US3427682A - Infinite stop door hinge - Google Patents

Description

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INFINI'IIE STOP DOOR HINGE Filed DeC. 22. 1966 7j I INVENTOR.

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l INFINITE STOP DOOR HINGE Filed DGO'. 22, 1966 Sheet 44j/ @vf/44 7 V /4/ l INVENTOR United States Patent C) 3,427,682 INFINITE STOP DOOR HINGE William V. Bachmann, St. Clair Shores, Mich., assignor to Chrysler Corporation, Highland Park, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 22, 1966, Ser. No. 603,827

U.S. Cl. 16-146 10 Claims Int. Cl. Ed 11/10 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hinge :assembly with a door-supporting hinge arm is provided with a resiliently constrained control arm. lA friction dog or wedge member carried by the hinge arm frictionally engages cooperating surfaces on the control arm as the door is moved towards either its opened or closed position in order to maintain the door in any selected position.

Background of the invention -In the past, especially in automotive vehicles, doors have been provided with hinge assemblies which were intended to be capable of maintaining the associated vehicle door in a fully opened position or in a half-open position depending on Where the door was manually moved during such time as when for example, an occupant was alighting from the vehicle. One of the major problems associ-ated with the hinge assemblies of the prior art is the fact that usually an occupant, upon leaving the vehicle, is not in position to move the door to its fully opened position but only to some position intermediate the fully opened and half-open positions. As a consequence, the door tends to move towards its closed position thereby causing the occupant t-o be continually concerned with holding the door while alighting from the vehicle. This problem becomes aggravated in situations where the vehicle is parked in a manner causing one side of the vehicle to be higher than the other. In such a situation, if an occupant alights from the side of the vehicle which is higher, the occupant must continually resist the force of gravity which is tending to close the door.

Summary of the invention The present invention includes a hinge arrangement wherein a door supporting hinge arm carries a resiliently biased friction member adapted to engage a pivotally supported control arm, which is resiliently biased toward the friction member, in order to hold the door in any selected position.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a door hinge assembly which is capable of holding a door in any selected position.

Another object of this invention is to provide, in a door hinge assembly, variably positioned abutment means continually effective to maintain a door in a -irst partially opened position and also effective to maintain said door in successive positions each of which is progressively a more fully opened condition than the immediately preceding position.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent when reference is made to the following description considered in conjunction with the drawings.

Descrption of the drawings In the accompanying drawings:

`FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a hinge assembly, constructed in accordance with this invention, shown mounted to a suitable support of a vehicle and carrying a door which is shown in a closed position;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view taken generally on the plane of line 2-2 of FIGURE 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view taken generally on the plane of line 3-3 of FIGURE 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE l but showing the position of the respective elements of the hinge assembly while the door is being moved towards its fully opened position;

4FIGURE 5 is a view similar to both FIGURES i1 and 4 but illustrating the position of the respective elements of the hinge assembly While the door is being moved towards its closed position;

FIGURES -6 and 7 are enlarged fragmentary crosssectional views taken respectively on the planes of lines 6-6 and 7-7 of FIGURES 4 and 5;

FIGURE S is a View similar to FIGURE 4 illustrating a modication of the invention as disclosed by FIG- URES l1 through 7;

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary elevational view of a portion of one of the elements shown in FIGURE 8, taken generally in the direction of arrow A of FIGURE 8; and

'FIGURE 10 is a cross-sectional view taken generally on the plane of line 16-10 of FIGURE 8 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Description of the preferred embodiments Referring now in greater detail to the drawings, FIG- URE 1 illustrates the hinge assembly 10 as comprising a pivot ysupport bracket 12 having a base portion '14 suitably secured as by screws 16, one of which is shown, to a portion of the door frame 18. The frame or support 18 may in fact be a portion of an automotive vehicle. A fragmentary portion of the vehicle outer body panel, illustrated at 20, is shown to have an edge surface 2'2 which is in close proximity to a juxtaposed edge 524 of a door assembly 26 when the door is in its closed position.

