Abstract:
The invention is directed to a spacer for a hinge, the spacer being connected to a base plate and formed as an essentially U-shaped part of plate steel having legs provided with hooks on ends opposite the oblong hole. The bridging part of the spacer comprises, between the hooks, a resilient tongue having an actuating piece on the end side. The actuating piece is provided, in the region of the hooks, with a transverse flat flute. Journals or pins disposed at an end region of the legs of the hinge arm can be pushed in against the force of the resilient tongue in a manner such that the journals or pins are locked between the base of the hooks and one flank of the flat flute.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to a hinge with an essentially U-shaped hinge arm which is connected in an articulated manner, preferably by two hinge toggles, to a swivellable hinge part and which is held via a spacer on a base plate by an annular groove of a joint adjusting screw engaging an openly ending oblong hole at the end of the spacer near the joint and by locking means. 
     A hinge of this type is known from EP 0 369 261 B1 where the spacer is connected to the hinge arm by a setscrew and the joint adjustment screw and is made of plastic. The spacer is provided at its ends with hooks, of which one hook is designed resiliently and is provided with a slanted incline edge so that after hanging the joint-side hook on the bridge part of a U-shaped base plate, the spacer can be locked into place with this by pressing down the resilient hook part until this clicks into place behind the opposite edge of the bridge part, with a bulge engaging a transverse opening of the bridge part being provided between the hooks. In this known hinge, the hinge arm is connected to the base plate by the hooks made of plastic of the spacer made completely of plastic so that a not very solid connection is made between the hinge arm and the base plate because the intermediate plate consists of an elastic plastic. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore the object of the invention to provide a hinge of the type first given which is characterized by a simple design and by a better solidity. Furthermore, the easily mounted hinge should allow a simple adjustment vertically, laterally and in the depth of the piece of furniture. 
     This object is solved in accordance with the invention by the spacer being connected to the base plate and consisting of an essentially U-shaped part of plate steel whose legs are provided with hooks on their ends opposite the oblong hole and by the bridge part of the spacer comprising between the hooks a resilient tongue with an actuating piece on the end side and being provided in the region of the hooks with a transverse flat flute in which the retaining means, e.g., extensions or journals pointing inwards or a pin connecting the legs, disposed at the end region of the legs of the hinge arm can be pushed in against the force of the resilient tongue in such a way that these are locked between the base of the hooks and one flank of the flat flute. 
     As in the hinge in accordance with the invention the spacer is made of plate steel, the desired solid connection between hinge arm and base plate is ensured. The hinge arm can be locked into place on the spacer in a simple manner by the annular groove of the joint adjustment screw being pushed into the engaging region of the openly ending oblong hole and the opposite end of the hinge arm subsequently being pressed down so that the retaining means disposed on the legs snap into a locking position between the hooks and the flank of the flat flute forming an abutment. 
     The hinge in accordance with the invention allows a simple side adjustment of, for example, a door borne thereby only by actuation of the joint adjustment screw, because the retaining means locked into the hook mouths form a kind of swivel axis around which the hinge arm can be swivelled relative to the base plate. An adjustment in the depth of the piece of furniture is possible by the spacer being provided in its bridge part with a fixing borehole comprising an oblong hole, through which fixing borehole a fixing screw connecting the spacer to the base plate is screwed. A vertical adjustment is possible by the base plate being provided on both sides with wing-like fixing flanges which are provided with oblong holes transversely to the spacer through which fixing screws can be screwed into the panel of the piece of furniture. 
     One particular advantage of the invention comprises, for instance, the hinge arm being able to be fixed directly on the base plate by the fixing screw fixing the spacer on the base plate even without said spacer. For this purpose, the bridge part of the hinge arm is provided with an oblong hole through which the fixing screw engages and which allows an adjustment of the hinge arm in the depth of the piece of furniture. 
     In another embodiment, however, the spacer can instead be guided adjustably in guides of the base plate, for example, by a cam or it can also form a uniform base plate itself. 
     In accordance with a preferred embodiment it is provided that the hooks point in the direction of the joint and that an abutment is bent out of the resilient tongue, which abutment is supported in the interlocked state on the journals or the pin so that these are clamped between the hooks and the abutment. In this embodiment of the invention, the journals or the pin are supported on the base of the hook mouths open towards the joint and are held in this interlocked position by the abutment. The abutment creates a better interlocking support than would be ensured by a flat flute of the flank alone. 
