1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a furniture hinge with a door-leaf attachment part for fastening to a door leaf and a carcass attachment part connected to this hinge so that it can pivot for fastening to a furniture carcass, and at least one functional unit, in particular, a damper, for influencing a pivoting movement between the door-leaf attachment part and the carcass attachment part. The carcass attachment part has a first component and at least one second component and the first component is supported on the second component at least by means of at least one adjustment device, in particular, an adjustment screw, and the relative position of the first component to the second component can be adjusted with the adjustment device. The functional unit has a first functional element and at least one second functional element, and the first functional element is supported so that it can move relative to the second functional element.
2. Description of Related Prior Art
Furniture hinges of this type are known in the prior art. The door-leaf attachment part is frequently built from a hinge pot and the carcass attachment part is frequently built from a so-called hinge arm. Other embodiments, however, are also known, e.g., for glass doors in which, instead of the hinge pot, door-leaf attachment parts with flat adhesive faces are used. In order to be able to influence the pivoting movement between the door-leaf attachment part and the carcass attachment part, these hinges today have functional units. These could be constructed, e.g., as dampers for damping the closing and/or opening movement of the door-leaf attachment part. There are also functional units, however, in the form of closing springs or electric motors that are provided for influencing the pivoting movement between the door-leaf attachment part and the carcass attachment part. As an example for different attachments of a functional unit in the form of a damper on the furniture hinge, reference is made to WO 2008/011955 A1. This furniture hinge has a slide that is pressed by the door-leaf attachment part during the closing movement of the furniture hinge and is coupled with a piston rod as a functional element of the damper. The piston rod is pushed into a cylinder that is supported fixed in position as a second function element of the damper on the hinge arm. A reverse arrangement is known from WO 2008/009345. Here, an activation part is connected to one of the articulated levers of the furniture hinge. This guides the movement of the articulated lever in the second embodiment of this publication by an activation part onto the cylinder of the damper, so that this is moved relative to the hinge arm and to the piston rod.
In the two mentioned publications, the damper or the functional unit is arranged in the interior of the carcass attachment part and requires there a large part of the space within the carcass attachment part. In the mentioned publications, therefore, adjustment devices for the height, depth, or contact adjustment of the carcass attachment part were eliminated.
For furniture hinges according to the class in which at least one such adjustment device is not eliminated, the dampers or other functional units are usually fastened to the outside on the door-leaf attachment part or on the carcass attachment part, so that, in the carcass attachment part, there is sufficient space for the adjustment devices. Furniture hinges according to the class are shown, e.g., in WO 2005/088052 A1.
The invention is designed to construct the attachment of a functional unit on the remaining components of a furniture hinge according to the class in a way that is as space-efficient and simple as possible.
This is achieved according to the invention in that the first functional element is fastened to or supported on the adjustment device.
One basic idea of the invention is thus to allocate a double function to at least one adjustment device of the furniture hinge. Thus, in the furniture hinge according to the invention, the adjustment device is used on one hand for its known function, e.g., for height, depth, and/or contact adjustment. In addition, according to the invention, however, the adjustment device is also used as a fastening device on which the first functional element of the functional unit is fastened or at least supported. Here, it preferably involves the most direct possible connection between the functional element and adjustment device. Thus, it is possible to connect the first functional element directly or even rigidly to the adjustment device. Preferably, however, when the first functional element is fastened or supported by at least one, advantageously directly by exactly one, joint in an articulated way on the adjustment device. In principle, it is possible to fasten the first functional element in the form of a captive connection to the adjustment device. It could also be sufficient, however, if the first functional element is supported on the adjustment device. In this case, forces acting on the first functional element in the corresponding direction could be introduced into the adjustment device. In the case of support, however, it does not involve a captive connection.
Preferably it is provided that the first functional element is connected to the first and/or second component of the carcass attachment part via or by the adjustment device. The first functional element is thus not connected to the adjustment device by the intermediate connection of other or arbitrarily many other components of the furniture hinge, but instead the forces occurring on the first functional element are advantageously introduced directly via the adjustment device into the first and/or second component of the carcass attachment part.
The adjustment device advantageously involves an adjustment screw that is screwed by a corresponding external thread into an internal thread on the first or second component of the carcass attachment part. The adjustment device in which the first functional element is fastened or supported, however, could also involve known eccentrics or worms, advantageously with a spiral-shaped guide track. The first functional element is also fastened to or supported on this track, e.g., by an extension that is advantageously arranged centrally accordingly. In cases in which the adjustment device changes its position during the adjustment, that is, e.g., in the case of an adjustment screw that is screwed to different depths into at least one of the two components of the carcass attachment part, the already mentioned articulated connection between the functional element and the adjustment device presents itself.
The functional unit advantageously initially involves first a damper that damps the closing and/or opening movement during the pivoting of the door-leaf attachment part relative to the carcass attachment part and thus provides for a soft closing and/or opening especially in the vicinity of the end positions. In this sense, it can be provided that the functional unit is a damper with a piston rod guided in a cylinder with a linear motion and the piston rod and the cylinder can be displaced relative to each other in a linear motion and the first functional element is the piston rod or the cylinder.
In principle, it is also possible, however, to use the type of attachment according to the invention for functional units, such as closing springs or electric motors for opening and/or for closing. For example, the first functional unit could then be a leg or tappet of a closing spring or a housing of a motor or a shaft or rod moving relative to the housing of the motor. Here it is possible that the functional units attached according to the invention support or block, that is, additionally accelerate or delay, an opening or closing movement guided, e.g., by hand. It is also conceivable, however, especially for functional units in the form of motors, that these perform the opening or closing movement, that is, the pivoting movement between the door-leaf attachment part and carcass attachment part at least across a partial region of the path or else also for the entire pivot angle completely by themselves. In an especially preferred way, it is provided that the second functional element, that is, the functional element not fastened to or supported on the adjustment device, is hinged directly or by an intermediate arm and optionally additional intermediate levers and/or additional intermediate arms on an articulated lever of the furniture hinge connecting the door-leaf attachment part to the carcass attachment part so that it can pivot. Other forms of the pressure application of the second functional element, however, are also conceivable, e.g., a slide according to WO 2008/011955 charged by the door-leaf attachment part could be provided for this purpose.
Through the double use according to the invention in the adjustment device, additional components that are used for supporting or fastening the first functional element can be eliminated. The space gained in this way can be used, in particular, such that the functional unit can be arranged at least partially, advantageously completely, in an inner hollow space of the carcass attachment part. In this way it is prevented that the user accidentally becomes caught on a functional unit attached on the furniture hinge on the outside. In addition, the optical impression of the furniture hinge is improved. The door-leaf attachment part can involve a hinge pot. The carcass attachment part can be constructed, e.g., as a longitudinally extended hinge space.
Additional features and details of the invention are taken from the description of a preferred embodiment.
Shown are:
The door-leaf attachment part 1 of this embodiment is constructed as a hinge pot and the carcass attachment part 2 as a hinge arm. This is a typical, but not absolutely necessary construction of a furniture hinge. As is known, the door-leaf attachment part 1 is connected to the carcass attachment part 2 so that it can pivot via an outer articulated lever 21 and, in this example, through the use of several inner articulated levers 20 and 20′ arranged in parallel and not shown in
In the illustrated embodiment, the door-leaf attachment part 1 is hinged on the first component 4 of the carcass attachment part 2 so that it can pivot. On the second component 5 of the carcass attachment part, the brackets 13 are fastened integrally for fastening to the furniture carcass 37. The brackets 13 make possible the advantageously flat fastening face 14 provided for contact on the furniture carcass 37. Deviating from the illustrated embodiment, it is naturally also possible, as is known, to construct the brackets 13 for the carcass attachment part 2 in the form of a bracket that can be removed from the second component 5. The fastening of the second component 5 can then be performed in a known way on this bracket, e.g., by a clip or snap-on mechanism. For the sake of completeness, also refer to the brackets 13′ of the door-leaf attachment part 1. These are constructed in a known manner. Naturally, all other fastening methods known in the prior art could also be used for the door-leaf attachment part 1.
The additional holes 25 shown in
Before the function of the individual elements of the furniture hinge shown in these diagrams is discussed, it should be noted that not all of the reference symbols are shown in all of the figures, in order to preserve the clarity of the diagram. The functional description following now is based on the synopsis of
The adjustment device 6 constructed as an adjustment screw has an external thread 34 that engages in an internal thread 35 of the first component 4. Here, the adjustment screw 6 can be screwed into and out of the first component 4. In the second component 5, the adjustment screw 6 is guided into an elongated hole 38 that allows a displacement of the adjustment screw 6 in the directions 16 for the depth adjustment relative to the second component 5. For the engagement in the elongated hole 38, the adjustment screw 6 has a corresponding annular groove with which it is guided in the elongated hole 38. By rotating the adjustment screw 6, as already mentioned, a contact adjustment is realized in that the spacing between the first component 4 and the second component 5 is increased or decreased in one of the directions 15 in the region of the adjustment screw 6. Here, the two mentioned components are pivoted relative to each other about the guide axle 30.
According to the invention, the piston rod constructed here as a first functional element 8 in the functional unit 3 constructed as a damper is now fastened to this adjustment screw 6 for contact adjustment. This fastening is not rigid in the illustrated embodiment, but is realized instead by the joint 10. This has a spherical-head receptacle 11 that is constructed in this embodiment in the form of two half shells and in which a spherical head 12 is supported so that it can move or rotate and/or pivot. In the shown embodiment, the spherical-head receptacle 11 is fastened to the adjustment screw 6 and the spherical head is advantageously fastened integrally to the first functional element 8 of the damper. In order for the spherical-head receptacle 11 to not to have to rotate with the adjustment screw 6 about its longitudinal axis, it is favorably provided that the spherical-head receptacle 11 is supported on the adjustment screw 6 so that it can rotate. For the rotating support of the spherical-head receptacle 11, in this embodiment, the T-shaped projection 39 that can be seen especially well in
The arrangement shown in the figures could also be constructed differently. It is also possible to provide the spherical-head receptacle 11 directly on the first functional element 8, that is, here on the piston rod and the spherical head 12 on the adjustment screw 6 accordingly. In addition, it does not necessarily involve a spherical joint; other joints are also conceivable. In addition, the direct connection of the mentioned components to each other is favorable but not absolutely necessary. Through the joint 11, in any case, slight pivoting movements provided by the lever mechanism still to be explained on the functional unit or on the damper could be allowed.
As the second functional element 9 of the damper or the functional unit 3, the cylinder 9 is constructed here. This is supported on the piston rod 8 so that it can be displaced relative to the adjustment device 6. The intermediate arm 17 is hinged on the cylinder 9 so that it can pivot about the guide pin 32, wherein this arm is hinged on the articulated lever projections 46 of the articulated lever 20 of the furniture hinge so that it can pivot in the shown embodiment, in turn, by the additional intermediate lever 18, 18′ and the additional intermediate arm 19. The articulated lever projection or projections 46 extend the articulated lever or levers past the articulated axle 28 and are used for holding an intermediate lever axle 29′. In the illustrated embodiment, it involves the inner articulated levers that connect the door-leaf attachment part 1 to the carcass attachment part 2 so that they can pivot. The intermediate arm 17 hinged on the cylinder 9 so that it can pivot is hinged on the two additional intermediate levers 18 and 18′ by an intermediate lever axle 29′ so that it can pivot. These can pivot by the intermediate lever axles 29 supported in the first component 4 of the carcass attachment part 2. The third intermediate lever axle 29′ engaging on the additional intermediate levers 18 and 18′ connects the additional intermediate levers 18 and 18′ in an articulated way to the additional intermediate arm 19 that is fastened to the articulated lever projections 46 and thus on the inner articulated levers 20 by another intermediate lever axle 29′ so that it can pivot or rotate. That the inner articulated lever and the articulated lever projections have a multi-part construction is naturally only one example. The same could also be realized, e.g., with an integrally constructed, inner articulated lever and an integrally formed articulated lever projection or also with a corresponding attachment, e.g., likewise by a projection on the outer articulated lever 21.
Through the lever mechanism constructed in this way, a movement of the articulated lever 20 during the opening or closing of the hinge is converted into a displacement of the cylinder 9 on the piston rod 8, wherein the functional unit constructed here as a damper is activated and damps the closing and/or opening process of the hinge accordingly. In what angular positions and how strongly the damping effect acts depends on the translation of the lever mechanism and on the properties of the damper. Numerous different constructions that could also be used in hinges according to the invention exist for this purpose in the prior art. For the sake of completeness it should be noted that for moving the cylinder 9, the lever mechanism shown here in the embodiment is not absolutely necessary. It is as well just as possible to revert to solutions already known from the prior art for transferring the movement of an articulated lever or the door-leaf attachment part to a damper. Here reference is made explicitly to the prior art mentioned above.
The closing spring 27 arranged here between one of the articulated axles 28 and the intermediate lever axle 29 and activated by the connecting rod 26 locked in rotation with the inner lever 20, 20′ is also known and does not have to be explained here further.
In
The partially broken diagram of
Finally, it should also be noted that the adjustment device on which the first functional element 8 of the functional unit 3 is fastened or supported does not absolutely have to be an adjustment screw for contact adjustment. It is also possible, e.g., to use an adjustment device 7 for depth adjustment for fastening or supporting a functional element. Thus, it would be possible for an alternative construction, based on the illustrated variant, e.g., to fasten the cylinder 9 as a first functional element to a projection attached advantageously centrally on the eccentric 7 or in some other way on the eccentric 7. This fastening could be articulated or also rigid. The piston rod 8 would then be the second functional element that could then be charged by means of corresponding lever mechanisms or the like by one of the articulated levers or the door-leaf attachment part. This attachment could then be realized, e.g., as shown in WO 2008/011955, by a slide charged by the door-leaf attachment part or, as shown in WO 2008/009345 in the first embodiment, by a corresponding attachment to one of the articulated levers. Alternatively, numerous other constructions of the invention are also naturally possible here. For example, it is also conceivable to replace the damper used in the illustrated embodiment by an electric motor, advantageously, a linear motor. The attachment of the housing of the electric motor could then be realized similar to the attachment of the cylinder 9. A rod of the electric motor that could be displaced longitudinally accordingly could then be linked in an analogous way as in the shown embodiment to the adjustment screw 6. Accordingly, it would also be possible to replace the damper by a spring mechanism, in order to attach another form of the functional unit.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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A598/2008 | Apr 2008 | AT | national |
This application is a continuation of PCT/EP2009/002497, filed Apr. 4, 2009, which claims the benefit of Austrian Application A598/2008, filed Apr. 16, 2008, both of which are incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/EP2009/002497 | Apr 2009 | US |
Child | 12905479 | US |