Bracket 12, when secured to the support 18, has laterally extending opposed walls 218 and 30 which are formed integrally with base 14. As can be seen in FIGURE l, projections 32 and 34 are respectively formed at the ends of wall 28 and similarly projections 3'6 and 38 are formed -a-t the ends of wall v30. From both FIGURES 1 and 2 it can be seen that projections 32 and 36 cooperate to contain a rst pivot member 40 while projections 34 and 38 contain a second pivot member 42.

A hinge arm 44, having one end 46 pivotally mounted on pivot 42, is rigidly secured in any suitable manner to the door 26 so as to provide both a support for the door assembly and also a pivotal connection with member 42 and consequently the support 18 through bracket 12. For stress reasons, hinge arm 44 is of a generally U-shaped cross-sectional coniiguration having what may be referred to as a bight portion 48 with integrally formed oppositely disposed walls 50 and 52. Hinge arm 44 has an opening 54 formed therethrough which is intended to accommodate the passage therethrough of an arcuate holding lever 56. One end of a tension spring 58 is connected to end 60 of holding arm 56 by means of an aperture 62 formed therethrough while the other end of spring 58 is connected to support bracket 12 by means of a tongue portion 64 formed on the bracket and an aperture 66 formed in the tongue 64. The other end 68 of holding arm 56 is pivotally secured to the support bracket 12 by means of pivot member 40. Tubular spacers 70 and 72 may be mounted on pivot 40 and disposed on opposite sides of holding arm 56 in order to maintain the generally medial position of holding arm 56 with respect to bracket 12 and hinge arm opening 54. Likewise, a tubular spacer 74 is preferably provided about pivot 42 between the walls S0 and 52 of end 46 of hinge arm 44 in order to transmit loading forces as between walls 50 and 52. As best seen in FIGURE 1, end 68 of holding arm 56 is provided with an integrally formed abutment or stop portion 76 which is intended to abut against the base 14 of bracket 12 to prevent further counter-clockwise rotation of arm 56 when the door 26 is in closed position as illustrated in FIGURE 1. Further, as will be noted by both FIGURES 1 and 3, holding arm 56 has a tapered portion 78, formed generally along the inner arcuate edge, comprised of converging tapered surfaces 80 and 82.

Hinge arm 44, in addition to supporting and carrying the door assembly 26, also carries a pivotally mounted dog or wedging member 84. Referring to both FIGURES 1 and 2, it can be seen that dog 84 is comprised of a body portion 86 which is pivotally mounted and supported by a pivot member 88 which, in turn, is secured to` and carried by hinge arm 44. Body 86 of dog 84 carries an integrally formed sector 89 which has a generally V- shaped or wedge-like groove 90 formed therein.

Preferably, groove 90 is formed so as to be generally concentrically disposed with reference to the pivot member 88. As will become more apparent, as this description progresses, the tapering wall surfaces 92 and 94 of groove 90 are intended to at times respectively engage the tapering surfaces 80 and 82 of holding arm 56.

Dog 84 also has an integrally formed radially extending lever portion 96 which, by virtue of an aperture 98 formed therethrough, is adapted to receive one end 100 of a torsion spring `102. The torsion spring 102 is preferably mounted about a locating type support 104 carried by hinge arm 44 and has its other end 106 restrained within a holding portion 108 which, as illustrated, may be integrally formed in the wall 50 of hinge arm 44. Torsion spring 102 is effective to continually urge the rotation of dog 84 counter-clockwise about pivot 88 as viewed in FIGURE 1. Preferably, support bracket 12 has a projection 110 which, when the door assembly 26 is moved to the closed position of FIGURE 1, abuts against the lever arm 96 of dog 84 in order to assure dog 84 assuming a position substantially as shown in FIGURE 1. This, of course, is against the action of torsion spring 102.

Referring to both FIGURES 1 and 6, as door assembly 26 is moved from the closed position of FIGURE 1, dog 84 tends to rotate counter-clockwise about its pivot 88. However, the degree to which such rotation is experienced in the initial moments of ldoor-opening-movement is restricted by the abutment 110 and the wedging portion 78 of holding arm 56. As can be noted from any of FIGURES 1, 4 and 5, cut-out or relieved portions 112 and 114 are respectively provided at opposite ends of the holdin-g arm 56 in order to permit freedom of rotation of dog 84 in such areas. However, as previously mentioned, very little rotation of dog 84 occurs in cut-out 114, while the door is being moved to an open position, because lever arm 96 of ydog 84 continues to abut against member 110 until such time as the sector 89 is in relatively close proximity to wedge-like edge 78 of control arm 56. Referring to FIGURE 1, it can be seen that the distance from the edge 78 to the center of pivot 42 is not constant throughout the length of edge 78 but rather varies from a shortest distance which exists near the swingable end of control arm 56 to a longest distance which exists near the pivoted end of the control arm 56.

Consequently, as door assembly 26 is moved toward the open position, sector 89 of the dog 84 generally receives the wedge edge 78 within its groove 90'. Continued movement of the door 26 in the opening direction results in a sliding frictional contact between surfaces 80, 82 of holding arm 56 and surfaces 92, 94 of the groove `90, respeciively. Such sliding friction causes the sector 89 and dog 84 to assume a position substantially as shown in FIGURE 4 during such corresponding door-opening movements. Torsion spring :102, of course, continues to urge dog 84 in a counter-clockwise direction thereby assuring continued contact Abetween the respective surfaces of the wedge portion 78 and coacting groove 90.

It should also be noted that because of the fixed distance between pivots 42 and 88 and the variable distance of the wedge edge 78 to the pivot 42, increasingly greater dooropening movements cause the control or holding arm 56 to pivot in a clockwise direction about pivot 40, as viewed in either of FIGURES 1, 4 and 5. However, in order to have this occur, end 60 of arm 56 must move against the continually increasing resistance of tension spring 58.

If door asembly 26 is moved to the position illustrated in FIGURE 4 and released, the door will remain in that position and not move towards its closed position. Referring to FIGURE 6 as well as FIGURE 4, it can be seen that surfaces 80, 82 are abutting against surfaces 92 and 94. Also, it can be seen, from FIGURE 4, that the point at which such abutting action occurs is eccentrically disposed relative to a line drawn through the centers of pivots 42 and 88. Accordingly, this means that before door 26 can move towards the closed position, the wedging action accomplished by the cooperating groove and tapered edge 78 must be overcome. However, such wedging action can only be overcome by causing the end face 114 of sector 89 to be in line with the line passing through the centers of pivots 42 and 88. This may be achieved by forceably moving the door 26 towards its closed position generally clockwise about pivot 42. During this time torsion spring 102 continues urging the dog 84 in a counterclockwise direction about pivot 88. Such urging by torsion spring 102 and the frictional forces existing as between surfaces 80, 82 and 92, 94, respectively, cause the sector 89 to start walking along the tapered edge 78 as dog 84 correspondingly rotates about its pivot 88 and hinge arm 44 rotates about pivot 42.

Such movement by the sector 89 and dog 84 requires that control arm 56 rotate slightly about pivot 40 in the clockwise direction thereby causing spring 58 to undergo further stressing. The tension of the spring 58 increases until face 114 is rotated to the point that it is in line with a line drawn through the centers of pivots 42 and 88.

Further movement of door 26 in `the closing direction causes the dog 84 to rotate counter-clockwise about its pivot 88 thereby assuming positions such as that illustrated in FIGURE 5. Dog 84 may continue its rotation until its other face 118 on sector 89 assumes a position, with respect to edge 78 of control arm 56, similar =but opposite to face 116 as shown in FIGURE 4.

As door 26 approaches its fully closed position of FIGURE l, surfaces 92 and 94 of sector 89 cease having contact with surfaces 80 and 82 of control arm 56 and sector 89 is loosely received within recess 114. The provision of recess or cut-out portion 114 assures the clockwise rotation of dog 84 to the position illustrated in FIG- URE l. This in effect re-sets the dog 84 for the following occasion on which door 26 is opened from its fully closed position.

FIGURES 8, 9 and 10 illustrate a second embodiment of this invention yand most of the elements which are like or similar to the elements of FIGURES 1 through 7 are identified with like primed reference numerals.

