Supports: cabinet structure – Outdoor type – Wall or window
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-19
2002-05-07
Cuomo, Peter M. (Department: 3636)
Supports: cabinet structure
Outdoor type
Wall or window
C049S390000, C312S328000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06382743
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to news-stands, being structures of the type as used for presenting newspapers and other publications to the public. The publications are contained in an enclosed protective compartment of the news-stand, having a door. In some types of news-stands, the door is locked closed and can only be opened after coins have been inserted into a coin-slot. The invention will be described as it relates to news-stands of the type in which the door may be opened freely, without the need for a person to insert money.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
The publications in the news-stand may be intended to be taken freely (such as real-estate listings, advertisements, etc), and therefore there is nothing in the news-stand to be stolen. Still, there are members of the public who derive amusement from inflicting damage to structures in public places.
It is well-known that a news-stand that comprises basically a one-piece plastic moulding, though not of course indestructible, can be robust enough to stand up to the inevitable abuse that is inflicted on structures in public places. As such, it is advantageous to form the plastic structure by rotation-moulding, and a news-stand of this general type is illustrated in our patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,997 (Gollob, May 1995).
THE INVENTION IN RELATION TO THE PRIOR ART
The invention relates to a door-hinging system, and is advantageously applicable when the axis of the hinge is horizontal. As such, the door may rather be termed a swinging flap, but the term door is used, particularly since the invention is not limited to the axis of the hinge being horizontal.
Many hinging systems have been proposed for openable flaps and doors, being systems that depend on the use of a hinge-pin about which the door can pivot. The designer of the hinging system must see to it that the relatively-pivoting components are secured in a manner that allows free and easy movement about the hinge, and yet the hinge-pin must be secured rigidly, so the pin cannot bend or distort which would interfere with smooth pivoting.
It is especially difficult to secure the hinge-pin to the pivoting components when the components are made of thin sheet material, since sheet material has little inherent rigidity (other than in the plane of the sheet). One conventional type of hinging system, which is further described below, makes use of a piano-hinge, which is secured to the thin sheet material of the body of the news-stand, and secured to the thin sheet material of the door, with rivets. The lack of stiffness of the thin material means that the piano-hinge must itself supply almost all the rigidity it needs for proper functioning, by itself, without assistance from the sheet material. Also, it is notoriously difficult to ensure that fasteners attached to sheet material remain tight.
One common engineering means for increasing stiffness and rigidity in components made of sheet material is to so form the sheet material as to create ribs and folds. The invention shows how to utilise the shape of the news-stand itself, with the addition of some folds, to provide a hinge-pin system in which the rigidity the hinge-pin needs for proper mechanical functioning arises inherently, as a result of the shape of the body-shell.
Preferably, in the invention, the hinge-pin is held in through-holes in sheet material. That being so, it is important that the hinge pin not be able to rock, at all, within the holes; if it could rock, the pin could work loose. Again, the invention shows how the thin material can be arranged such that the pin cannot rock relative to the holes. Thus, such tightness of fit as may be built into the hinge pin and the holes in which the pin is mounted can be expected to remain tight over a long service life.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4067477 (1978-01-01), Chalabian
patent: 4651896 (1987-03-01), Harrell
patent: 4700869 (1987-10-01), Bogner
patent: 4756448 (1988-07-01), Dahl
patent: 4765469 (1988-08-01), Seifert
patent: 4875598 (1989-10-01), Dahl
patent: 5178299 (1993-01-01), Mundt
patent: 5198991 (1993-03-01), Pollitt
patent: 5267127 (1993-11-01), Pollitt
patent: 5305913 (1994-04-01), Shade
patent: 5383560 (1995-01-01), Gueret
patent: 5394997 (1995-03-01), Gollob
patent: 5791508 (1998-08-01), Arnould
patent: 5834690 (1998-11-01), Bastiaansen
patent: 6050686 (2000-04-01), De Rossi
patent: 6318627 (2001-11-01), Koebbe
Anderson Jerry A.
Anthony Asquith & Co.
Cuomo Peter M.
Go-Plastics Inc.
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