and closing movements) by suitably selecting the rotary damper 55.

Claims

1. A hinge (1) for piece furniture, comprising: a first end portion or body (2) adapted to be coupled with a structure or a door movable relative thereto, such as a side or upright of a piece of furniture; a connecting member (3) acted on by a spring (7) and connected to said first hinging part (2) and adapted to be connected to a second hinging part (4) coupled with the other of said structure and said door, said connecting member (3) comprising a first interconnecting element (5) and a second interconnecting element (6) connected respectively to said first hinging part (2) and to said second hinging part (4), a damping element (8) being provided, said damping element being adapted to brake at least the closing movement of said hinge (1) that moves said door towards said structure of said piece of furniture, said damping element (8) being associated with said second interconnecting element (6) of said connecting member, said damping element being a rotary damper (55) adapted to cooperate with a toothed element (51) integral with said first element (5) of said connecting member (3), -said second interconnection element (6) comprises a first component part (34) hinged on said first interconnection element (5) at a pin (31), characterized in that said second element comprises a second component part (70) inserted in an adjustable manner in said first component part (34), said second component part (70) housing said rotary damper (55), said rotary damper (55) being stably and continuously locked or selectively unlocked from said toothed element (51), said rotary damper (55) of said damping element (8) being housed inside said second component part (70) of said second interconnection element (6) and being integral with a body (100) arranged inside said second component part (70), said body (100) comprising parallel arms (101) defining an internal cavity (105), in said internal cavity is arranged said rotary damper (55), said rotary damper (55) being integral with said parallel arm (101), said body (100) being subjected to the action exerted by a cam screw (121) which can be driven externally of said second interconnection element (6) and is adapted to define the purpose of said hinge as a damped hinge or a non-damped hinge.

2. A hinge according to claim 1, wherein said cam screw (121) cooperates with a hole (120) provided in a wall (110) of said body (100) associated with said parallel arm (101), said cam screw being adapted to move said body (100) in said second constituent part (70) of said second interconnection element (6) so that said rotational damper (55) integral with said body is closer to or away from said toothed element.

3. A hinge according to claim 1, wherein the toothed element (51) is fixed, the rotational damper (55) being movable on the toothed element (51), i.e. the rotational damper rotates on the toothed element.

4. A hinge according to claim 1, characterized in that said first interconnection element (5) comprises two parts (10, 11), said second constituent part (11) carrying said toothed element (51), said spring (7) being hinged on said first constituent part (10) at said pin (31), said pin (31) defining a hinge around which said spring (6) is positioned, said pin also consequently constraining said first interconnection element (5) to said second interconnection element (6) in a hinged manner.

5. A hinge according to claim 1, wherein the toothed element (51) comprises at least one portion (52) having a free edge (53) shaped like a toothed sector, the toothed circumferential surface of the rotational damper (55) engaging the free edge (53).

6. A hinge according to claim 1, characterized in that the rotation damper (55) is unidirectional or bidirectional.