Articulated swing away hinge

Details Articulated swing away hinge Articulated swing away hinge

2002-08-14

2004-06-15

Gall, Lloyd A. (Department: 3676)

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

Hinge

Having plural hinge axes

C016S366000, C016S368000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06748626

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to hinges and more particularly, to an articulated, swing away hinge which allows greater access through a doorway, directly replaces standard existing hinges, and is an aesthetically pleasing hinge. The present invention also relates to concurrently filed patent applications by the same inventor, application Ser. No. 60/403,350 entitled GEARED SWING AWAY HINGE and application Ser. No. 10/218,356 entitled FOUR PIVOT SWING AWAY HINGE, both herein incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The most common standard door hinge is a butt hinge which comprises two plates or leaves hingedly attached to each other about a single pivot point. A typical prior art butt hinge
100
is shown in FIG.
1
A and comprises a door side leaf
102
and a jamb side leaf
104
. The door side leaf
102
is typically mortised into a heel or edge
110
of the door
106
and the jamb side leaf
104
is typically mortised into jamb
108
of the doorway. Each of the leaves
102
,
104
are further provided with a plurality of apertures (not shown) for passage of screws therethrough in order to attach the door side leaf
102
to the door heel or edge
110
and the jamb side leaf
104
to the door jamb
108
. The leaves
102
,
104
each have one or more rolled, tubular segments or knuckles (not shown) along a side edge. The knuckles of each leaf
102
,
104
are specifically sized and arranged so as to mesh in axial alignment with the knuckles of the other leaf, thereby forming a hinge bone. A pin
112
is inserted through the axially aligned knuckles to effectively couple the leaves
102
,
104
so that they are movable relative to one another about a common axis, defined by the hinge pin
112
.
A problem with the standard butt hinge
100
is that when the door
106
is open at a 90 degree angle as shown in
FIG. 1A
, the entire door
106
is in the doorway thereby cutting down the available width or access through the doorway clearance space. The doorway clearance space
107
is generally defined as the space between two parallel planes
109
, wherein each plane
109
is co-planar to a corresponding front face
111
of a door stop
113
on either side of the doorway as best shown in FIG.
1
B. The problem is further accentuated by the fact that it is preferred in architectural design to place doorways near a corner of the room in order to cut down on lost room/wall available space, promote airflow in the structure, etc., as shown in FIG.
1
B. The result is that the hinge side of the doorway may have a wall
130
perpendicular to the doorway wall
128
which limits the door movement to significantly less than the 180 degrees needed to clear the door
106
from the doorway clearance space
108
. This requires that the door
106
is removed from the doorway by disconnecting all the hinges
100
any time furniture or other larger objects are needed to be moved through the doorway.
One attempt to solve the door clearance problem is the swing away or offset hinge. The offset hinge also comprises two leaves in the form of brackets hingedly attached to each other about a single pivot point such that the brackets nest in each other when the door is closed. As shown in
FIG. 2
, the offset hinge
120
has a pivot point formed by the hinge pin
112
which is significantly offset away from the doorjamb
108
. When the door is opened at 90 degrees, the door is no longer in the doorway clearance space
108
. However, several problems with the offset hinge
120
have prevented the use of the offset hinge
120
in most applications other than hospitals and other functional based environments. The offset hinge
120
is not aesthetically pleasing. The bracket leaves
122
,
124
must extend completely over the casing of the doorway in order to enable the door to swing out of the passageway. The operation of the brackets
122
,
124
place the door
106
at a significant distance from the doorway when the door
106
is opened at 90 degrees. This results in large moment, compressive, and tensile forces acting on the hinges
120
due to the weight and position of the door
106
. This requires that the brackets
122
,
124
are oversized to compensate for the strength requirement, or that additional hinges
120
are used to mount the door
106
. In addition, the entire surface of both bracket leaves
122
,
124
are visible when the door is opened making the offset hinge
120
even more aesthetically unpleasing and is a potential hazard to children.
In view of the above noted problems as well as other problems associated with prior art hinges, there remains a need in the art for an aesthetically pleasing hinge assembly which moves the door out of the doorway when the door is opened at a 90 degree angle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved hinge utilizing a plurality of hinged pivot points which overcomes at least one deficiency in the prior art. These and other advantages are provided by a hinge comprising: a first hinge member having a first generally planar end portion having a plurality of attachment holes, a second end portion, and an intermediate portion between the first end portion and the second end portion; a second hinge member having a first end, a second end, and plurality of attachment holes formed between the first end and the second end; a third hinge member having a first end hingedly attached to the second end of the first hinge member and a second end hingedly attached to the second end of the second hinge member; and a means for controlling the position of the second hinge member with respect to the first hinge member; wherein the hinge is movable from a closed position wherein the second hinge member and the first end portion of the first hinge member are generally parallel to each other to at least an open position wherein the second hinge member and the first end portion of the first hinge member are generally perpendicular to each other.
These and other advantages are also provided by a hinge for attachment of a door to a door jamb of a doorway, the doorway having a clearance space defined by the space between two parallel planes, each plane tangent to a corresponding front face of a door stop on either side of the doorway, the hinge comprising: a first hinge member fixably attached to the door jamb; a second hinge member fixably attached to the door; a third hinge member having a first end hingedly attached to the first hinge member at a first hinge point and a second end hingedly attached to the second hinge member at a second hinge point; wherein the second hinge point is rotatable about the first hinge point; and a means for controlling the position of the second hinge member with respect to the first hinge member; wherein the door is positioned outside of the doorway clearance space when the door is opened 90 degrees.


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