Patent Publication Number: US-10767407-B2

Title: Hinge with elastic opening means for door leaves of furniture

Description:
The present invention relates to a hinge with elastic opening means for door leaves of furniture or the like, in particular a hinge that has a fixed part or wing, shaped so that it can be inserted into a seat provided in the thickness of an upper or lower wall of the piece of furniture. 
     In the furniture sector, furniture is often used that has door leaves with no handles or similar grip means; in such case, the door leaves are conventionally connected in an oscillating manner to the body of the item of furniture by way of hinges provided with springs adapted to impose a movement on such door leaves in the direction of opening, at least in a neighborhood of the closed position of the door leaf. 
     Furthermore, adapted coupling devices are provided for releasably locking the door leaves in the closed position, and these devices, following a light push on the closed door leaf by the user, are released in order to permit the springs of the hinges to generate a movement of the door leaf in the direction of opening at least by a first amount sufficient for the user to grasp it and so open it completely. 
     In general the hinges used for such application comprise a fixed part that can be connected to an inner lateral surface of the body of the piece of furniture and a movable part, constituted by a box-like body, that can be connected to the leaf, such parts being mutually articulated in an oscillating manner by way of at least one rotation axis and more preferably by way of an articulation system that comprises a plurality of articulation axes and connecting rockers. 
     Furthermore, as mentioned, such hinges comprise a spring acting in the direction of opening, which conventionally, such as for example shown in EP 1 477 628, is in the form of a V-shaped laminar spring or a torsion spring which, by virtue of the fact that the rockers extend along planes that pass through the articulation axes, is contoured to act directly on one of the rockers. 
     However, the known solutions for such opening springs are not suitable for or cannot be applied to a different, completely invisible type of hinge, in which the fixed part or wing has a flat shape structure in order to be insertable in a seat provided in the thickness of the upper or lower wall of the piece of furniture, and in which the rockers extend along a plane perpendicular to the articulation axes, owing to the shape structure of the fixed part of the hinge and owing to the shape structure and arrangement of the rockers. 
     The aim of the present invention is to provide a hinge for door leaves of furniture or the like, of the type having a fixed part or wing shaped so that it can be inserted into a seat provided in the thickness of the upper or lower wall of the piece of furniture, that has elastic opening means with reduced encumbrance in order to be accommodated in the fixed part of such type of hinge, and that are configured to provide an effective elastic action to open the door leaves. 
     Within this aim, an object of the present invention is to provide a hinge for door leaves of furniture or the like, of the type mentioned above, in which the elastic opening means are configured simply and involve as few construction modifications as possible with respect to a corresponding version of the hinge with a spring that acts in the direction of closing. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a hinge for door leaves of furniture or the like that is highly reliable, easily and practically implemented and low cost. 
     This aim and these and other objects which will become better apparent hereinafter are achievable by a hinge for door leaves of furniture and the like, which comprises a fixed part that can be connected to a body of a piece of furniture and a movable part that can be connected to a door leaf of the piece of furniture, the fixed part and the movable part being mutually connected in an oscillating manner by way of an articulation system that comprises at least one articulation axis and a rocker, the hinge comprising elastic means for opening the hinge which are functionally connected to said at least one rocker, characterized in that said fixed part of the hinge is shaped so that it can be inserted into a seat defined within the thickness of an upper or lower wall of a piece of furniture, said fixed part and said at least one rocker extending along a plane that is perpendicular to said at least one articulation axis, and 
     in that it comprises a movable element for transmission between said elastic opening means and said at least one rocker, said transmission element extending and being movable along said perpendicular plane and having a thrust surface that is shaped and arranged in order to act against a lateral contact surface of said rocker. 
    
    
     
       Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the description of some preferred, but not exclusive, embodiments of the hinge according to the present invention, which are illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the hinge according to the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of the hinge according to the invention, installed in a piece of furniture, with the door leaf in the closed condition; 
         FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of the hinge of  FIG. 2 , with the door leaf in the partially open condition; and 
         FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of the hinge according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     With reference to the figures, a hinge according to the invention, which is generally designated with the reference numeral  1 , comprises a fixed part or wing  2 , which is shaped to be inserted into a seat  3  provided in the thickness of an upper or lower wall  4  of a piece of furniture and which opens on a front side of such walls, and a movable part  5  which is shaped to be inserted in a seat  6  defined in a door leaf  7  of the piece of furniture. 
     The hinge comprises at least one rocker and an articulation axis and more preferably a first rocker  9  and a second rocker  10  and four articulation axes  11 ,  12 ,  13 ,  14  that are adapted to define a quadrilateral articulation system and to allow the articulation of the movable part  5  with respect to the fixed part  2  of the hinge. 
     In order to be inserted into the seat  3  provided in the upper or lower wall  4  of the piece of furniture, the fixed part  2  of the hinge conveniently has a flat shape structure that extends along a plane perpendicular to the articulation axes  11 - 14  of the articulation system; in turn the rockers  9 ,  10  also have a flat shape structure and extend along a plane perpendicular to the articulation axes  11 - 14 , so as to be accommodatable in the flat fixed part  2 . 
     By virtue of such shape structure, the hinge is completely concealed and the only parts of the hinge that protrude from the seats  3  and  6  for insertion of the parts  2  and  5  of the hinge are the rockers  9  and  10 , which are exposed to view when the door leaf of the piece of furniture is open. 
     The hinge likewise comprises elastic opening means that are functionally connected to one of the rockers  9 ,  10  of the articulation system. 
     According to the present invention, the hinge comprises a movable element for transmission between the elastic opening means and the rocker, such element extending and able to move along the aforementioned perpendicular plane; furthermore, the transmission element is provided with a thrust surface that is shaped and arranged in order to act against a lateral contact surface of the rocker  9  pressed by such elastic means, preferably at least in a neighborhood of the closed position of the hinge. 
     In particular, in the first embodiment illustrated in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the transmission element is constituted by a lever  15  that is supported in an oscillating manner by the fixed part  2  of the hinge, preferably by way of an oscillation axis  16  arranged in an intermediate position along such lever, so as to be co-planar with the rockers  9 ,  10 . 
     In this case, the elastic opening means are preferably in the form of a helical spring  17  arranged in a seat of the fixed part  2  so as to act on a first end of the lever  15 , for example by way of a tappet  18  connected to such lever in an oscillating manner; at the opposite end of the lever  15  is the thrust surface  19 , which extends parallel to the articulation axes  11 - 14  in order to act against the lateral contact surface  20  of the rocker  9  which also extends parallel to the articulation axes. 
     Preferably the thrust surface  19  and/or the contact surface  20  are cam-shaped so as to conveniently modulate the opening action imposed by the elastic means. 
     Preferably the oscillating lever  15  extends in a direction substantially perpendicular to the front surface  2 ′ of the fixed part  2  of the hinge, while the accommodation seat for the spring  17  extends parallel to the front surface  2 ′; the possibility is not ruled out however for the oscillating lever  15  and the spring to be arranged differently. 
     In the second embodiment, shown in  FIG. 4 , the transmission element is constituted by a roller  21  that is supported so that it can rotate by a movable element  22  that in turn is arranged so that it can slide in a seat of the fixed part  2  and is pressed by the elastic opening means, preferably in the form of a helical spring  23 . 
     In particular the roller  21  extends on a plane perpendicular to the articulation axes  11 - 14  so as to be co-planar with the rocker  9  with which it comes into contact and it can rotate along an axis parallel to such articulation axes. 
     In such embodiment, the thrust surface according to the invention is constituted by the peripheral surface  24  of the roller  21 , which acts on a lateral contact surface  25  of the rocker  9 . 
     Preferably the contact surface  25  is cam-shaped so as to conveniently modulate the opening action imposed by the elastic means. 
     As an alternative to the helical springs, the elastic opening means can be constituted for example by torsion springs, laminar springs or springs of another type. 
     Preferably the hinge comprises adjustment means for adjusting the relative position between the fixed part  2  and the movable part  5  of the hinge in at least one among the lateral, front and vertical directions. 
     For example, in order to carry out the vertical adjustment of the hinge and therefore of the door leaf  7 , preferably the movable part  5  comprises a first box-like part  5 ′ that can be fixed to the leaf  7 , a second part  5 ″ that is connected to the first part  5 ′ so that it can slide vertically, and an eccentric adjustment element  8  that makes it possible to define the relative position between the parts  5 ′,  5 ″. 
     In order to carry out the other adjustments, the rockers  9 ,  10 , as well as the lever  15 , are pivoted on a plate-like element  26  by way of the respective rotation axes  11 ,  13 ,  16 , such element  26  also bearing a supporting body  32  in which the seat is defined for accommodating the elastic opening means  17 ,  23 . 
     The plate-like element  26  and the supporting body  32  are supported so that they can move in a lateral direction by a second lower plate-like element  29  which in turn is accommodated so that it can move in a frontal direction in the fixed part  2 , which preferably has a box-like body defined by an upper enclosure  27  and a lower enclosure  28 . 
     In order to define the adjustment positions between the parts described above, there are frontal adjustment means  31 , preferably of the screw type, to define the position of the plate-like element  29  with respect to the upper enclosure  27 , and there are also lateral adjustment means  30 , preferably of the cam screw type, so as to define the lateral position of the plate-like element  26  with respect to the plate-like element  29 . 
     The adjustment means  8 ,  30 ,  31  conveniently comprise actuation means that can be maneuvered, for example in the form of screw head-type slots, and are accessible to the user from the frontal side of the piece of furniture within which the hinge is mounted, in order to allow an easy adjustment. 
     Further embodiments are also possible for the transmission of the elastic opening force from the elastic means to the rocker: it is for example possible to have a plurality of transmission elements between the elastic opening means and the rocker, in the form of a toggle linkage or other set of mutually articulated levers, or indeed another chain of kinematic transmission elements. 
     In practice it has been found that the hinge according to the present invention fully achieves the set aim and objects, since it is provided with elastic opening means and corresponding transmission means which have reduced encumbrance in order to be accommodated in the flat fixed part of the hinge of the type under consideration, and which are configured to provide an effective elastic action to open the door leaves. 
     Furthermore, the elastic opening means and the corresponding transmission means are configured simply and involve as few construction modifications as possible with respect to a corresponding version of the hinge with a spring that acts in the direction of closing. 
     The hinge, thus conceived, is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims. 
     Moreover, all the details may be substituted by other, technically equivalent elements. 
     In practice the materials employed, as well as the contingent dimensions and shapes, may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art. 
     The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. 102016000028439 (UA2016A001798) from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.