Abstract:
The invention relates to a hinge, preferably a furniture hinge, comprising a hinge arm which is pivotally connected, at one end, via a joint axle to a hinge part and, at the other end, via holding means to a base element, preferably to a base plate. Provision is made in accordance with the invention for the holding means to comprise a first eccentric adjustment, preferably retained by friction, for displaceable holding which allows a displacement parallel to the joint axle.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to a hinge, preferably to a furniture hinge, comprising a hinge arm which is pivotally connected, at one end, via a joint axle to a hinge part and, at the other end, via holding means to a base element, preferably to a base plate. 
     Such a hinge of this kind is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,360,401 B1. Such hinges are e.g. used for fastening door leaves to walls of pieces of furniture. With the hinge of the prior art, an unchangeable screw connection is provided between the hinge and the wall of the piece of furniture. A fastening would be desirable which allows a vertical adjustment of the hinge and thus of the door leaf with respect to the wall of the piece of furniture. For this purpose a fastening is provided in DE 299 20 945 U1 which allows a vertical displacement of the hinge along an elongate opening provided in a base plate of the hinge on the loosening of a fastening screw which serves the fastening of the hinge in the wall of the piece of furniture. The citation additionally describes the use of an eccentric adjustment for the displacement of the door leaf in the direction of the body of the piece of furniture in order to change the gap width between the door leaf and the body of the piece of furniture. The hinge described in DE 299 20 945 U1 has a mechanism which allows an adjustment of the door gap with the aid of the eccentric element independent of the vertical adjustment along the elongate opening. Complex uncoupling elements are required for this purpose. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is the object of the present invention to provide a hinge which allows a simple adjustment to the height of the door leaf with respect to the body of the piece of furniture with a small installation size. This object is solved by a hinge having the features herein. Advantageous aspects also form the subject herein. 
     In accordance with the invention, the holding means comprise an eccentric adjustment for the displaceable holding of the hinge arm with respect to the base element which allows a displacement parallel to the joint axle. 
     Such an eccentric adjustment still allows a setting of the height of the hinge, and thus of the door of the piece of furniture with respect to the body, even after the installation. In this connection, the term “height” is used in the present context to make the invention understandable for the example of an upright door of a piece of furniture, e.g. of a closet. The invention can naturally equally be provided at flaps or other closing members. The term “height” is therefore understood here as that spatial direction in which the joint axle extends without this necessarily having to be aligned vertically in space. 
     The solution in accordance with the invention allows a low installation volume with a simultaneously very simple adjustment. 
     If the eccentric adjustment is moreover designed to be retained by friction, the operation is further simplified. 
     In an advantageous further development of the hinge in accordance with the invention, the holding means furthermore comprise a holding arm and a second eccentric adjustment which displaceably holds the hinge arm on the holding arm, with the second eccentric adjustment allowing a displacement perpendicularly to the displacement by the first eccentric adjustment. With the aid of such a second eccentric adjustment, the hinge is not only simply settable and alignable in “height”, but also in a further spatial direction, with the setting even being able to be made after mounting. The second eccentric adjustment is also advantageously designed to be retained by friction. 
     In another further development, the holding means furthermore comprise an arm section which is displaceably held at the holding arm by a third eccentric adjustment, with the third eccentric adjustment allowing a displacement in each case substantially perpendicular to the displacement of the first and second eccentric adjustments. In this aspect, a simple setting of the hinge is also possible after mounting in all three spatial directions, with the installation space being kept low. 
     In a special embodiment, the first eccentric adjustment is provided in that part of the arm section which is remote from the third eccentric adjustment and serves the connection of the arm section to a base plate. This base plate serves e.g. the fastening of the hinge to the body of the piece of furniture. In such a further development, the hinge arm, which is e.g. connected to the door leaf, is connected to a base plate, which is e.g. fastened to the piece of furniture, via three eccentric adjustments. 
     The hinge in accordance with the invention of this embodiment preferably has a guide in the base plate which is arranged parallel to the joint axle and cooperates with guide elements of the arm section for guiding parallel to the joint axle. It is ensured by such a guide that no canting occurs when the hinge “height” is adjusted. 
     A simple aspect provides that the guide is formed by slits in the base plate in which the guide lugs of the arm section engage to allow only a movement between the arm section and the base plate parallel to the joint axle. 
     An additional holding action can be produced if the holding arm, the arm section and the base plate respectively have eye-like elements which are supported on an individual transverse pin. This common holding pin ensures a reliable mutual alignment of the individual elements with a low construction size. 
     To further reduce the size of the hinge in accordance with the invention, provision can advantageously be made for the individual sections to be unreleasably connected to one another via riveted eccentric elements. 
     The hinge in accordance with the invention can be made very small and compact and is therefore in particular suitable for use in pieces of furniture with frames. The clearance is greatly reduced in size with respect to the known hinges and only a low space is required for the fastening. An embodiment of the invention therefore relates to a hinge for pieces of furniture with a frame which is small in construction or compact. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The invention will be explained in detail with reference to an embodiment which is shown in the Figures. 
