Universal hinge

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6594860
  • Patent Number
    6,594,860
  • Date Filed
    Friday, March 16, 2001
    23 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, July 22, 2003
    21 years ago
Abstract
A universal hinge with a base member having a smooth semi spherical upper surface and a lower mounting surface and a vertically extending cylindrical opening therein. An intermediate member has a lower cylindrical surface that is received in the base member, and a latching member carried by the base member secures the intermediate member to the base member for relative rotation. The remote end of the intermediate member is pivotally secured to a mounted member, and the remote end of the latter is formed for securement of an item such as a Bimini Top.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




1) Field of the Invention




This invention relates generally to hinges, and more particularly to a universal hinge that will accommodate relative movement between the hinge members in more than a single plane.




2) Description of the Prior Art




Universal hinges are well known in the prior art and have particular application, inter alia, as a hinge for a convertible Bimini Top of a boat, that is a type of convertible top which can be raised to an upright usable position and lowered therefrom to a lowered unused or stored position. Such a hinge must have a base which can be mounted on a vessel, and a part carried by and pivotal relative to the base and securable to the Bimini top so that the Bimini Top can be moved between its positions. Such a Bimini hinge is shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 6,151,756, which has these desirable characteristics, however, this hinge requires that a receiving opening be provided in the boat hull to accommodate the housing which depends from the mounting flange. All boat manufacturers do not desire to have such an opening in their boat and all boat mounting surfaces are not conducive to having a receiving opening therein. Additionally, the two parts of the hinge are not easily separated, so that when a Bimini is removed from the prior art hinge, as for storage, the Bimini is detached from the hinge and the two portions of the hinge remain secured to the boat. In this condition the pivoting portion of the hinge projects from the base and becomes an obstruction for becomes an obstruction for the boat operator, as disassembly of the hinge is difficult.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




It is an object of this invention to provide a universal hinge wherein the base of the hinge does not project below the surface upon which it is mounted. It is also an object of this invention to provide a universal hinge wherein the hinge elements are easily dissembled. Yet a further object of this invention is to provide such a hinge structure such that when the pivoting portion is removed from the base portion, there is no structure present to interfere with a user. To this end, the present invention includes a base which is securable to a surface such as a boat hull or cabin, and does not project below this surface. The base has a receiving opening therein, and includes a latching lever which is spring loaded to project into the receiving opening and which lever is manually operable to be withdrawn from the projecting position. A hinge intermediate member is rotatably received in the receiving opening and has a detent groove for receiving the latching lever to retain the intermediate member in the opening, and alternately, when the latch is withdrawn, to be removed from the opening to disassemble the parts. The intermediate member has an axial slot there in for pivotally receiving a tang carried by the mounted member to be mounted thereon, and a pivot pin transverses the slot and the tang to pivotally mount the mounted member to the intermediate member, whereby the mounted member is universally hinged relative to the base.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a plan view of a hinge of this invention with the mounted member omitted for clarity;





FIG. 2

is a cross sectional view taken along the line


2





2


in

FIG. 1

with the mounted member included, and with the mounted member and intermediate member shown in full lines;





FIG. 3

is a cross sectional view also taken along the line


2





2


in

FIG. 1

with the intermediate member shown in full lines and removed from the base;





FIG. 4

is an end view of the intermediate member;





FIG. 5

is an end view of the mounted member;





FIG. 6

is a bottom view of the device of

FIG. 1

; and





FIG. 7

is a perspective view of the latching lever of this invention.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION




Referring now to the drawings, a hinge of this invention, configured as a Bimini hinge for a boat, is shown generally at


10


and includes a base


12


, an intermediate member


14


, and a mounted member


16


. The base


12


has a flat bottom


18


and a generally spherically configured top surface


20


, which surface, in itself, is smooth and unobtrusive, so as present no sharp points which can cause an injury. Adjacent each of its axially opposed ends


21


and


22


, the base


12


is provided with a countersunk bolt receiving opening


23


at its forward end and


23


A at its rearward end, adapted to receive a bolt to secure the base to a surface on a boat hull.(not shown). The base


12


has a vertically extending cylindrical mounting opening


24


machined therethrough disposed slightly forward of its center, and a slot


26


is formed in the bottom


18


thereof. The slot


26


commences just forwardly of the rear bolt receiving opening


23


A and extends to, and opens into the mounting opening


24


. The rear end of the slot also opens into a depression


28


formed in the top surface of the base


12


, which depression commences just rearwardly of the opening


24


and terminates at the countersunk portion of the rear countersunk opening


23


A. A latching lever


30


is received in the slot


26


, and has a latching left end


32


and a manually operable knob


34


formed on the right end


36


thereof, which knob projects from the slot


26


and is accessible in the depression


28


. The lever


30


, in a vertical direction, is spaced slightly above the bottom


18


of the base


12


, and a cover plate


40


, tightly received in a depression


42


and substantially coplanar with the bottom of the base member


12


, covers the bottom of the slot


26


and retains the lever


30


in the slot


26


. The latching left end


32


of the lever


30


is inclined downwardly to the left for a purpose hereinafter explained.




