1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hinge base provided with adjustment of the position in a vertical direction or in the direction of the hinging axis.
2. State of the Prior Art
Hinges used in the furniture-manufacturing industry are usually provided with a mechanism enabling vertical adjustment of the door so as to allow an optimal alignment with the furniture framework and with other possible adjacent doors.
In the simplest and cheapest form, vertical adjustment is obtained by the same screws fastening the hinge base to the side of the piece of furniture. In accordance with this known technique, the screws for fastening to the piece of furniture, possibly previously mounted on the side flanges of the base, are housed in slots elongated in the direction of the pivot axis of the door. In this way, when the screws are fastened to the side but nut yet fully tightened, vertical sliding of the base and of the hinge, and the door therewith, can be carried out along the stroke allowed by the oval shape of the slots.
This system is surely cheap but it has different drawbacks; since at least two fastening screws are required for each base, at least four screws are to be operated for vertical adjustment of a door; in addition, usually wood screws are utilized and carrying out loosening and tightening operations several times in the same seat may cause an important grip reduction.
Another drawback is represented from a non-continuity in the adjustment; when the screws are loosened, the door falls to the lowest position by effect of its own weight and the correct adjustment position can be only found by attempts.
To prevent the above described drawbacks, the solution generally used in the known art consists in separating fastening from adjustment; for this reason the base is made up of two pieces, a plate directly fastened to the side of the piece of furniture (by means of two wood screws, for example) and a body fastened to the plate by a single metric screw with an oval recess or by a riveted eccentric pin capable of enabling a continuous vertical movement.
The most important technical problem connected with this solution concerns fastening between the plate and the base body that obviously must be as rigid as possible. If fastening takes place by a screw, tightening of which takes place in an oval recess provided at a central position on the base body, the gripping degree can be sufficient, but often the fastening screw, for construction reasons, must be placed laterally on one of the side flanges of the base.
The problem is still more critical if the solution of carrying out fastening by a riveted eccentric pin is adopted. In fact, this solution offers the great advantage of a continuous adjustment, but is not able to ensure the same gripping action as that of a well tightened screw. Many known embodiments of this type of base are known but generally the mechanisms ensuring a good operation have a high manufacturing cost.
It is a general aim of the present invention to obviate the above mentioned drawbacks by providing a position-adjustable base enabling an efficient and continuous adjustment, steady fastening and minimum manufacturing cost.
In view of the above aim, in accordance with the invention a position-adjustable base for furniture hinges has been conceived which comprises a base body superposed on a fastening plate, the base body comprising means designed for fitting of a hinge wing and having a pair of opposite side flanges, each flange having a slot for sliding fastening which is elongated in the adjusting direction of the base, and the fastening plate having a corresponding through hole appearing in the area under the slot to be passed through together with the latter by a screw for fastening of the base to the piece of furniture and to enable sliding of the base body on the fastening plate in said adjusting direction, with the screw head bearing on side edges of the corresponding slot, characterized in that the holes in the fastening plate are surrounded by a raised collar entering the slot and constituting a rest for the head of the corresponding screw when the screw is tightened.
For better explaining the innovative principles of the present invention and the advantages it offers over the known art, a possible embodiment applying said principles will be described hereinafter by way of example, with the aid of the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:
With reference to the drawings, a perspective view of the base denoted at 10 is shown in
The base body 13, preferably made of bent and drawn metal sheet, comprises a central portion of a shape suitable for coupling and fastening of the fixed hinge portion, following known techniques herein not described in detail. For instance, the central body is provided with threaded fitting means 14, 15 for slidably receiving and securing a wing 16 of the hinge element. Other known systems for fastening of the hinge to the base can be used. The hinge can be of any known type, of an articulated type with several arms and rotation pins, for example.