     In accordance with another embodiment it is provided that the hooks point backwards. In order to create a more solid snap connection with this embodiment too, in another aspect of the invention it is provided that the actuation part is provided with laterally protruding extensions which grip behind the rear sides of the legs in the state of the journals or of the pin pressed into the hook mouth. 
     To prevent the resilient tongue carrying the actuating piece from being pressed down too much and so being bent, the legs bearing the hooks are appropriately provided on their rear lower end regions with extensions limiting the swivel path of the actuating piece. 
     Appropriately, the rear sides of the legs are tapered at their lower end regions so that the inner edges of the protruding extensions can slide on these sides forming kinds of wedge surfaces up to a clamping engagement. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     One embodiment of the invention is described below in more detail by means of the drawing in which 
     FIG. 1 shows a side view of a first embodiment of the hinge in accordance with the invention, partially in section; 
     FIG. 2 shows a longitudinal section through the hinge arm of the hinge of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 shows a longitudinal section through the spacer of the hinge of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 shows a top view of the spacer of FIG. 3; 
     FIG. 5 shows a side view of the base plate of the hinge of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 6 shows a side view of a second embodiment of the hinge in accordance with the invention, partially in section; 
     FIGS. 7 to  9  show different positions of the pin connecting the legs of the hinge arm during the snapping into the hinge&#39;s hook mouth open to the back shown in FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 10 shows a longitudinal section through the hinge arm of the hinge of FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 11 shows a longitudinal section through the spacer of the hinge of FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 12 shows a top view of the spacer of FIG. 11; and 
     FIG. 13 shows a side view of a hinge, partially in section, in which the hinge arm is screwed to the base plate without a spacer. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     As can be seen from FIGS. 1 to  5 , the first embodiment of the hinge in accordance with the invention consists of a base plate  1 , a spacer  2  screwed thereto and, snapped onto the spacer  2 , a hinge arm  3  which is connected to a cup-shaped awivable hinge part  5  in a conventional manner by two links  3 ′,  4 . 
     The base plate  1  consists of an elongated middle part  6  U-shaped in cross section from whose bridge part an equally elongated ramp-shaped elevation  7  has bent out which is equally U-shaped in cross-section. The width of the ramp-shaped elevation  7  is smaller than the width of the elongated middle part  6  so that to both sides of the ramp-shaped elevation  7  on the bridge part of the middle part  6 , shoulders  10  are formed which serve to support the lower edges of the legs  8  of the U-shaped spacer  2 . Here, the distance of the legs  8  of the spacer  2  corresponds to the width of the ramp-shaped elevation  7  so that the spacer  2  is held on the base plate  1  free of any twist. The lower edges of the legs of the spacer  2  are provided with tooth-like protrusions  9  which engage the corrugations provided on the shoulders  10  of the base plate  1 . 
     The base plate  1  is provided with wing-like extensions  11  symmetrically to the transverse centre-line, which form fixing flanges and which are provided with oblong holes whose centre lines are aligned with the transverse centre line of the base plate. Fixing screws  12  are screwed through the oblong holes which fixing screws  12  connect the base plate  1  to the panel  13  of a piece of furniture. 
     The ramp-shaped elevation is provided in its centre region with a flanged tapped hole in which a fixing screw  14  can be screwed. 
     The base plate  1  is made completely of a stamped sheet metal part. 
     The spacer or intermediate plate  2  also consists of a U-shaped, toughened stamped sheet metal part. The bridge part  15  is provided in its rear end region with lateral cut-outs  16  through which a resilient tongue  17  is cut free. The resilient tongue possesses on its rear end a widened actuating part  18  which can be actuated by hand. The side legs  8  are provided in their rear end region with hooks  19  pointing to the joint-side end. In the region of these hooks, the resilient tongue  17  is provided with a channel-shaped recess which can be seen from FIG. 3 in front of the apex of this channel-shaped recess, another tongue  20  pointing towards the hooks  19  is bent out of the resilient tongue  17 , which tongue  20  forms an abutment for the pin  21  which can snap into the hook mouths of the hooks  19 . 
     In its middle region, the bridge part  15  is provided with a keyhole-shaped oblong hole for the fixing screw  14 . The oblong hole is extended into the resilient tongue  7  by a narrower rectangular section  22  so that the resilient bridges  23  improving the elasticity are formed. 
     At its front end, the bridge part possesses an openly ending oblong hole  24 . 
     The hinge arm  3  is provided in its bridge part with a flanged tapped hole in which the joint adjusting screw  26  is screwed. This possesses in its lower end region an annular groove  27  with which this engages the bottom of the openly ending oblong hole  24 . 
     At its rear end, the hinge arm  3  is provided with a pin  21  connecting its legs  28  which pin  21  can be snapped into place in the hook mouths of the hooks  19 . 
     To mount the hinge arm  3 , first the base plate  1  is connected to the side panel  13  of the piece of furniture by the fixing screws  12 . The spacer screw  2  is screwed to the base plate  1  by the fixing screw  14 , with the head of the fixing screw  14  being supported on the recessed edges  30  of the keyhole-shaped oblong hole. The hinge arm  3  is snapped into place with the spacer or intermediate plate  2  by the annular groove  27  of the joint adjustment screw  26  being pushed into the openly ending oblong hole  24  to just before its engagement position in which the pin comes to rest on the abutment  20  in front of the mouths of the hooks  19 . By pressing on the rear end region of the hinge arm, the resilient tongue  17  is pressed down so that the pin  21  snaps into the hook mouth and is-held therein by the front edge of the abutment  20 . By the snapping into place of the pin  21  in the mouth of the hooks  19 , the hinge arm  3  is moved back a small amount so that the annular groove  27  engages the narrowing part of the oblong hole  24 . 
     To release the snap connection, the actuating part  18  is pressed down. To prevent any excessive pressing down of this actuating part, the legs  8  of the spacer  2  are provided on their rear ends with extensions  31  which prevent any excessive pressing down. 
     As can be seen from FIG. 13, the hinge arm  3  can also be connected to the base plate  1  directly by the fixing screw  14  without the spacer  2 . To allow a lateral adjustment, a joint adjustment screw  33  is provided which is then supported directly on the base-like elevation  7 . To allow a lateral adjustment, the fixing screw  14  has to be released or tightened accordingly. 
     The embodiment of FIGS. 6 to  12  differs from that of FIGS. 1 to  5  essentially in a different design of the spacer  35 . The spacer  35  is provided at the rear ends of its legs which have been cut free with hooks  36  pointing backwards. The hooks possess hook mouths  38  which are provided beginning from a rounded off base with openly ending flanks. The rear flank  38 ′ runs diagonally backwards so that it forms a guide path for the pin  21  which can be pressed in. 
     The resilient tongue  37  cut out is provided in the region of the hook mouths  38  with a transverse channel-like recess. At its rear end, the resilient tongue  37  bears an actuating part  39 . 
     The bridge part of the spacer  35  is provided on its side near the joint with an openly ending oblong hole  41  which subsequent to its rounded base possesses a narrowed-section  40 , with the width of said narrowed section  40  being adapted to the diameter of the shaft part of the joint adjustment screw  26  in the base of the annular groove  27 . 
     The actuating part  39  is provided at its sides with extensions  44  gripping behind the legs  28  of the hinge arm  3 . In the locked in place state, these extensions  44  grip behind the rear side edges of the legs  28  of the hinge arm  3 . 
     To assemble the hinge arm  3  on the spacer screwed to the base plate, first the annular groove  27  is inserted into the longer reaching narrowed end section  40  of the oblong hole  41 . Then the rear end of the hinge arm  3  is pressed down in the manner visible from FIGS. 7 to  9 , with the rear end regions of the legs  28  being supported on the lateral extensions  44  of the actuating part  39 . As soon as the pin  21  has entered into the hook mouth  38  via the rounded upper side  42  of the hook  36 , the hinge arm is given a slight movement in the direction of the joint by sliding onto the slanted flanks  38 ′ of the hook mouths, with the pin  21  entering increasingly completely into the hook mouth  38 . Through this shift, the lateral extensions  44  can grip in snapping manner behind the rear edges of the legs  28 , with this gripping being made more simple by the wedge-shaped slants of the rear edges of the legs  28  of the hinge arm  3 . The shifting of the hinge arm  3  outwards during the process of snapping into place is only so small that the annular groove  27  of the joint adjustment screw  26  does not come out of the narrowed section  40  of the oblong hole  41  and so is still retained in the narrowed section  40 . 
     To release the snap connection, the actuating part  39  is pressed down, with extensions  46  being provided at the rear end regions of the legs of the spacer  35  which prevent any excessive pressing down.