Flush Mounted, Fully Concealed Cabinet Hinges

This invention relates to fully concealed hinges for cabinets or the like, including applications where the hinged edge of a cabinet door abuts another door or a rigid structural member.

In previous fully concealed hinge designs, whether these hinges were of the 90 degree opening type or of the type having a full opening angle of 165 degrees or more, there has been the necessity of machining the door to receive the hinge. This machining process involved either cutting a slot near the edge of the door or boring a rather large diameter, deep hole. These hinges were known as the "32 millimeter system" or the European type of cabinet hinge. In addition to the large hole being required in the door, this type of installation also required three different thicknesses of mounting plates to accommodate the different amount of door overlay relative to the cabinet. There are about four different types of European hinges for the 90 degree to 120 degree hinges. Also, there are special European-type hinges required for doors that are 7/8 inch to one and one-quarter inches thick.

Patents disclosing the European type of fully concealed hinge and illustrating the points mentioned above, include U.S. Pat. No. 3,626,548 to H. Grunert; U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,292 to H. Grunert, et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,549 to T. Vitt.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide a fully concealed hinge which will avoid the problems and shortcomings of the prior art hinges as outlined hereinabove.

In accordance with the present invention, a fully concealed type hinge includes a first flush mounted member or bracket for mounting to the cabinet, a second flush mounted member or bracket for securing to the cabinet door, a housing or main structural member having a fixed pivot point on the cabinet mounted bracket, and parallelogram-type mounting members for pivotally intercoupling the housing with the door mounted bracket. The pivoting of the housing about the cabinet member is controlled by a linkage connected to the parallelogram mounting members to restrain the housing against pivotal movement until the door has shifted in position a substantial distance away from the cabinet, and to thereafter force rotation of the housing relative to the cabinet mounting bracket to accommodate wide open pivoting of the cabinet door.

Collateral aspects of the operation of one embodiment of the hinge include initial actuation of the parallelogram members while the door is close to the cabinet, subsequent substantial locking up of the parallelogram, members, and continuation of the movement of the door by rotation of the housing relative to the cabinet mounted bracket.

For wide opening doors, shifting of the pivot point of at least one of the parallelogram members is facilitated at one range of angles only, of the orientation of the parallelogram members relative to the door mounted bracket or the housing.

Camming arrangements for intercoupling the housing and the cabinet mounted member may be used for controlling the degree of pivoting of the housing relative to the cabinet mounted member, under the control of the linkage coupled to the parallelogram type members.

With regard to the advantages of the present invention, the new hinge does not require any machining of either the cabinet door or the cabinet, but the hinges are simply flush mounted. The new hinge will accommodate doors of any overlay, up to approximately 7/8 inch, and will also accommodate flush doors and lip style doors. Incidentally, there is currently no known hinge of the so-called European or 32 mm style hinge which can accommodate lip style doors.

It is further noted that the new hinges are smaller in size than the prior European style hinges and have good structural qualities. Only two hinge models would be required to handle all door angle opening requirements, and different mounting plate thicknesses would not be required.

Other objects, features, and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description and from the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a flush mounted, fully concealed hinge illustrating the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of the hinge of FIG. 1, with the door in the closed position;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view similar to that of FIG. 2, but with the door opened slightly beyond 90 degrees;

FIG. 4 is an additional view similar to that of FIGS. 2 and 3, but with the door shown in a wide-open position approaching 180 degrees;

FIG. 5 is another partial cross-sectional view with the door closed as in FIG. 2, but with certain parts deleted, to more clearly show some of the underlying constructional features;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are similar to the showings of FIGS. 3 and 4, respectively, of the drawings, but again with certain of the parts being deleted to more clearly show the crucial mating and lockup of the parallelogram type parts;

FIGS. 8 through 13 are detailed showings of certain particular parts of the hinge of FIGS. 1 through 7, with these showings serving to bring out certain additional features of the invention;

FIG. 14 is a partial cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the invention wherein the hinge is only operative to permit approximately 90 degrees or slightly more of an opening angle of the door; and

FIG. 15 is a partial cross-sectional view similar to that of FIG. 14, but with the door shown in the open position.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, FIGS. 1-13 show one embodiment of the invention, and FIGS. 14 and 15 illustrate another embodiment thereof; and it should be particularly noted that FIG. 1 relating to one embodiment is on the same drawing sheet with FIGS. 14 and 15 relating to the other embodiment.

