Spring Biased Furniture Hinge Having a Brake Mechanism

The invention relates to a furniture hinge with a cup shaped housing which can be inserted into a recess of a furniture part, a hinge arm which is mountable on another furniture part with two hinge plates provided between the housing and the hinge arm pivotably mounted on hinge pins and a locking device provided with a spring.

A furniture hinge of this type is known (DE-OS No. 26 11 942), wherein the spring of the locking device is shaped as a shank spring. By this shank spring, an additional locking force is exerted on the door during the last portion of the locking movement, so that the locking movement is intensified and the door strikes correspondingly hard.

This object is solved in accordance with the invention in that in or on the hinge arm a pivotable piston is pivotably mounted around a traverse axis, a brake cylinder is slideably mounted on the piston, the brake cylinder is moveable relative to the piston by a cam lever which is mounted on the hinge plate adjacent to the mounting side for the hinge arm, and that the slide faces of the piston and/or the brake cylinder are provided with a coating increasing the friction values.

In an advantageous embodiment of the invention the free end of the cam lever engages into a groove of the brake cylinder assuring an idle stroke over the first angle range of the opening movement.

In accordance with the invention, it is assured that the brake cylinder becomes effective substantially during the last portion of the locking movement of the hinge or the door, and that the locking movement is not intensified by the spring of the locking device but dampened in this angle area. The brake forces which are generated during the sliding movement of the cylinder on the piston or the parallel disposed rod pistons can be influenced by the selection of the coating for the slide faces by which the friction values are increased and by shaping the sliding faces. The piston or the rod pistons may have a cross section, such that the sum of all slide faces is large. The cross section of the piston or the rod piston may be multi cornered, star shaped, or the like.

The novel features which are considered characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

FIG. 1 the furniture hinge in its intermediary position and,

FIG. 2 a section along line II--II in FIG. 1

The furniture hinge illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is provided with a hinge arm 1 which can be mounted on a furniture part and a cup shaped housing 2 which is inserted into a recess of a door and connected by means of a hinge plate 3 and a hinge plate 4 with hinge arm 1. The hinge plate 3 is pivotably mounted on a hinge pin 5 mounted on the hinge arm and a hinge pin 6 mounted in the housing and engages these hinge pins with their rolled end pieces 7 and 8. The hinge plate 4 is pivotably mounted on a hinge pin 9 mounted on the housing and a hinge pin 10 mounted in the hinge arm. From FIG. 1, it can be seen that the hinge pin 10 of hinge arm 1 extends into housing 2 in the locking position of the furniture hinge. The hinge pin 10 is encompassed by a shank spring 11 which supports with its one shank end 12 on the lower hinge pin 9 of housing 2 and with their other shank end 13 in the area of hinge pin 5.

A piston 15 is pivotably mounted around a transverse axis 14 in hinge arm 1. A brake cylinder 17 is slideably mounted on the piston, which in the illustrated embodiment consists of two parallel extending rod piston 16 with a rectangular cross section, whereby the outer shape of the brake cylinder corresponds to the inner shape of the hinge arm 1. The slide faces of piston 15 and/or the brake cylinder 17 are provided with a coating C as shown in FIG. 2, which increases the friction values. This coating may consist of a plastic mass or a rubber mass. Stationary components may be imbedded into these materials.

The brake cylinder 17 is provided with a groove 18 which is engaged by the free end of a cam lever 19. The front faces 20 and 21 of groove 18 form the abutment faces for the cam lever 19.

When the locking movement of the hinge is continued from the intermediary position of FIG. 1, wherein the cam lever 19 engages the abutment face 20, the cam lever 19 moves to the left and moves the brake cylinder 17 in the same direction. Thereby, the locking movement is subjected to a brake force, so that a light closing of the door 22 occurs. When opening the door, the cam lever 19 moves on a circular curve around the hinge pin 5 to the right, so that an idle stroke occurs at first before the cam lever comes into engagement on face 21, thus moving the brake cylinder into the other end position which it assumes during completely opened hinge.

As can be seen from FIG. 2, the groove 18 for receiving the free end of the cam lever 19 is disposed in the center plane of the brake cylinder 17.

In the exemplified embodiment in accordance with FIG. 1, the cam lever 19 is a part of a sheet metal member 23 which is mounted on end roller 8.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a furniture hinge, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications which, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention.