Abstract:
A Bimini hinge with a base member having an upper surface and a lower mounting surface and a vertically extending cylindrical opening therein. An intermediate member has a lower cylindrical surface that is received in the base member, and a latching member carried by the intermediate member secures the intermediate member to the base member for relative indexed rotation. The remote end of the intermediate member is pivotally secured to a mounted member, and the remote end of the latter is formed for securement of an item such as a Bimini Top.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1) Field of the Invention 
   This invention relates generally to bimini hinges, and more particularly to a Bimini hinge that will accommodate relative movement between the hinge members and is capable of being quickly released. 
   2) Description of the Prior Art 
   Bimini hinges are well known in the prior art and have particular application, inter alia, as a hinge for a convertible Bimini Top of a boat, that is a type of convertible top which can be raised to an upright usable position and lowered therefrom to a lowered unused or stored position. Such a hinge must have a base which can be mounted on a vessel, and a part carried by and pivotal relative to the base and securable to the Bimini top so that the Bimini Top can be moved between its positions. Such a Bimini hinge is shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 6,151,756, which has these desirable characteristics, however, this hinge requires that a receiving opening be provided in the boat hull to accommodate the housing which depends from the mounting flange. All boat manufacturers do not desire to have such an opening in their boat and all boat mounting surfaces are not conducive to having a receiving opening therein. Additionally, the two parts of the hinge are not easily separated, so that when a Bimini is removed from the prior art hinge, as for storage, the Bimini is detached from the hinge and the two portions of the hinge remain secured to the boat. In this condition the pivoting portion of the hinge projects from the base and becomes an obstruction for the boat operator, as disassembly of the hinge is difficult. 
   In my co pending application entitled Universal Hinge, Ser. No. 09/808,967, I have provided a universal hinge useable for a bimini application wherein the base of the hinge does not project below the surface upon which it is mounted and wherein the hinge elements are easily dissembled so that when the pivoting portion is removed from the base portion, there is little structure present to interfere with a user, and what little is present is smoothly unobtrusive. This hinge includes a base which is securable to a surface such as a boat hull or cabin, and does not project below this surface. The base has a smooth arcuate upper surface with a receiving opening therein, and includes in the base a latching lever which is spring loaded to project into the receiving opening and which lever is manually operable to be withdrawn from the projecting position. A hinge intermediate member is rotatably received in the receiving opening and has a detent groove for receiving the latching lever to retain the intermediate member in the opening, and alternately, when the latch is withdrawn, to be removed from the opening to disassemble the parts. The intermediate member has an axial slot there in for pivotally receiving a tang carried by the mounted member to be mounted thereon, and a pivot pin transverses the slot and the tang to pivotally mount the mounted member to the intermediate member, whereby the mounted member is universally hinged relative to the base. It should be noted that the latching lever is a part of the base member, and when the intermediate member is withdrawn, the latching lever is exposed to the elements. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The bimini hinge of the present invention is an improvement over this latter device, in that the latching lever is carried by and is a part of the intermediate member and thus when the Bimini is removed from a boat, and the intermediate member goes along with the bimini, the latching member, which is a part of the intermediate member and is not a part of the base, goes with and is stored along with the intermediate member and the bimini so that the latching member is not exposed to the elements at this time. The base of the present invention can also include spaced detent receivers which are engageable by a detent on latching lever of the intermediate member, so that while the intermediate member can be received by and rotated relative to the base member, the latching lever, upon moving to its latched position, indexes the position of the intermediate member. The base of the present invention can be mounted with very little thereof, namely a flange, projecting above the surface upon which it is mounted in which case a receiving portion thereof projects into the mounting surface, or the base can be modified for surface mounting so that none of the base projects into the surface supporting the same, or else the base can be easily modified for rail mounting, and in each of these instances the same intermediate member can be used therewith. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a plan view of a first embodiment of this invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a side elevational view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  is a longitudinal cross sectional view of a portion of the intermediate member of this invention, which portion is useable with all the embodiments disclosed herein; 
       FIG. 4  is a cross sectional view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1  taken along the line  4 — 4  in  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 5  is a cross sectional view taken along the line  5 — 5  in  FIG. 1  with the latching lever in its engaged position; 
       FIG. 6  is a cross sectional view taken in the same manner as  FIG. 5  but with the latching lever in is disengaged position; 
       FIG. 7  is a plan view of a second embodiment of this invention; 
       FIG. 8  is a cross sectional view taken along the line  8 — 8  in  FIG. 7 ; with the latching lever in its engaged position; 
       FIG. 9  is a cross sectional view taken in the same manner as  FIG. 8  but with the intermediate member displaced from the base member; 
       FIG. 10  is a plan view of a third embodiment of this invention; 
       FIG. 11  is a cross sectional view taken along the line  11 — 11  in  FIG. 10 ; and 
       FIG. 12  is a bottom view of the base member of the embodiment of  FIG. 10  with the drain plug and the intermediate member removed. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to  FIGS. 1-6 , a Bimini hinge assembly adapted for rail mounting is shown generally at  10  mounted on a boat rail shown fragmentarily at  12 . The hinge  10  includes a base  11  having an upper base portion  14  received on the rail  12  and secured to a lower base portion  16  disposed on the opposite side of the rail by a pair of lateraly spaced bolts  15 . Referring to  FIG. 4 , the rail receiving opening  18  in the lower base portion  16  is provided with a pair of circumferentially spaced lands  20  an  22  generated with a curvature having a one-half inch radius, with these spaced lands being spaced by an intermediate land  24  which is depressed relative to the lands  20  and  22 . The rail receiving opening  18 A in the upper base portion  14  can conveniently have a one inch diameter. Thus, since the standard rail size for most vessels using a Bimini is either a one inch orseven-eights inch diameter, if the base  11  is used with a one inch diameter rail, as shown in  FIG. 4 , the spaced lands  20  will give a secure arcuate contact with the rail, while if the base  11  is used with a rail having a seven-eights inch diameter, the inner corners of the lands  20  and  22  will give a secure contact. It should be noted that the base portions  14  and  16  can be secured either horizontally or vertically (or for that matter any angular intermediate position) on the rail  12 , and at any longitudinal position along the rail as desired and the position can also easily be adjusted by releasing and then securing the bolts  15 . 
   The upper base portion  14  of the base  11  has a vertically extending receiving opening  26  (most clearly seen in  FIGS. 4 ,  5  and  6 ) in which is received an annular depending portion  28  of an intermediate member  30  in a closely spaced supportable yet rotatable relationship. The intermediate member  30  has an outer end  31  opposite to its depending portion  28 , in which outer end is a slot  32  for receiving a tang  34  formed on a boss  36 , which boss has an opening  38  formed therein on the end thereof opposed to the tang  34  for conventionally receiving a leg of a Bimini frame (not shown). The tang  34  has a transverse opening  40  therein in registration with in line openings  42  formed in the outer end  31  of the intermediate member  30 , and a pivot pin  41  is received in the openings  40  and  42  to pivotly mounting the boss  36  onto the intermediate member  30 . 