Now, before going into the detailed construction, a few overall statements of the mode of operation may be useful. First, we have flush mounted bracket 6 secured to the door 18 and flush mounted bracket 60 and associated part 5 secured to the cabinet 17. The housing 1 is pivotally mounted to the part 5 at the fixed pivot point 20. The part 6 secured to door 18, is mounted with a substantial parallelogram type mounting to housing 1 by the two arms 2 and 3, with the critical pivoting movement of housing 1 being controlled by part 4, which is linked to arm 2 at pivot point 12.

With this arrangement, the door 18 initially moves outward substantially under the control of the parallelogram linkage, with the main structural member 1 pivoting very little. Then, once the door clears the adjacent cabinet 17 or adjacent fixed door structure 17', the linkage 4 is actuated by arm 3 to cause part 1 to pivot, thereby permitting the door to swing wide open.

We will now return to a more detailed, step-by-step consideration of the structure.

Specifically, referring to FIGS. 1-13, when the door 18 is starting to be opened, the part 6 attached to door 18 will actuate the two arms 2 and 3. They are pivotally attached to part 6 by rivets 13 and 14 and to part 1 by rivets 10 and 11. Incidentally, part 2 is U-shaped, with two arms, one of which may be seen in FIG. 1, on either side of part 3 (see FIGS. 11 and 12), and with the open part of the "U" using the door mounted bracket 6. The parts 2 and 3 are initially substantially parallel to the face of the cabinet, as shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings, and are pivotally secured to part 6 near the edge of the door, and to part 1 at the ends of arms 2 and 3 away from the edge of the door 18. These four parts 1, 2, 3 and 6 form a parallelogram type of linkage with part 6 being rotated in an arc away from the face of the cabinet and the adjacent door 17', and with part 6 making progressive angle with the face of the cabinet.

The opposite end of part 3 which extends beyond pivot point 10 is attached to part 4 by rivet 12, and as part 3 rotates, the end of part 4 attached to end of part 3 is radiused in a downward direction, as shown in FIG. 2, and then towards the cabinet 17. There is no significant movement of part 4 toward the pivoted end of part 1 at first and this allows the arms 2 and 3 with attached part 6 to travel upward and to the right, considering the relative orientation of the parts as shown in FIG. 2 thereby assuring that the edge of door 18 will not engage door 17' as door 18 opens. The other end of part 4 is slidably and pivotally attached to the channel 29 portion of fixed part 28, and as part 4 is displaced toward the pivot end of part 1, the housing 1 will start to rise as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, rotating about the rivet 20 of part 5.

This rotation of parts 2 and 3 in relation to part 1 and the rotation of part 1 in relation to part 5 will continue until the parts are as shown in FIG. 3 where part 1 is about 60 degrees to the vertical and the door 18 has rotated about 120 degrees. As can be seen, there is a somewhat horizontal channel 31 in part 4 that curves downward toward the right end thereof (see FIGS. 2 and 3) and there is a pin 26 that is attached to the side of housing 1, with pin 26 being situated at the left end of part 4 before part 4 has started to move. Now, as the right-hand end of part 4 is moved downward relative to housing 1, the left-hand end of part 4 which is pivotally and slidably mounted in the channel 29 of part 28 will be forced to move upward in the channel 29, as part 4 moves further downward relative to part 1. The curved portion of channel 31 will reach the pin 26 and the end of part 4 attached slidably to channel 29 of part 28 will rise further upward where it would finally appear as in FIG. 3.

Just before the parts have obtained the position shown in FIG. 3, the cam faces 56 of part 3 shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 will have engaged two matching inclined faces 19 just inside the outer faces of part 2, see FIGS. 5, 6 and 7. In these three views the front one-half of U-shaped part 2 has been removed, so that the leg on the opposite side can clearly be seen, showing the inclined face 19 and how the face portion 56 of arm 3 engages this face in a sliding manner as part 3 rotates further open. There is an abutting face portion 36, part 2, FIG. 5 that has now come up against an abutting surface 37 of part 1, FIG. 5. Now, since the faces 56 of part 3 are engaged with the inclined faces 19 of part 2, and part 2 has rotated as far as possible and has abutted against part 1, part 2 is in a rigid locked condition relative to part 1. Just before the position of parts shown in FIG. 3, when points 14-13-11 of the parts are in an approximate straight line, the pivot point 13 where part 1 joins part 6 becomes a sliding or expanding pivot point.

Referring to FIGS. 8 through 13, the operation of this expanding joint will now be reviewed. As can be seen in FIG. 13, part 6 has a raised semi-circular portion 19 that is above the surface 12 of part 6. Now, referring to FIGS. 11 and 12, there is a recessed area 43 at one end of part 3, and there is a slot or channel 15 and a raised semi-circular portion 9 adjacent the slot 15. In FIGS. 8, 9 and 10, a portion of part 3 has been removed and the slot 15 superimposed to show the relationship of the different surfaces. In FIG. 8 it can be seen how the raised portion 9 of part 3 comes into contact with the outside surface of the portion 19 of part 6. It can also be seen how the rivet 13 is at the right hand end of slot 15. As can be seen, part 3 can rotate about rivet 13, with the circular raised portion 9 of part 3 rotating clockwise around the outside surface of raised portion 19. This will continue until the end of portion 9 of part 3 clears the end of the semi-circular part 19, which happens at about the time that the rivets 11-12-14 of parts 2-3-6 are lined up. FIG. 9 shows how the portions appear when rivet 13 has risen above the line of rivets 11 and 14 as shown in FIG. 3. As can be seen in FIG. 9, the rivet 13 is now about midway in the slot 15 of part 3. Now, as the door 18 opens farther, the end of part 3 attached to part 6 will rise above the rivets 11 and 14.

The downward curving portion of channel 31 will have reached the pin 26 of part 1, and as the door is opened further part 1 will be forced even further into the vertical position. The rivet 8 of part 4 in channel 29 of part 28 will come into contact with the foreward face of channel 29 of part 28 and this will force the end of part 4 upward and toward the rear of part 1. The movement of part 4 toward the rear of part 1 will also be assisted by the rotation of part 3 about rivet 10 as part 6 imparts force to the end of part 3 while rotating to its final opening angle. As part 1 rotates toward a vertical position the curved portion of channel 31 will have cammed against pin 31 and pin 26 will not be almost to the end of channel 31 and the parts 2, 3 and 6 will soon be in a rigid fixed position relative to part 1. The part 6 and attached door will continue rotating until part 6 is parallel to part 2 as seen in FIG. 4. The cam faces 56 of part 3 have slid further on the faces 19 of part 2 and part 1 has now rotated to a vertical 90 degree position, as shown in FIG. 4.

The pin 26 secured to housing 1, FIG. 4, is now at the right hand end of the channel 31 of part 4, the rivet 8 of part 4 has reached the top of the channel 29 of part 28, and the rivet 13 of part 6 FIG. 3 is now at the opposite end of the slot 15 of part 3, and the semi-circular portion 9 of part 3 has moved closer to rivet 13. The face portions 49 of part 1, FIGS. 6 and 7, have come into contact with a flat abutting surface 46 of cabinet bracket 5, preventing part 1 from rotating or being forced any further in the counterclockwise direction, as shown in FIG. 7. The rivet 8 of part 4 at the top of channel 29 of part 28 also helps in this regard, see FIG. 4. The door 18 is now in a rigid fixed position in relation to parts 2, 3, 6 and 1. Part 3, which controls parts 2 and 6, is held in a stationary position by part 4 which is now in a fixed position held by rivets 8 and 26 in channels 29 and 31, respectively. As the door is being shut again, the hinge will start to close, with part 1 initially starting to rotate clockwise about rivets 20 of part 5, thereby rotating the door 18 away from door 17' and then allowing the parts 2, 3, and 6 to start rotating the door 18 about part 1.

For door adjustments in a horizontal or left and right direction slots have been provided in the mounting holes for part 6, see FIG. 1. For vertical adjustments there are mounting slots in the mounting plate 60 to which part 5 is secured by screw 62 and flanges extending along part 60 on each side of part 5. For front to back adjustments the screw 62 which holds part 5 to the plate 60 can be loosened and the door moved, and the screw 62 then retightened. Once the door has been adjusted on the cabinet the screw which holds the part 5 to the mounting plate 60 can be loosened and the hinges and attached door can then be slid off of the mounting plates and shipped separately, thereby avoiding damage in shipping and facilitating installation of cabinets.

An alternative embodiment of the invention which opens slightly more than ninety degrees will now be considered. More specifically, FIG. 14 shows this hinge in a closed position and FIG. 15 shows the hinge in a wide open position. As can be seen in FIGS. 14 and 15, part 102 consists of two side portions and an interconnecting back piece, not shown. The front side portion has been removed so interior details can be seen more clearly. The part 102 has a mounting plate with slots to fasten the hinge to the cabinet 109, similar to the arrangements shown for parts 5 and 60 in FIG. 1.

There is a curved groove 127 in the side of part 102. Part 102 is die cast and the groove is part of the casting. The curved groove 127 has a radiused portion 124 starting at the bottom right-hand corner as shown in FIGS. 14 and 15 and continuing through about 60 degrees of angle. At this point, it changes into a straight line 117 going in a vertical direction. This straight line portion ends about 1/8 inch down from the top edge of part 102. Part 104 is a stamping consisting of two side portions and a frontal piece connecting the two side pieces. In FIGS. 14 and 15, one side portion has been removed to show the interior details. Part 104 is riveted to part 102 by two rivets 120. Part 108 has two elongated side portions and a top portion near the end connecting the two side portions. Part 108 fits inside of part 104 and connects to part 104 by a rivet 116 that passes from one side to the other. Flush mounted door bracket 110, secured to door 113, has the end of arm 108 pivotally secured to it by a through rivet 112. Part 110 consists of a flat base portion that fastens to the door 113 by screws 107. There is a perpendicular upstanding portion 115 to which the end of part 108 fastens with a through rivet 112. The outwardly extending end of part 110 is reduced in thickness by the width of part 106 to allow L-shaped arm 106 to enter and be fastened to part 110 by the through rivet 114. Part 110 is formed by die casting. Part 106 is an L-shaped stamping. Part 106 is fastened to part 104 by rivet 118, part 106 being pivotally secured to the center of part 104. Parts 106 and 108 form a parallelogram type linkage between part 104 and the door bracket 110, whereby part 104 initially remains fixed, while door 113 is rotated out from the cabinet and away from adjacent door 111.

The lower end of the L-shaped part 106 has a pin 122 extending at right angles, approximately 3/22 inch to 1/8 inch, to fit into and make sliding engagement with groove 127 of part 102. The arm holding pin 122 is bent so as to be as near the side portion of part 104 as possible. There is a slotted section on the front portion of part 104 for a short distance so the lower leg of part 106 may pass through it when part 104 is in a closed condition as shown in FIG. 14.

The operation of the hinge when the door is being opened will now be considered. As the door 113 is starting to be pulled open from its rest, closed position as shown in FIG. 14, part 110, pivotally connected to parts 108 and 106 by rivets 12 and 14, will rotate the part 108 and the horizontal arm of part 106 outwardly away from the cabinet. This action will shift the position of door 113 in an outward and rightward direction as shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, away from door 111, as mentioned above. As this is happening, pin 122 of the lower arm of part 106 will be moving to the left and is engaging the radiused portion 124 of groove 127. If there is any tendency for part 104 to rotate outward, it is prevented by the pin 122 in the radiused portion 124 of groove 127. Now, as the part 108 and the upper arm of L-shaped part 106 rotate further outward, the door bracket 10 is starting to rotate in a counterclockwise direction and the door 113 will start making an angle with the face of the cabinet 109. When the part 108 and the upper arm of part 106 reach an angle of about 60 degrees with the face of the cabinet 109 and the pin 122 secured to the lower arm of part 106 reaches the straight portion 117 of groove 127, the pin 122 will start bearing against the rear face of portion 117 of groove 127. This pressure and the rotative effort exerted on part 104 through the door 113 and parts 110-108-106 will start to rotate the part 104 outwardly. This action will continue until pin 122 of part 106 has reached the top of the straight groove 117, and in so doing it will have rotated the upper arm of part 106 another 20 degrees to 30 degrees in relation to part 104. Arm 108 will also have rotated approximately the same amount, and door bracket 110 will have rotated in a counterclockwise direction to the position shown in FIG. 15, which is about 100 degrees relative to the face of the cabinet. Part 104 is prevented from rotating outward any further due to the pin 122 of part 106 coming to a stopped position against the end of the groove 127. Concerning a minor additional point, the bracket 102 is secured to mounting plate 130 by the screw 132.

In considering the two embodiments of the invention as described hereinabove, it may be noted that they have much in common. Thus, they both have flush mounted door and cabinet brackets and a main structural member or housing having a fixed pivot with respect to the cabinet bracket. They also both have parallelogram-type linkages intercoupling the door mounted bracket and the pivoted housing or main structural member, and control arrangements coupled to the parallelogram-type linkage for initially restraining the pivoted housing or main structural member against rotation, and subsequently guiding full rotation thereof as the cabinet door opens wider. In each case the parallelogram linkage arms are initially approximately parallel to the face of the cabinet and are pivoted to the door bracket at the ends of the linkage members closest to the edge of the door, and are pivotally mounted onto the main structural member or housing, at the ends of the arms away from the edge of the door. This insures that the initial movement of the door bracket is away from the adjacent abutting door or cabinet structure, and outward, with the door bracket and the door initially remaining substantially parallel to the face of the cabinet.

For completeness, it is noted that the cabinet mounted bracket may include more than one part, such as the parts 5 and 60 in FIG. 1, with one part being adjustable relative to the other.

Another version of the full opening hinge would be to have one end of the rivet 12 that attaches part 4 to part 3 follow a channel that would be an integral part of part 1 or a separate attached part. This channel would describe the same radius from rivet 10 as does rivet 12 rotating about rivet 10. When the rivets 11, 13, 14 of parts 2, 3, and 6 are lined up, the end of rivet 12 would contact an inclined portion of the channel and as the door is opened further and the pivot point at rivet 13 moves above rivets 11 and 14, the end of rivet 12 in the inclined channel portion would move the part 3 toward part 6; and the required distance would be in proportion to the distance pivot point 13 is above the rivets 11 and 14 of parts 1, 2, and 6. Part 3 would have a slot instead of a hole where rivet 12 attaches it to part 1. This slot would allow for the movement of part 3 caused by the end of the rivet 12 in the inclined portion of the channel. The end of rivet 12 could also have a small roller to reduce wear and friction in the channel. In this version the camming of parts 2 and 3 together to make part 2 rigid would not be required as in the first full opening version.

A simpler version would be a hinge that would only open to about 135 degrees and would be used primarily for lip-type door styles and spaced overlay door styles, where there is no door or surface abutting closely with the hinged door. In this hinge the pivot point 13 where part 6 and 3 are pivotally attached would not rise above the pivots 11 and 14 of parts 6, 2, and 1. A shifting pivot point would therefore not be needed. Part 4 could also be a simple link pivotally attached to the cabinet bracket on part 5, and the end of part 3. With this arrangement, channel 31 of part 4 and channel 29 of part 28 would not be needed.

As a further alternative, at least one of the parallelogram linkage members could be formed of two pivoted members which would, at door angles less than 90 degrees, for example, act like a single linkage member; but, at large angles, the two parts could be cammed to pivot relative to one-another, to permit a wider opening angle for the cabinet door.

In conclusion, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles of the invention, and that the invention could be implemented by alternative constructions. Thus, by way of example and not of limitation, the pivoting movement of the pivoted housing or main structural member could be controlled by alternative known mechanical linkages instead of the pin and groove mechanisms disclosed hereinabove. In addition, the part 2 could be implemented by a pair of arms instead of a U-shaped member (including the two arms) as disclosed herein. Further, the mounting bracket adjustments could be accomplished in different known ways. In addition, in some instances the cabinet and door brackets may be reversed, although the described arrangements are normally preferred. Accordingly, the present invention is not limited to the precise constructions shown in the drawings and described in the foregoing detailed description.