The present invention concerns a furniture hinge comprising a hinge arm having a longitudinal axis, a hinge cup which is connected to the hinge arm and which is mounted pivotably relative to the hinge arm between a closed position and an open position, and a linear damper having a linear damping stroke for damping a movement of the furniture hinge, wherein the linear damper is arranged at the hinge cup and can be arranged jointly therewith in the installed position within a bore in a furniture part.
The invention further concerns an article of furniture comprising a furniture carcass and a moveable furniture part which is mounted pivotably relative to the furniture carcass by way of at least one furniture hinge of the kind to be described.
The damping action of a linear damper is essentially based on the flow resistance of a damping fluid in a fluid chamber. Damping devices having a piston which involves a linear damping stroke usually have a travel-dependent damping function, that is to say the degree of damping is dependent on the available damping stroke of the piston. Thus, an sufficient damping travel and a suitable piston diameter are therefore to be provided in order to achieve the desired smooth damping of a hinge movement. A particular requirement is therefore that the linear damper is to be arranged on the hinge cup in as compact and inconspicuous fashion as possible, but at the same time the piston diameter and the damping stroke are to be suitably sized for the purposes of optimum damping efficiency.
A furniture hinge with a hinge cup and a linear damper mounted thereon which can be jointly arranged within a circular standard furniture bore is described, for example, in WO 2010/108203 A1 and WO 2008/104009 to the present applicant. In that case, the linear damper or dampers are mounted to an outside wall of the hinge cup, wherein the hinge cup has to be narrower than conventional hinge cups so that the hinge cup and the damper arranged thereon can be jointly fitted within the bore. A hinged lever is provided for acting on the damper, the hinged lever connects the hinge cup with the hinge arm immerses together with the hinge arm into the hinge cup in the closing movement. Therefore, the necessary reduction in size of the hinge cup in accordance with the state of the art means that the hinged lever and the hinge arm connected thereto must also be of a smaller width so that they can be jointly pushed into the hinge cup. Thus the hinge cup, the hinged lever and the hinge arm are made from special constructions (for example with cranked configurations), which is relatively complicated and cost-intensive.
EP 1 931 850 B1 describes furniture hinges having a linear damper, wherein the linear damping stroke is transverse relative to a longitudinal axis of the hinge arm. As those linear dampers and the hinge arm are not disposed within the bore in the furniture part in the mounted position, the structural length of the linear damper can be of relatively great size so that in this case a sufficient piston damping stroke is always available.
WO 2010/108201 A1 describes a furniture hinge having a damping device which can be arranged within a hinge cup. The damping device has two fluid chambers with displaceably mounted pistons, wherein the direction of the linear damping stroke of the first piston extends approximately at a right angle relative to the direction of the linear damping stroke of the second piston.
The object of the present invention is to propose a furniture hinge of the general kind set forth in the opening part of this specification, wherein existing standard forms of the hinge parts (and thus production lines present in the factory) can be used while in addition it is possible to ensure reliable damping efficiency of the linear damper.
According to the invention, that is achieved by the features of claim 1. Further advantageous configurations of the invention are recited in the appendant claims.
According to the invention, it is provided that in the open position of the furniture hinge, in a plan view, the direction of the linear damping stroke of the linear damper extends at an acute angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the hinge arm, the said acute angle being between 3° and 20°.
By way of an arrangement of a linear damper whose linear damping stroke in an open position of the hinge, in a plan view, forms an acute angle relative to a longitudinal axis of the hinge arm provides the advantage that the region of the hinge cup, in which the hinged lever and/or the hinge arm immerse in the closing movement of the furniture hinge, can be widened so that it is also possible to use standard components of the furniture hinge (in particular the hinge cup, the hinged lever which connects the hinge arm to the hinge cup and also the hinge arm). In addition, the structural length and thus the damping stroke can also be increased by virtue of the inclined position of the linear damper.
The linear damper can have at least one fluid chamber with a piston and/or a ram accommodated therein, wherein the high-pressure side of the fluid chamber (that is to say that end portion of the fluid chamber which includes the bottom of the fluid chamber) faces towards the hinge arm, while the other end portion of the fluid chamber with the low-pressure side (that is to say that region of the fluid chamber, from which the ram projects for force actuation of the damper) faces away from the hinge arm.
In an embodiment of the invention, it can be provided that said acute angle—which is included between the longitudinal axis of the hinge arm and the direction of the linear damping stroke of the linear damper—is between 5° and 10°.
