Adjustable hinge

Details Adjustable hinge Adjustable hinge

2001-02-05

2002-11-26

Knight, Anthony (Department: 3676)

Miscellaneous hardware (e.g., bushing, carpet fastener, caster,

Hinge

Including adjustment for changing relative orientation of...

C016S241000, C016S235000, C016SDIG003

Reexamination Certificate

active

06484363

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hinges for mounting and support of doors pivoting thereon. More particularly it relates to a hinge having first and second cooperatively engageable hinge members engaged by a hinge pin communicating therebetween. The engagement of the hinge members is adjustable to allow for lateral translation of the door mounted hinge member on its axis mount with the sash mounted hinge pin to allow for adjustment of the door attached thereto for the best engagement of the door inside the frame. Adjustment is provided by a pair of eccentric bushings cooperatively engaged with the door mounted hinge member through which the hinge pin communicates. Rotation of the end of the hinge member thereby rotates the eccentric bushings in their mount with the door mounted hinge member thereby laterally translating and excentricly moving the door mounted hinge member toward or away from the vertical edge of the door frame mounted hinge member thereby allowing the door to be adjusted for the best fit within the frame.
2. Prior Art
Aged door installations and new hung doors may tend to bind or sag a bit inside the doorjamb or frame surrounding the perimeter of the swinging door, due to a jamb being out of plumb. Or, the jam may be caused from friction between the door edge and surrounding frame from accidentally making the hinge mortise too deep which creates an uneven gap between the door and frame along the latch side of the door as well as corner points on the door and frame that are out of registration.
Generally such problems are currently corrected by shimming a hinge or two with a cut piece of cardboard, thin flooring scrap, or in some cases a shim cut out to fit behind of the hinge in its mount to the door or the frame mounting surface. Testing for correct fit between the door and frame is accomplished by closing the door and checking the gaps. If the door sticks at the top hinge, it may be rectified by shimming the top hinge and snugging the bottom hinge, and vice versa for a door sticking at the bottom hinge. If the door sticks at the top knob-side corner, tightening the top hinge and shimming the bottom hinge will generally solve the problem, and vice versa for a door sticking at the bottom knob-side corner.
Unfortunately the science and application of shimming is at best, inexact, in that it is a trial and error procedure. Too much of a shim will cause a problem with the door mount opposite of the original fit. Too little of a shim will fail to correct the problem as intended. Consequently the correct fit of a door in the intended frame tends to be a time consuming and frustrating process requiring the repeated removing of the hinge across from the gap which needs to be closed or relieved and placing the shim in the mortise and reattach the hinge over it. On each such adjustment the person mounting the door must visually note how much the door gap changed and re-shim the hinge just adjusted or shim other hinges accordingly if necessary. A further vexing problem of this inexact science is the fact that shimming out too thick will often make the shim visible which is not a desirable trait in most situations where doors are mounted, especially in the home where visual cleanliness is valued.
Additional problems with the fit and easy rotation of doors on their hinges are caused in older buildings or door installations. In such instances the door frames may tend to be out of square from the setting of the building on its foundation, or the swelling or shrinking of the frame over time from moisture and humidity affecting the frame itself. On such a retrofit project, removing the screws mounting the hinges to the frame or the door can be a pursuit fraught with peril, in that stripping of the screw within its mount in the door or frame will cause the additional problem that must be corrected. Consequently the removal of screws from hinges on older installations to allow for shimming of the hinge mounts is not a desirable task and each such removal and installation of the mounting screws creates the potential for a stripped screw mounting and additional problem.
As such, a device that would alleviate the need for shimming on newly mounted doors and doors that have been installed in frames for many years would be especially useful. Such a device would also alleviate the potential for stripping the mount of the screws to the door or frame from the repeated removal and reinstallation of the screws when shim adjustments are required. Such a device should be easily adjustable therefore without the need to remove any of the screws or similar means of attachment of the hinge members to the door or frame, yet be visually attractive due to the nature of most door installations being in the home or business environment where aesthetic qualities are valued as much as mechanical performance.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,870,361 (Krause ) addresses the need for adjusting the door in its frame mounting by the use of adjustable bushings, however Krause is a complicated device intended to support an automobile door welded thereto and must be mounted in a large hollow between a car door and frame to function. It would not function as a door mount in a typical home or office and lacks the ability for easy adjustment afforded by Applicant's device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,275 (Hsi-Shan) also addresses the need for a hinge providing adjustment, however Hsi-Shan uses a complicated arrangement of dual rotating eccentrics and ball bearings which increase cost and which are not easily user adjustable when the door is mounted.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,855 (Tang) teaches a device for the provision of adjustment of doors within their frames. Tang, however depicts hinges that attach to the top and bottom edges of a conventional door and would not be useable with the vast majority of entry doors for the residential and commercial rooms and buildings. Tang also places the majority of weight on the adjustable busing when mounted which would inhibit easy adjustment.
GB patent 2230557B (Briggs) discloses a two-piece hinge that is adjustable for lateral translation of the door in the frame, however Briggs supports the weight of the hung door on the bushings providing the adjustment and renders adjustment difficult if not impossible to adjust the hinges and attached door for location should the weight of the door jam the bushing. This is especially prevalent in older doors that have been hanging for years and which tend to sag under the constant pull of gravity.
As such, there exists a need for an easily and inexpensively manufactured hinge that will function with conventional entry doors and provide adjustment of such doors inside their frames. Such a hinge should provide for easy adjustment of both newly hung doors and doors having been hanging for many years. Such a device should be easy to mechanically adjust from the exterior of the hinge and should bear the majority of weight of the hung door in such a manner so as not to bind the adjustment components when the door weight is imparted to the hinge.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Applicants′ device is an easily manufactured and installed hinge featuring a pair of rotationally engageable hinge members which are cooperatively attached using a pair of weight bearing hinge bushings and a pair of body bushes each having an off center bore therethrough which is shaped cooperatively engage and rotate with, the exterior of an axial hinge pin. The hinge pin engages with the hinge bushings at both ends at the center point of the hinge bushings thereby forming a central axis therebetween when the hinge is assembled with the hinge bushings, body bushings, and hinge pin in operative engagement.
Adjustability of the hinge is provided by rotation of the body bushes having the off center bore therethrough in their slidable engaged mount with a passage in the second hinge member. The bore is shaped in such a fashion as to cooperatively engage the exterior of the hinge pin that passes through both body bushes. The hinge pin is atta

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