       FIG.  1 : a longitudinal section through a hinge in accordance with the invention in the closed state; 
       FIG.  2 : a plan view of the part of the hinge on the side of the body of the piece of furniture in the direction II of  FIG. 1 , with that section being designated by I which is visible in  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG.  3 : a section through the holding arm of the hinge in accordance with  FIGS. 1 ,  2 ; 
       FIG.  4 : a plan view of the holding arm in direction IV of  FIG. 3 , with III designating the section which is visible in  FIG. 3 ; 
       FIG.  5 : a transverse cross-section along the plane V of  FIG. 4 ; 
       FIG.  6 : a section through the hinge arm of the hinge in accordance with the invention of  FIGS. 1 ,  2 ; 
       FIG.  7 : a plan view of the hinge arm of  FIG. 6  in the direction of gaze VII, with VI designating the section which is visible in  FIG. 6 ; 
       FIG.  8 : a section through an arm section of the hinge in accordance with the invention of  FIGS. 1 ,  2 ; 
       FIG.  9 : a plan view in the direction IX of  FIG. 8 , with VIII designating the section which is visible in  FIG. 8 ; 
       FIG.  10 : a section along the plane X of  FIG. 9 ; 
       FIG.  11 : a section through a base plate of a hinge in accordance with the invention of  FIGS. 1 ,  2 ; and 
       FIG.  12 : a plan view of the base plate of  FIG. 11  in the direction XII of  FIG. 11 , with XI designating the section which is visible in FIG.  11 . 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The hinge visible from  FIGS. 1 and 2  consists of a hinge arm  1  provided with a bend, said hinge arm  1  enclosing with its lower rolled-in end  2  a joint axle  3  which, so to say, forms a bearing bore for this. The joint axle  3  is undisplaceably supported in a usual manner in the side walls of the pot-shaped hinge part  4 . A tongue  31  is bent out of the base  7  of the pot-shaped hinge part  4  by a corresponding free cut. A slit is thereby formed in the base  7  into which the rear end  9  of a plate spring  10  is inserted. A cam  15  is bent out of the rolled-in part  2  of the hinge arm  1  and forms the lever arm for the plate spring  10 . The pot-shaped hinge part  4  is inserted in a usual manner into a shallow blind aperture bore, for example of a door  11  of a piece of furniture and connected to this by a flange  29  which is part of the pot-shaped hinge part  4 . 
     The hinge arm  1  is connected to the end face  19  of the holding arm  20  via an eccentric element  22  in a manner known per se to the holding arm  20 . The holding arm  20  has a bend which is achieved in that the cut free side walls  20 ′,  20 ″ are angled and held against the center end face  19  by two transverse pins  40  riveted in associated bores  39 . The front end regions of the side walls  20 ′,  20 ″ are provided with ridges  41  parallel to the frame, consisting of stamped bulges and forming guides for the hinge arm  1 . Corresponding grooves  42  are provided in the end face  19  of the holding arm  20  in which corresponding ribs  43  of the hinge arm formed by bulging are guided. 
     The eccentric element  22  is designed such that its turning, e.g., with a screwdriver, effects the side setting in the direction of the arrow B along the ridges  41  or the grooves  42 . 
     The end of the holding arm  20  remote from the connection to the hinge arm  1  is connected to the arm section  24  by the eccentric element  28  such that a turning of the eccentric element causes the depth setting in the direction of the arrow A. A guiding of this movement is ensured by the ridge  44  of the arm section  24  and the correspondingly formed rib  45  of the holding arm  20  such as are best visible in  FIGS. 5 and 10 . 
     The arm section  24  is provided at both sides at the end remote from the eccentric adjustment  28  with rolled in eyes  25  which hold a transverse pin  27  in the manner of an eyelet. This transverse pin  27  moreover passes through elongate openings  26  provided in the side walls  20 ′,  20 ″ of the holding arm  20 . 
     The arm section  24  is connected to the base plate  50  via an eccentric adjustment  55 . For this purpose, a central bore  53  is provided in the base plate  50 . The eccentric shaft of the eccentric element  55 , whose adjoining shaft part is supported in an elongate opening  54  of the arm section  24  and whose turning causes the vertical adjustment in the direction of the arrow C, is riveted into said central bore  53 . 
     In its front central region, the base plate  50  is provided with an upwardly curved, partly rolled in tongue  56  which engages over the transverse pin  27  like a hook in the installed state. This tongue  56  improves the holding and the guiding of the arm section  24  at the base plate  50 . The base plate is furthermore provided with slits  57  which form guides for lateral, downwardly bent lugs  58  of the arm section  24 . These transversely extending slits and the bent lugs  58  prevent any canting between the arm section  24  and the base plate  50 . A further guide of the arm section  24  during the eccentric adjustment in the direction C is formed by the angled rim  59 . 
     The base plate  50  is finally fitted with leaf parts  51  which are connected, e.g. to a wall  12  of a piece of furniture, with usual fastening screws through the fastening bores  52 . 
     The hinge therefore comprises a hinge arm  1  which is displaceably connected to a holding arm  20  in direction B via an eccentric connection  22 . This holding arm  20  is displaceably connected to an arm section  24  in direction A via an eccentric connection  28 , said arm section  24  in turn being displaceably connected to the base plate  50  in direction C via an eccentric connection  55 . Guides  41 ,  42  are provided for the displacement in direction B made possible by the eccentric element  22  and the hinge arm  1 , or ribs  43  provided thereon, engage into them. For the guiding of the movement which is made possible with the aid of the eccentric element  28  in the direction A, a rib  45  is provided in the holding arm  20  which guidingly engages into the ridge  44  of the arm section  24 . Finally, the bent lugs  58  of the arm section  24  engage into slits  57  of the base plate for the guiding of the movement which is made possible by the eccentric element  55  in direction C. This movement is furthermore stabilized by the angled rim  59  of the arm section  24 . 
     The base plate  50 , the holding arm  20  and the arm section  24  are held at the transverse pin  27  via the tongue  56 , the elongate openings  26  or the eyes  25 , whereby the stability of the hinge is ensured and, specifically, the guide in the movement of the arm section  24  is additionally guided in direction C with respect to the base plate  50 . 
     When riveted eccentric elements are used which form an unreleasable connection, the installation shape can be kept very small.