In a preferred embodiment, the maximum damping stroke and the piston diameter can respectively be between 4 mm and 6 mm.
The hinge cup can have a fixing flange for bearing against a furniture part, wherein the linear damper is arranged at least partially externally on the hinge cup and in the installed position beneath the fixing flange. The direction of the linear damping stroke of the linear damper, in that case, preferably extends parallel to the contact surface of the fixing flange, which bears against the furniture part.
Further details and advantages of the present invention are described by means of the embodiment illustrated in the Figures in which:
a, 2b show two different perspective views from above of the furniture hinge,
a, 3b show a plan view of the furniture hinge and an enlarged detail view,
a, 4b show a perspective view and an enlarged detail view of the furniture hinge in the open position,
a, 5b show a perspective view and an enlarged detail view of the furniture hinge in the closed position,
a-6c show a perspective view and two detail views of the linear damper with an angle compensating device, and
a, 7b show two different views of a further embodiment of an angle compensating device.
a and 2b show two different perspective views of the furniture hinge 4. The hinge cup 5 is pivotably connected to the hinge arm 6 by way of at least one hinged lever 9. The hinged lever 9 is connected to the hinge arm 6 by way of a hinge axis member 10, wherein towards the end of the closing movement of the furniture hinge 4, the axis member 10 immerses into the internal cavity of the hinge cup 5 and wherein the inwardly moving hinged lever 9 acts on a pivotably mounted actuating element 11 for driving a linear damper 7. In the illustrate embodiment, the actuating element 11 is pivotally mounted within the hinge cup 5 about an axis member 12, wherein the actuating element 11 is pivotable preferably through at least 90°. The actuating element 11, however, can also be linearly displaceably mounted. The hinge cup 5 has a fixing flange 8 for bearing against the door 3 (
a shows a plan view of the furniture hinge 4, the hinge cup 5 and the fixing flange 8 being shown in broken-away form for reasons of clarity of the drawing. The hinge cup 5 is connected to the hinge arm 6 by way of at least one hinged lever 9, wherein towards the end of the closing movement of the furniture hinge 4, the hinged lever 9 acts on the actuating element 11 mounted rotatably about the axis member 12, wherein the movement of the actuating element 11 can be transmitted to the linear damper 7 by way of a transmission mechanism 14 (
a shows the furniture hinge 4 in the open position, with the housing 13 of the linear damper 7 being shown in broken-away form.
a shows a perspective view of the furniture hinge 4 in the closed position.
a shows a perspective view of the linear damper 7 with the actuating element 11 connected thereto. The actuating element 11 is non-rotatably connected to the rotatably mounted lever 15, wherein the free end 21 of the lever 15 bears loosely against the ram 16 of the linear damper 7.
c shows a perspective view of the rotatable lever 15, the free end 21 of the lever 15 cooperating with an end face of the ram 16 by way of an angle compensating device 23. That angle compensating device 23 serves to compensate for the inclined positioning of the linear damper 7 so that the ram 16 is acted upon in a straight line. In the illustrated embodiment, the surface of the free lever end 21, that is provided for contact with the ram 16, has an inclined surface 24 which upon contact with the ram 16 forms an acute angle β relative to the pivot axis member 12. That acute angle β preferably corresponds to the acute angle ° included between the longitudinal axis X of the hinge arm 6 and the direction of the linear damping stroke Y of the linear damper 7 (
a shows a further possible embodiment of an angle compensating device 23, by which the ram 16 of the linear damper 7 can be acted upon substantially in a straight line. In the illustrated Figure, the pivot axis member 12 has a positively locking contour 26 which differs from a cylindrical peripheral surface and which engages into an opening 25 in the rotatable lever 15. The opening 25 in the lever 15 has an inclined internal contour 28 corresponding thereto, wherein the guide surfaces of the internal contour 28 extend inclinedly relative to the side surface 27 of the lever 15. The ram 16 of the linear damper 7 can be acted upon in the axial direction by virtue of the inclined positioning of the lever 15 relative to the pivot axis member 12.
b shows a perspective view of the embodiment of
It should be noted that the linear damper 7 can also be used for damping an opening movement until the opened end position of the furniture hinge 4 is reached. If required, it is also possible to use a plurality of linear dampers 7 for damping a hinge movement, in which case an additional linear damper 7 can be arranged in mirror-image relationship with the longitudinal axis X shown in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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192/2012 | Feb 2012 | AT | national |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/AT2013/000002 | Jan 2013 | US |
Child | 14340839 | US |