In the embodiment of FIGURE 8 a wedging member or dog 120 is pivotally mounted on a supporting pin 88' which is carried by the door hinge arm 44. Spacers 121 and 123 may be provided in order to maintain dog 120 generally midway between sides 50' and 52 of hinge arm 44. End 122 of dog 120 is preferably provided with a slot 124 in order to receive the bight portion 126 of a generally U-shaped spring 128. Legs and 132 of spring 128 have oppositely coiled portions 134 and 136, respectively, through which is received mounting pin 104. Ends 138 and 140 of legs 130 and 132 are disposed on generally diametrically opposed portions of hinge pin 42'. Consequently, any tendency or actual rotation of dog 120 about pivot 88', either clockwise or counterclockwise, is resiliently resisted by :spring 128.

The other end 142 of dog 120 is provided with a generally V-shaped slot 90 having side surfaces 92 and 94' which are intended to cooperate with the tapering surfaces 80 and 82', respectively, of the control arm 56'. Even 4though slot 90 is preferably made straight, it can nevertheless be made generally arcuate so as to have an arc somewhat approaching the radial distance from the center of pivot 42'. As in the embodiments shown in FIGURES l through 7, spring 58' has one end 59 connected to the swingable end 60 of control arm 56 while the other end 61 of spring 58 is operatively connected to the bracket 12 by menas of an aperture 56' formed therethrough.

In viewing both FIGURES 8 and l0, it can be seen that as the door assembly 26' is moved in the opening direction as indicated by the arrow 63, that the slot 90 of dog 120 continues to frictionally engage the wedge shaped portion of control arm 56 as defined by the surfaces 80' and 82' causing the control arm to rotate clockwise about its pivot 40' against the resistance of spring 58. When the door is moved to a desired position and released, any tendency of the door to move towards its closed position is resisted by the dog 120; that is, much like the arrangement shown by FIGURES 1 through 7 in order to move the door towards it closed position requires the rotation of dog 120 counterclockwise about its pivot 88. This, of course, requires additional force in order to further move control arm 56 in a clockwise direction against the force of spring 58'. Accordingly, such additional force is provided manually whenever the door is to be mo-ved to its closed position.

When the door is being moved to its closed position, dog 120 is rotated counterclockwise `about its pivot 88 and assumes a somewhat cocked position from that as shown in FIGURE 8 and continues to assume this position until the end 142 comes into general juxtaposition with portion 144 of the control arm 56. As seen in FIG- URE 9, portion 144 is preferably provided so as to reduce the width of the otherwise wedging portion of control arm 56 thereby enabling .the cocked dog 120 to freely rotate lto its position 4as shown in FIGURE 8. This is achieved by having a generally cut-out portion 146 and 148 formed on opposite sides of the control arm 56 and which generally blend with the tapering surfaces 80' and 82.

Although only two basic embodiments have been herein disclosed and described it is apparent that other modifications and embodiments of the invention are possible within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A hinge assembly, comprising a base member, first and second pivot means carried by said base member and spaced from and parallel to each other, a first lever pivotally mounted to said first pivot means, a second hinge arm pivotally secured to said second pivot means and being rotatable thereabout to extreme positions of fully open and fully closed, resilient means -continually tending to rotate said first lever member in `a direction so as to more closely approach said second pivot means, an arcuate friction surface formed on said first lever, a stop member carried by said hinge arm, and a second friction surface formed on said stop member, said stop member and said second friction surface formed thereon being effective to engage said first lever and said arcuate friction surface formed thereon whenever said hinge arm is rotated about said second pivot means towards said fully open position for continually engaging said first lever with a resulting friction force which increases as said hinge arm approaches a position corresponding to said Ifully open position, the resulting friction throughout a range of movement of said hinge al'm being suicient to permit said hinge arm to be held thereby in any position in said range of movement.

