This invention relates to damper assemblies, and more particularly, to damper assemblies for use with toggle type hinges of the sort that are typically used on kitchen cupboards.
The invention provides a damper assembly for a hinge, comprising a damping device with a piston arranged to be moveable over a working stroke within a cylinder containing damping fluid, retaining means for mounting the damping device, and a mechanism for converting rotational movement of the hinge in at least part of one direction into relative movement of the piston and cylinder on the working stroke of the piston, wherein the movement converting mechanism is arranged to act on the cylinder at a position substantially outside the range of movement of the piston on its working stroke.
By way of example, embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The form of damper assembly seen in exploded view in
As seen in
The damper unit 10 is in the form of a linear piston and cylinder device, with a piston (not shown) arranged on the end of a piston rod 14 to be reciprocable within a cylinder 15 containing a damping fluid such as silicone, and with a compression spring (not shown) biasing the piston rod towards its extended position. The device is designed to produce a damped resistive force upon its compression, in known manner.
The damper unit 10 is mounted on the bracket 11 via an elongate, radiussed groove 13. This enables the damper unit 10 to have freedom to rotate about its longitudinal axis and to have freedom to move axially with respect to the bracket 11. The housing 12 is attachable to the bracket 11 by suitable means such as fasteners or spring clips and thereby retains the damper unit 10. The bracket 11 is itself attachable to the cup flange of the hinge by suitable means such as fatseners or spring clips, in known manner.
Extending laterally from the cylinder 15 is a wing 16, which in use protrudes out of an opening 17 in the housing 12. The wing 16 is designed to be engageable by part of the link mechanism 32 of the toggle type hinge 31 (see
As seen best in
An end cap 22 is mounted in a hole 23 in the housing 12. The purpose of the end cap 22 is to allow adjustment of the axial position of the cylinder 15. This enables the pre-load on the damper device 10 to be tailored to suit the door/cupboard on which it is mounted.
To be fully useful, a damper assembly such as this must be capable of withstanding the forces generated by a slammed door. The helical profile of camming surfaces 18, 19 means that in addition to generating an axial component of force, the movement converting mechanism will also generate a radial component of force. When the door is slammed, the impact on the actuating wing 16 will be unusually high. This in turn means that an unusually high degree of radial force will be transmitted to the damper unit 10. In some cases, the radial force component can be sufficient to lead to distortion of the cylinder 15, potentially jamming the piston within it, or even to a fatal fracture of the cylinder.
It will be noted that in the assembly seen in the drawings, the movement converting mechanism is located at the end of the cylinder 15. In this position, the radial component of force generated by the slamming of a door will have least effect on the integrity of the cylinder 15. Moreover, the camming surface 18 is positioned on the cylinder 15 beyond the extent of the working stroke of the piston (indicated by the letter x in
A further feature of the assembly seen in the drawings is that the damper unit 10 incorporates a buffer zone 20. The buffer zone 20 is situated in the path of the force transmitted between the movement converting mechanism and the damper unit 10. The buffer zone 20 takes the form of a structure that is designed to be resiliently collapsible in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the damper unit 10 when subjected to an impact load. The purpose of the buffer zone 20 is to suffer a controlled collapse under the high initial impact of a slammed door, thus helping to dissipate the force transmitted to the damper unit 10. The buffer zone 20 is suitably designed for this purpose, e.g. with a honeycomb structure as seen in
It will be appreciated that it would be possible to incorporate the feature of the buffer zone in the other forms, for example, as part of the piston rod perhaps, or as part of the housing or some other part against which the damper unit may be designed to act.
The form of damper assembly seen in exploded view in
The damper unit 10′ here is essentially the same as the damper unit 10 seen in
It will be appreciated that other arrangements for mounting the damper unit and configuring the movement converting mechanism are possible, for example by forming one of the camming surfaces on the housing or on some other component to be attached to the housing and/or the hinge cup flange, or by arranging for the movement converting mechanism to act on the piston rod instead of or in addition to the cylinder.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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1222822.7 | Dec 2012 | GB | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP13/76999 | 12/17/2013 | WO | 00 |