Patent Publication Number: US-6901633-B2

Title: Door hinge

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a door hinge, and more particularly to a door hinge having simple structure to allow easy hooking to a metal post of sectional furniture. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A door for wooden furniture is usually assembled and connected to the furniture using hinges, so as to be opened and closed relative to the furniture.  FIGS. 1 and 2  are assembled and partially exploded perspective views, respectively, of a conventional door hinge  10 , which includes a first fixing member  11  for fixing to a door  18 , a second fixing member  12  for fixing to a wall surface of a storage space, such as a cabinet, an adjusting member  13  mounted on the second fixing member  12 , a turning member  14  for pivotally connecting the adjusting member  13  to the first fixing member  11 , a spring leaf  15 , and a torsion spring  16 . The adjusting member  13  is held to the second fixing member  12  with a first screw  17 . The turning member  14  is pivotally connected at a first end to the first fixing member  11  and at a second end to the adjusting member  13 . With the spring leaf  15 , the torsion spring  16 , and the turning member  14 , the first fixing member  11  is allowed to turn relative to the adjusting member  13 , and to automatically stay in place after being turned by 90 degrees or so. In this manner, the door  18  may be located either at a first position to close the storage space or at a second position to open the storage space and contain an angle of about 90 degrees between the first and the second position. 
     In connecting the door  18  to the wall surface of the storage space using the hinge  10 , it is necessary to adjusting a clearance between the adjusting member  13  and the second fixing member  12 , so that the door  18  may be located as close as possible to a horizontal position. The clearance between the adjusting and the second fixing member  13 ,  12  may be adjusted by turning a second screw  19  designed to push against the adjusting member  13 . To increase the clearance between the adjusting member  13  and the second fixing member  12 , the second screw  19  must be turned and loosened. Before the second screw  19  can be loosened, it is necessary to slightly loosen the first screw  17 . The door hinge  10  illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2  is one of the commercially available door hinges that has a relatively simple structure and provides relatively low structural strength. 
     After the door hinge  10  has been used for a period of time, screw holes on the wall surface of the storage space for engaging with the second fixing member  12  would easily become damaged to prevent the door hinge  10  from working normally. Since it is impossible to change the door hinge  10  to another fixing position, a user has no other choice but keeps using the defective door hinge and has a door  18  that could not be operated normally. In other words, a hinged door  18  is often the part of the sectional furniture that gets damaged first. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A primary object of the present invention is to provide a door hinge that is specially designed to connect a door to sectional furniture, particularly a sectional rack. The door hinge of the present invention includes hooks for hooking to a metal post of the sectional rack, so that the sectional rack may be mounted with doors to show an elegant appearance. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a door hinge that may be easily detachably hooked to a metal post of a sectional rack without damaging hook eyes on the metal post. 
     To achieve the above and other objects, the door hinge of the present invention mainly includes a fixing member for connecting to a door, a hanger for hooking to a vertical post, an adjusting member connected to the hanger, and a turning member, a spring leaf, and a torsion spring mounted between the adjusting member and the fixing member. The hanger is provided with two hooks that engage with hook eyes provided on the vertical post and thereby firmly connect the hanger to the post. A cushion pad is positioned between the hanger and the post. A tightening screw is threaded against the cushion pad for the hooks of the hanger to tightly engage with the hook eyes on the post. The door connected to the fixing member may therefore be pivotally mounted to the vertical post. 
     In the door hinge of the present invention, the adjusting member is pivotally connected at an end to the hanger, and a clearance between the adjusting member and the hanger is adjusted with an adjusting screw to locate the door at a horizontal position. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein 
         FIG. 1  is an assembled perspective view of a conventional door hinge; 
         FIG. 2  is a partially exploded perspective view of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is an assembled perspective view of a door hinge according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is an exploded perspective view of  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a cross sectional view showing the mounting of a door to a metal post of a sectional rack using the door hinge of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view showing the hooking of the door hinge of the present invention to the metal post of a sectional rack; and 
         FIG. 7  is a sectional view taken along line  7 — 7  of  FIG. 5 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Please refer to  FIG. 3  that is an assembled perspective view of a door hinge  30  according to the present invention adapted to hook to a metal post  20  (see  FIGS. 5 ,  6 , and  7 ) of a sectional rack (not shown), so that doors  18  may be connected to the metal posts  20  of the sectional rack using the door hinges  30  to define one or more closed spaces on the sectional rack. 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 4 ,  5 , and  6 . The door hinge  30  of the present invention mainly includes a fixing member  31  for connecting to a door  18 , a hanger  32  for hooking to a vertical post  20 , an adjusting member  33  connected to the hanger  32 , and a turning member  34 , a spring leaf  35 , and a torsion spring  36  mounted between the adjusting member  33  and the fixing member  31 . The hanger  32  is provided at an inner side with an upper and a lower hook  321 , and at a central area with an outward raised portion  322 . The raised portion  322  has a first end pivotally connected to an end of the adjusting member  33 , and a second end opposite to the first end formed into a recess  323 . The hanger  32  is hooked to the metal post  20  through engagement of the upper and lower hooks  321  with hook eyes  21  provided on the metal post  20 . A cushion pad  37  is positioned between the hanger  32  and the post  20 . A tightening screw  324  is threaded through the hanger  32  to force against the cushion pad  37 , so that the upper and lower hooks  321  of the hanger  32  firmly hook to the post  20  at the hook eyes  21  and thereby connect the door  18  to the post  20 , as shown in  FIG. 7 . 
     Since the turning member  34 , the spring leaf  35 , and the torsion spring  36  connecting the adjusting member  33  to the fixing member  31  are known skills mainly for the door  18  to locate either at a closed position to close a storage space on the sectional rack or at an opened position from the rack by about 90 degrees, they are not discussed in details herein. 
     An adjusting screw  331  having an annular groove  332  is threaded through the adjusting member  33  with the annular groove  332  engaged with the recess  323  at the second end of the raised portion  322  of the hanger  32 . When the adjusting screw  331  is turned, a clearance between the adjusting member  33  and the hanger  32  may be adjusted. Total two door hinges  30  are required to mount and locate one door  18  in place. After the door  18  is mounted, the clearance between the adjusting member  33  and the hanger  32  must be adjusted to locate the door  18  at a horizontal position while closing the storage space on the sectional rack. 
     The hanger  32  looks like a cover, and the two hooks  321  may be formed by punching or stamping the hanger  32 . Edges of one side of the cover-like hanger  32  facing toward the vertical post  20  have a contour the same as or close to that of an outer surface of the vertical post  20 , so that the hanger  32  could fitly bear against the post  20  after being assembled thereto. 
     The cushion pad  37  may be made of a plastic material to provide a degree of compressibility. One side of the cushion pad  37  facing toward the vertical post  20  is a surface adapted to fitly bear against the outer surface of the vertical post  20 . The cushion pad  37  is provided at predetermined positions with two through holes  371  for the two hooks  321  of the hanger  32  to extend therethrough before engaging with the hook eyes  21  on the post  20 . To facilitate easy mounting of the door hinge  10 , it is preferable to attach the cushion pad  37  to the hanger  32  first. The tightening screw  324  for forcing against the cushion pad  37  is screwed onto the hanger  32 . The adjusting member  33  is provided at a position corresponding to the tightening screw  324  with a long hole  333 , through which the tightening screw  324  is extended to screw into a screw hole  325  on the raised portion  322  of the hanger  32 , so as to apply a force against the cushion pad  37 . 
     The above-described door hinge  30  is characterized in that it is adapted to hook to the metal post  20  of a sectional rack (not shown), so that doors  18  may be mounted on the sectional rack to produce closed storage space on the rack. Moreover, the door hinge  30  may be easily connected to and disconnected from the vertical post  20  without the risk of having a door hinge  30  unexpectedly loosening from the vertical post  20 . That is, the door hinge  30  may be fixed to the vertical post  20  at the same position over a prolonged time, and may be freely moved to different positions on the vertical post  20  to allow change of the position of the door  18  on the sectional rack. 
     In brief, the door hinge  30  of the present invention has very simple structural design to enable hooking of it to the metal post  20 , while the door hinge  30  provides all basic functions of an ordinary hinge. Therefore, the door hinge  30  allows the sectional rack assembled from metal parts to also include doors  18  and accordingly enclosed storage space, making the sectional rack more practical and convenient for use. Moreover, since the hook eyes  21  provided on the vertical post  20  are not subject to the condition of stripped threads, they would not have adverse influence on the firm hooking of the hanger  32  to the post  20 .