2. A hinge assembly, comprising a base member adapted to be secured to a suitable support, first and second pivot members carried by said base so as to be spaced from but substantially parallel to each other, a first hinge arm for supporting an associated swingable member, said hinge arm being pivotally secured to said first pivot means and rotatable thereabout to opposite extreme positions of fully open and fully closed, a second control arm pivotally mounted at one end to said second pivot means and being rotatable thereabout to opposite extreme positions of fully open and fully closed respectively attainable whenever said hinge arm achieves a position of fully open or fully closed, a tension spring having its opposite ends respectively operatively connected to said base member and to a swingable end of sa-id control arm, an abutment portion on said control arm adapted to at times abut against said base member whenever said spring is permitted to rotate said control arm to said fully closed position, .a third pivot means carried by said hinge arm, a wedging member pivotally mounted on said third pivot means, a second spring member carried by said hinge arm l and operatively connected to said wedging member so as to resiliently tend to maintain said wedging member in a predetermined position, a generally .arcuate friction surface formed on said control arm, said friction surface being so formed as to be eccentrically disposed about said first pivot means whenever said control arm is in its fully closed position, and a friction groove formed in said wedging member `adapted to operatively engage said friction surface on said control arm, said wedging member being effective whenever said hinge arm is being moved towards its fully open position to engage said arcuate friction surface of said control arm about said second pivot means against the resisting force of said tension spring.

3. An infinite stop hinge assembly for a door movable from a fully closed to a fully opened position, comprising a first arm member for carrying said door, first pivot means pivotally securing said first arm member to a support, a control arm pivotally secured by a second pivot member to said support and having a swingable end, first resilient means secured to said support and operatively connected to said swingable end so as to normally resiliently bias said control .arm in a direction towards said first pivot means, and resiliently bias said control arm in a direction towards said first pivot means, friction means carried by said first arm member and situated so as to be generally between said first pivot means and said control arm, and biasing means connected to said first arm member and biasing said friction means toward engagement with said control arm, said friction means being effective whenever said arm member is moved towards a fully opened position to frictionally engage said control arm and to move said control arm in a direction away from said first pivot means against the resisting force of said first resilient means.

4. A variable stop hinge assembly for a door movable from a fully closed to a fully opened position, comprising a first arm member for carrying said door, first pivot means pivotally securing said first arm member to a support, a control arm secured to said support, friction means carried by said first arm member and situated so as to be generally between said first pivot means and said control arm, and biasing means connected to said first arm member and biasing sa-id friction means toward engagement with said control arm, said friction means being effective whenever said arm member is moved towards a fully opened position to frictionally engage said control arm with a frictional force which increases in magnitude as said arm member moves from a fully closed position and towards a fully opened position,

5. A variable stop hinge assembly according to claim 4 wherein said control arm has a first contoured friction surface and wherein said friction means includes a second contoured friction surface, said first and second friction surfaces being effective to engage each other for maintaining said rst arm member in any manually selected position between fully closed and fully open.

6. A variable stop hinge assembly according to cla-im 5 wherein said rst contoured friction surface is of a generally V-like configuration in cross-section and wherein said second contoured friction surface defines a generally V-like groove for the reception therein of said first friction surface.

7. A variable stop hinge assembly according to claim 4 wherein said friction means comprises a wedging member pivotally secured to said iirst arm member, said wedging member comprising a first portion having a friction groove formed therein adapted to frictionally engage said control arm, said wedging member including a second portion formed to operatively connect to said biasing means carried by said rst arm member.

8. A variable stop hinge assembly according to claim 7 wherein said biasing means comprises a torsion spring located on a spring support carried by said rst arm member, said torsion spring having one of its functional ends constrained against movement while having the other of its functional ends in engagement with said second portion of said wedging member.

9. A variable stop hinge assembly according to claim 8 wherein said torsion spring is formed into a generally U-shaped configuration having a bight portion and legs extending therefrom, said bight portion being in operative engagement with said wedging member, an intermediate portion of each of said legs being coiled about said spring support, and said legs extending beyond said spring support so as to have the free ends of each of said legs engaged by suitable abutment means for preventing the otherwise free swinging action of said legs about said spring support.

10. A variable Stop hinge assembly according to claim 9 wherein said one of said intermediate leg portions is coiled in one direction about said spring support, wherein the other of said intermediate leg portions is coiled about said spring support in a direction opposite to said one direction, and wherein the free ends of said legs engage said abutment means in opposed directions thereby causing said wedging member to experience substantially the same resilient resistance to rotation regardless of the direction of rotation of said wedging member about said third pivot means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,065,497 11/1962 Faber 16-146 FOREIGN PATENTS 885,630 12/1961 Great Britain.

BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner'.

DORIS L. TROUTMAN, Assistant Examiner.

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