The intermediate member


14


has a cylindrical lower end


44


, in which, at a location adjacent to the lower end thereof, an annular detent groove


46


is formed, which groove is of sufficient vertical height so as to be capable of receiving the left end


32


of the latching member


30


. The lower end


44


has a chamfer


50


formed on the extreme end thereof, so that when the member


14


is slid into the base


12


, the lower end


44


will engage the left inclined end


32


of the latching member


30


, and move the latter to the right against the biasing effect of a coil compression spring


52


, received in a pocket


55


formed in the bottom of the latching member, and compressed between the latter and the right end of the slot


26


, to thereby bias the latching member


30


to the left. With the member


30


moved to the right, the intermediate member


14


can move into the base


12


until the bottom thereof is flush with the bottom


18


of the base, and the end


32


of the latching member


30


is biased into the annular groove


46


of the member


14


, and since the bottom


44


of the member


14


is cylindrical, the intermediate member


14


is free to rotate about its vertical axis in the base


12


while being restrained from moving vertically by the latching member


30


. The upper end


54


of the intermediate member


14


is bifurcated with a pair of spaced arms


56


formed by a vertically extending central slot


60


which extends inwardly from the upper end thereof and ends at a location which is generally in registration with the top of the base


12


at such time as the member


14


is mounted in the base


12


. The arms


56


each has an opening


61


formed therein, which openings are in alignment and securely receive a pivot pin


62


therein. The mounted member


16


has a tang


63


received in the slot


60


between the pair of arms


56


, with the pivot pin


62


received in an opening


64


in the tang


63


to pivotally mount the mounted member


16


to the intermediate member


14


. The mounted member


16


has a central opening


66


extending inwardly from the upper end thereof for receiving the mounting leg (not shown) of a conventional Bimini Top (not shown), and a set screw


68


threaded into the side of the mounting member and reaching into the opening


66


is operable to secure the mounting leg to the mounting member


16


.




In order to store the Bimini, the latching lever


30


is moved to the right so that it is withdrawn from the slot


46


in the intermediate member


14


, so that the intermediate member can be withdrawn from the base


12


, and the Bimini stored with the intermediate member and the mounted member


16


secured thereto. This leaves behind on the vessel only the base


12


with its smooth semi spherical upper surface exposed, which is not likely to injure a boat occupant. If desired, the mounted member


16


can be removed from the Bimini by loosening the set screw


68


, and the intermediate member and the mounted member returned to the base with or without the Bimini attached thereto for whatever reason such may be desired.




While only a single embodiment of this invention has been shown and described, it is understood that many changes can be made therein without departing from the scope of this invention as claimed.



Claims
  • 1. A universal hinge that will accommodate relative movement between its parts in more than a single plane, comprising,A) a base member adapted to be mounted on a surface and having a mounting opening therein, B) an intermediate member having a first portion thereof mounted in said mounting opening and a second portion thereof projecting from said base member, C) quick release means securing said intermediate member to said base member and allowing relative movement therebetween solely in a first plane, and D) a mounted member including means mounting the same to said intermediate member for pivotal movement relative thereto in a second plane at right angle to said first plane, 1) said mounted member having a portion thereof formed as a mounting location for an item to be mounted thereon for universal pivotal movement relative to said base member.
  • 2. A universal hinge comprising in combination,A) a base member having a bottom engageable surface and having a mounting opening therein, B an intermediate member having a first portion thereof received in said opening for relative rotative movement, C) quick release means for securing said intermediate member to said base member and solely allowing relative rotative movement to take place, D) said intermediate member having a second portion thereof remote from said first portion thereof, and E) a mounted member including means connecting said mounted member to said intermediate member for relative pivotal movement.
  • 3. A universal hinge according to claim 2 wherein said quick release means includes a latching member carried by said base member and resilient means also carried by said base member for biasing said latching member into latching engagement with said intermediate member.
  • 4. A universal hinge according to claim 3 wherein said base member has an upper surface opposed to the bottom surface thereof, said mounting opening is at right angles to said bottom surface, said base member has a slot therein, said slot is open at one end thereof into said mounting opening and open at an other end thereof at said upper surface of said base member, and said latching member is disposed in said slot.
  • 5. A universal hinge according to claim 4 wherein said mounting opening is cylindrical, the first portion of said intermediate member received therein is also cylindrical, said intermediate member has an annular groove therein, and said annular groove is formed in the cylindrical portion of said intermediate member.
  • 6. A hinge according to claim 3 wherein said intermediate member has an annular groove therein and a first end of said latching member is receivable into said groove.
  • 7. A hinge according to claim 6 wherein said latching member has a second end opposed to said first end, and said second end projects to the upper surface of said base member, and is adapted for manual manipulation.
  • 8. A hinge according to claim 7 wherein said base member has a slot therein, said slot is open to said bottom surface of said base member, and a cover plate is securely carried by said base member and covers the portion of said slot open at said bottom surface of said base member.
  • 9. A hinge according to claim 8, wherein said base member has a cover plate receiving opening in the bottom surface thereof, said cover plate is received in said receiving opening so as to be flush with said bottom surface of said base member.
  • 10. A hinge according to claim 2 wherein said intermediate member has a remote end and has a pivot slot formed in said remote end thereof, said mounted member has a tang thereon received in said pivot slot, and a pivot pin pivotly connects said intermediate and mounted members.
US Referenced Citations (16)
Number Name Date Kind
1396247 Bowman Nov 1921 A
1903379 Hall Apr 1933 A
4319746 Chang Mar 1982 A
4455008 MacKew Jun 1984 A
4799444 Lisowski Jan 1989 A
4843680 Cress Jul 1989 A
5092262 Lacy Mar 1992 A
5233726 Cress Aug 1993 A
5392493 Youngdale Feb 1995 A
5413063 King May 1995 A
5850997 Rosen Dec 1998 A
5873149 Bonenberger Feb 1999 A
6138970 Sohrt et al. Oct 2000 A
6151756 Czipri Nov 2000 A
6220556 Sohrt et al. Apr 2001 B1
6367756 Wang Apr 2002 B1