The base is provided with two side flanges 17 and 18 in which slots 19 and 20 elongated in the direction of the pivot axis of the hinge (transverse to wing 16) are formed. A fastening plate 22 is accommodated under the flanges and parallel thereto, which plate is advantageously made of bent and drawn metal sheet and is provided with fastening holes 23, 24 that have the same distance between centers as the slots 19, 20 and are aligned with the slots to receive screws 25, 26 for fastening of the base to the piece of furniture. The fastening screws have a flat head of a bigger diameter than the slot width so that said screw heads can bear on the side edges of the slots.
As clearly shown in
In particular, in the advantageous embodiment shown the height of collars 31, 32 relative to the support plane of the plate on the piece of furniture is of such a value that before tightening of screws 25, 26 the upper surface defined by each edge 31 and 32 is slightly at a lower position than the upper surface of the flange in which the corresponding slot 19, 20 is formed. During tightening of the screws, the head of the fastening screws therefore first exerts pressure on the region of the base body around the slot and then, following the consequent elastic yielding of the base body suitably obtained, comes into contact with the edge of the respective collar 31, 32 of the fastening plate. At this point driving of the screw is substantially locked, while the base body is secured to the piece of furniture by the screws with a pre-established elastic force. This offers the possibility of an adjusting sliding of the base with a force previously established during planning, and not due in a prevailing manner to the tightening force of the screws.
To obtain the desired elastic force, an elastic deformation of the base body can be provided following different methods. In particular, elastic bending of the base body in the flange region can be provided. As shown still in
The central portion of the lower surface determined by the base edge, substantially located at the axis of slots 19, 20 is therefore slightly raised relative to the wood surface. In this way, the elastic deformation is obtained by bending of the base portion between the rest points or by bending of the same rest points, so as to enable lowering of the flange surface due to the thrust exerted by the head of the screws being tightened. A sufficient condition is that the deformation place under the flanges between the rest points, before tightening of the screws, be at least slightly larger than the difference in height between the rest plane of the screw head on the flange around the slot and the upper edge of the collar, so that when the screw comes into contact with the collar edge, the central portion of the base body is not yet in contact, or is only slightly in contact, with the fastening plane or the plate.
In other words, it is possible to define the height H1 as the height of the upper surface of the fastening flange relative to the plane of the wood or to the lower surface of the rest regions 30, the height H2 as the height of the upper surface of the flange relative to the lower surface of the central portion, and the height H3 as the height of the upper edge of the collar relative to the lower surface of the plate that is a rest for the wood. To enable good operation of the base, H3 must be of such a value that it is at the same time higher than H2 and smaller than H1. If the ratios between the heights H1, H2 and H3 are complied with, on tightening of the fastening screw, the head begins pushing on the upper surface of the flange until the four rest regions of the base are in contact with the fastening surface. Going on tightening the screw, the base is submitted to a slight deformation ensuring an optimal grip and also eliminating possible clearances under load.
The deformation camber is in any case limited by the design value given by the difference between H1 and H3. In fact, when the lower surface of the plate comes to a rest position on the fastening plane, any further deformation of the base is made impossible due to contact of the screw head that directly discharges the tightening force on the underlying wood through the corresponding collar 31, 32.
Once tightening of the screws has been completed, the base is pushed against the surface bearing on the piece of furniture with a force only depending on design data of the base, such as the material used for the base body, the shape of the latter and the value of the difference between H1 and H3, and on the contrary does not depend on the tightening force of the screws.
Acquiring an independence from the tightening force is very advantageous, because the tightening force is greatly variable depending on elements that do not rely on planning and that cannot be always controlled, such as the material of the furniture side, the type of screw used and above all the driving torque applied to the screw itself.
Present between the base body and fastening plate is means for manual adjustment of the position in the desired adjustment direction, enabling adjustment against said pre-established tightening force.
In particular, in the advantageous embodiment described, linked to plate 22 is also the rotation axis of a cam 27 the cam surface of which is received in an adjusting slot 21 formed in one of the two side flanges. As clearly viewed from
As shown in
It is apparent that on rotation of the eccentric cam head the base slides on the plate in the extension direction of slots 19, 20, enabling an adjustment of the hinge position in a direction parallel to hinging. With a base in accordance with the invention it is very easy to establish the size of the base in such a manner as to ensure a good grip against accidental sliding and the absence of clearances, without at the same time determining driving of the screw head into the flange 7 while enabling adjustment by the cam with a reasonable effort.
In particular, the force value can be such determined that it is possible to act on the cam to vertically adjust the hinge even when the fastening screws are completely tightened. Since the resisting forces do not depend on the force exerted by the tightened screws, the torque to be applied to the eccentric pin to adjust the hinge keeps constant irrespective of the fastening force applied to the screws.
Thus, with the described mechanism a cheap base has been obtained which is made up of two elements preferably made of metal sheet, joined by a simple riveted eccentric pin that is however able to allow a sophisticated continuous adjustment and to ensure an excellent fastening in the absence of clearances.
Shown in
In this second embodiment therefore, there is a base 110 with a central body 113 and side flanges 117, 118 provided with fastening slots 119, 120 elongated in the adjusting direction, in the same manner as in the embodiment in
The plate is secured to the flanges so as to be slidable in the transverse extension direction of the slots 119, 120. In the embodiment shown, the slidable engagement is obtained by means of a pair of constraint slots 140, 141 formed in the plate and of corresponding sliding pins projecting from the flanges. The pins are obtained in the side flanges by two holes both having a suitable edge 142, 143 which projects at the inside of the flange and is riveted through the corresponding slot 140, 141, as clearly shown also in
As viewed from
The surface determined by the lower edge of the base body is bent at the ends so as to define four rest regions 130 of the base. In the same manner as in the preceding instance, the collars are conveniently sized around the holes 123, 124 so that on tightening of the screws first the base is elastically deformed and then the screws stop against the upper edges of the respective collars. In particular, heights H1, H2 and H3 similar to those of the preceding instance can be defined.
In this way, the force counteracting the adjusting sliding of the base is made independent of the screw-tightening force, thus obtaining the above mentioned advantages.
In this case too gripping of the base-plate assembly on the wood is given by the fastening screws. Riveting of the edges of holes 142 and 143 has the only function of maintaining the two pieces joined together during transportation and handling; possible coupling clearances therefore are of no importance for good operation of the base because they are fully eliminated on fastening of the base to the wood. This makes the riveted coupling particularly cheap. As clearly shown in
At this point it is apparent that the intended purposes have been reached by providing a hinge base that is simple and inexpensive (the number of pieces can be reduced to a minimum and no precision working is required for mutual fastening of the base body and fastening plate), while at the same time enabling an efficient and quick position adjustment and a high sturdiness and fastening safety. By virtue of the solution of the invention, the force counteracting sliding of the base can be of such a nature as to enable an easy manual adjustment of the position but to prevent an undesired movement due to the door weight.
Obviously, the above description of an embodiment applying the innovative principles of the present invention is given by way of example only and therefore must not be considered as a limitation of the patent rights herein claimed. For instance, the different parts can have different shapes and proportions, depending on specific requirements. The plate can be as wide as to form the rest surface of the base body by itself. In addition, the elastic resistance of the base body against tightening of the screws until the heads of said screws reach the collars of the holes in the fastening plate can be obtained by means different from bending of the base body. For instance, elastically yielding support elements can be provided at the points the base body rests on the piece of furniture or between the screw heads and the flanges.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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MI2004A0222 | Feb 2004 | IT | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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3977041 | Rock et al. | Aug 1976 | A |
4642846 | Lautenschlager | Feb 1987 | A |
4862556 | Grass | Sep 1989 | A |
4982476 | Salice | Jan 1991 | A |
5930883 | McWhirt et al. | Aug 1999 | A |
5964010 | Huber | Oct 1999 | A |
5966779 | Salice | Oct 1999 | A |
6286185 | Ramsauer | Sep 2001 | B1 |
6557211 | Salice | May 2003 | B2 |
6739019 | Schnelle et al. | May 2004 | B2 |
6971142 | Lautenschlager | Dec 2005 | B2 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20050172456 A1 | Aug 2005 | US |