   A shoulder  46  is formed on the intermediate member  30  at the top of the depending portion  28 , which shoulder abuttingly engages for relative rotation the top of the upper base portion  14  to limit further inward movement of the depending portion  28  into the base member  14 . The intermediate member  30  has a slot  48  formed therein in which is received a latching lever  50 , the latter being mounted on a pivot pin  52  mounted in a boss  54  formed in the intermediate member. The latching lever  50  is generally “Y” shaped and has an opening  56  therein receiving the pivot pin  52 , and as seen in  FIGS. 2 ,  4  and  5 , its right arm  58  is engageable with a shoulder  60  formed on the intermediate member  30  for limiting counterclockwise rotation of the lever  50  relative thereto to the position seen in FIG.  5 . The left arm  62  of the lever  50  projects from the slot  48  of the intermediate member  30  so that it may be pressed on to cause the lever  50  to rotate clockwise from its position seen in  FIG. 5  to the position seen in  FIG. 6. A  coiled compression spring  64  is disposed in an opening  66  in the member  30  and is compressed between the right end or bottom  67  of the opening and the right side of the left arm  62  of the latching lever  50  to bias the lever to its position seen in  FIGS. 2 and 5 , while being compressible so as to allow the lever to move to its position shown in FIG.  6 . The lower end  68  of the lever  50  is smaller in width than the diameter of the annular depending portion of the intermediate member and terminates slightly above a solid portion  70  formed in the bottom of the intermediate member at the lower end of the slot  48 . The lower end  68  has a tang  72  projecting laterally therefrom, which tang, when in the position seen in  FIGS. 6 and 9 , does not extend out of the slot  48 , while in the position seen in  FIGS. 5 ,  8  and  11 , extends laterally out of the slot  48 . The lower side of the tang  72  is tapered as seen at  74 , so that as seen in  FIG. 9 , when the intermediate member  30  is inserted into opening  26  in the base  11 , even if the arm  62  is not pressed upon, the taper  74  will slidingly engage the top of the member  14  adjacent to the opening  26  and pivot the lever to the position seen in  FIGS. 6 and 9  so that the intermediate member  30  can be inserted into the base  11 . 
   The upper base  11  is provided with a pair of detents  76  and  78 , which detents commence at the bottom of the opening  26  and extend approximately half way up the same, with the detent  78  being disposed on the longitudinal centerline of the rail  12  and the detent  76  being disposed  90  degrees therefrom. Thus, when the intermediate member  30  is positioned with its depending portion  28  disposed in the opening  26 , the tang  72  of the latching lever  50  can enter the detent  76  or  78  aligned therewith, with the tang abutting the top of the detent to prevent outward movement of the intermediate member, and the tang abutting the sides of the detent to prevent rotation of the intermediate member relative to the base member beyond that which is allowed by the width of the detent receiving the tang  72 . It should be noted that more than two detents can be provide, such as shown in  FIGS. 11 and 12  which show four detents, that the detents do not have to be the same width, as seen in  FIG. 12  wherein detent  80  is wider than the other detents to allow limited relative rotation of the intermediate member relative to the base to thereby allow some flexing of the Bimini support, or for that matter, a single detent extending three hundred and sixty degrees can be provided which will abut the top of the tang to prevent separation of the intermediate member from the base member while not preventing full rotation. 
   Referring now to  FIGS. 7 ,  8  and  9 , wherein a surface mounted base  11  A is shown, the intermediate member  30  is the same as that for the embodiment of  FIGS. 1-6 . The base  11 A has a flat lower surface  82  for engaging and being supported by a portion of a vessel shown fragmentarily at  84  and secured thereto by three bolts  86 , with the base being provided with drain openings  88  in the lower surface thereof confluent with the opening  26 A in the base and open to the periphery thereof to drain any water which may enter the opening  26 A. The detents  76 A and  78 A formed within the opening  26 A in the base  1 A cooperate with the tang 72  of the intermediate member in the same manner as in the embodiment of  FIGS. 1-6 . 
   Referring now to the embodiment of  FIGS. 10-12 , a surface mounted base  11 B is shown with a flange  90  resting upon and secured to a portion of a vessel shown fragmentarily at  92  by a plurality of bolts  94 . The central portion of the flange has a depending boss  96  thereon, which boss is received in an opening  93  in the vessel  92 , and in which boss a vertically extending opening  26 B is formed. In the bottom of the opening  26 B, a plurality of detents is formed, one of which is the previously discussed detent  80 . The other detents,  98 , 99  and  100 , are shown as smaller in width than the detent  80 , but as previously discussed, their size can be adjusted to achieve the desired results. The very bottom of the opening  26 B is provided with a counterbore  102  in which is received a drain plug  104 , secured by staking as shown at  106 , which plug carries a drain line  108  which extends therefrom to the bilge of the vessel. While several embodiments of this invention have been shown and described, it is apparent that changes can be made therein without departing from the scope of this invention as defined in the following claims: