Patent Publication Number: US-2023160244-A1

Title: Door Hinge

Description:
This application claims priority from U.S. Prov. Pat. App. 63/266,897, filed Jan. 18, 2022, and is a divisional of U.S. Design Pat. App. 29/797,856, filed Jul. 2, 2021, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to hinges, and more particularly to a hinge for enabling installation of a door or half door on a vehicle, such as off road utility vehicles or the like. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Utility vehicles (UTV) or all terrain vehicles (ATV) are often sold without doors, instead employing a mesh-fabric ‘door’ that is removably attached to allow entry and exit from the vehicle, while providing some enclosure when driving to contain any loose items from unintentionally falling out of the vehicle. An example view of such a utility vehicle is shown in  FIG.  1   , wherein the vehicle  10  has a frame  12  mounting four wheels  14 . In the illustrated version, four seats  16  are provided to accommodate driver/passengers  18 . A propulsion engine is mounted to the frame at the rear of the illustrated UTV or ATV. A cargo carrying area  22  may be provided in some models. Mesh half ‘doors’  24  are detachably positioned at lower portions of openings in the frame to allow driver/riders to enter/exit the vehicle easily, but still allow closure of the ‘doors’. The illustrated UTV has four seats and front and rear mesh doors on each side of the vehicle, but two seat/two ‘door’ models are also provided. 
     Many users of such vehicles would prefer to have a more solid door structure, either a partial or half door or a full door to provide further protection and minimize debris, splashes or other incursions from outside the vehicle hitting the driver or passengers or entering the frame interior. As such, add on door kits have been developed, such as shown in  FIG.  2   , that comprise front and rear doors  26 ,  28  (driver side doors shown, passenger side doors would typically be mirror images) and attachment hardware for mounting the doors to the frame of the UTV. The attachment hardware might include upper and lower hinge leaf (female) mounts  30 ,  32 , for attachment to the doors, and hinge pin assembly bracket  34  which carries upper and lower bullet hinge pins (male)  36 ,  38 . To mount the doors to the UTV or ATV, the existing mesh ‘door’ is removed, bracket  34  is mounted to the frame of the UTV/ATV, upper and lower hinge pin mounts  30 ,  32  are mounted to the door(s) at points  40 ,  42 , and the doors are lowered onto the bullet hinge pins. Additional brackets  44  may be provided to assist with securing the bracket  34  to the UTV/ATV’s frame. 
     Unfortunately, the bullet hinge pins will occasionally break as a result of the stresses put on the pins in use, making the door inoperable, so another way to mount doors to UTVs/ATVs that would be more durable and robust is desirable. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for mounting doors to UTVs/ATVs or other vehicles to replace the stock mesh ‘doors’. An improved bracket mounting a hinged plate is provided for attachment to a door that is to be mounted to the UTV/ATV. 
     The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiments disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For a more thorough understanding of the present invention, and advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG.  1    is a view of a UTV, illustrating the mesh doors; 
         FIG.  2    shows a prior art bullet hinge mounting solution for installing doors on a UTV; 
         FIG.  3    is a perspective view of a hinge assembly in accordance with the preferred embodiment; 
         FIG.  4    is a perspective view of a lower mounting bracket; 
         FIG.  5    is a view of a striker bracket; 
         FIG.  6    is a perspective view of a rear lower mounting bracket; 
         FIG.  7    is a view of a rear striker bracket; 
         FIG.  8    is a perspective view of an UTV/ATV, for illustration of the process of installing the components of the invention on the UTV/ATV; 
         FIGS.  9 - 11    are views illustrating removal of the driver arm rest; 
         FIGS.  12  and  13    are views illustrating removal of the passenger arm rests; 
         FIGS.  14 - 16    illustrate removal of filler panels; 
         FIGS.  17  and  18    illustrate attachment of the front and rear lower mounting brackets; 
         FIG.  19    shows the mounting of the hinge assembly to the UTV/ATV; 
         FIG.  20    illustrates mounting the hinge plate to the lower mounting bracket; 
         FIG.  21    is a view showing the attachment of the front striker plate; 
         FIGS.  22 - 24    show mounting steps for the rear striker plate; 
         FIG.  25    shows the latching mechanism; 
         FIGS.  26 - 27    show attachment of the doors to the hinge assembly and UTV/ATV; and 
         FIGS.  28  and  29    illustrates details of the rotational mounting of the door mounting plate to the frame mounting plate. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     A preferred embodiment of the invention uses a hinge assembly and lower bracket members to hingedly mount a door to the frame of an UTV/ATV, for providing an improved door structure to the UTV/ATV over the stock mesh doors. A striker bracket may be provided to engage with a latch member to secure the door when in a closed position. 
     Referring to  FIG.  3   , a perspective view of a hinge assembly according to the present invention, the assembly  100  comprises an UTV/ATV frame mounting plate  102  and a door mounting plate  104  where the mounting plate  104  is hingedly mounted to plate  102  via upper and lower hinge members  106 ,  108 . Frame mounting plate  102  is formed as an elongate member with a flat longer rectangular flange portion  110  and a shorter upper portion  112  that is angled away from the plane of the portion  110 . The lower end of portion  110  flares out slightly and carries fastener mounting hole  114 , while the upper portion  112  carries mounting holes  116 ,  118  in spaced relation to one another. 
     Door mounting plate  104  is formed as a flat rectangular plate member  120  with upper and lower hinge mounting flange portions  122 ,  124  extending at 90 degree angles from the main flat portion plate member  120 . Mounting slots  126 ,  128 ,  130  and  132  are formed in plate member  120  at spaced locations from one another somewhat centrally positioned in the plate member. 
     Upper and lower mounting flanges  134 ,  136  connected to flange portion  110  at a somewhat upper position and a lower position, interact with mounting flange portions  122 ,  124 , with hinge pins  138 ,  140  hingedly mounting the door mounting frame  104  to frame mounting plate  102 , via holes or openings formed in flanges  134  and  136 , as well as in flange portions  122 ,  124 , allowing rotational movement of the door mounting frame  104  relative to the frame mounting plate on axis  144 , as shown by rotational arrows  146 . The rotational mounting details are further described in connection with  FIG.  28   , a partial side view taken in the direction of arrow  139  of  FIG.  3    and  FIG.  29    a partial view taken in the direction of arrow  141  of  FIG.  3   . 
     Hinge pin  138  (and correspondingly  140 ) passes through holes in flange portion  122  (and  124 ), held in position by the head of the hinge pin at one end thereof, and by keeper  143 , such as an E style clip in the illustrated embodiment, engaged with the end of the pin opposite the head, to keep the pin from sliding out. A bushing  145  lines the openings in flanges  122  and  134 , allowing rotational movement of flange  122  relative to flange  134 . 
     The hinge assembly needs to be secured to the frame of the UTV/ATV, so mounting components are also provided. Referring to  FIG.  4   , a perspective view of a lower mounting bracket, lower brackets are provided as a left side bracket  148  and right side bracket  148 ′. The brackets have rear mounting holes  150 ,  150 ′ and mounting slots  152 , for attachment to the UTV/ATV frame as discussed hereinbelow, and have an angled central region  154  that extends to a mounting plate portion  156  that is oriented to provide a vertically aligned mounting surface. Portion  156  has mounting hole(s)  158  designed to align with fastener mounting hole  114  on the hinge assembly, discussed hereinbelow. 
       FIG.  5    illustrates an additional mounting component, striker brackets  160  (left side) and  160 ′ (right side) that have upper and lower mounting holes  162 ,  164 , for attachment to the UTV/ATV frame and carry a striker latch pin  166  ( 166 ′) for latching with a corresponding door latch mechanism on the doors. The lower portion of the striker brackets angle slightly to conform to the configuration of the UTV/ATV frame for mounting. The striker brackets are mounted to the frame via fasteners interacting through holes  162 ,  164 . 
       FIG.  6    and  FIG.  7    are perspective views of a rear lower mounting bracket  168 , with corresponding mounting holes  170 , slots  172  and mounting plate portion  174  with fastener hole  176  and an rear striker plate mounting plate portion  178 , fastener holes  180  and a striker mounting portion  182 , angled to enable mounting of a striker  212  thereon (not shown in  FIG.  7   , visible in  FIG.  24   ). The lower and striker mounting portions can be suitable, for example, for rear door mounting, while the mounting bracket  148  and striker plate  160  would be used for a front door mounting, in the case of an UTV/ATV having front and rear doors, used when both front and rear mesh ‘doors’ are being replaced. 
     Referring now to  FIG.  8   , the process of mounting doors to an UTV/ATV in accordance with the invention is discussed. In  FIG.  8   , a passenger side perspective view of an UTV/ATV  184 , a first step is to remove the stock mesh doors by removing the mounting hardware thereof at positions indicated by arrows  186 . Also, the front and rear mesh door latches are removed at positions  188 . Mounting hardware at positions  190  are also removed, to allow removal of the doors, but at these positions the hardware is then returned into the mounting holes once the mesh doors have been removed, for use later in the process. 
     Next, the factory arm rests are removed from the UTV/ATV, the front driver arm rest  192  ( FIG.  9   ) is removed by temporarily removing the seat mounting hardware at  194  ( FIG.  10   ), and removing the fasteners at  196  in  FIG.  11   , allowing the arm rest to be detached from the seat. The fasteners removed at  194  and  196  are then returned to their mounting holes. 
     The rear and front passenger arm rests are removed in accordance with  FIGS.  12  and  13   , wherein upper mounting bolts  198  is removed and then lower mounting bolt  200  is removed, allowing the arm rest to be taken off. 
     Now, with reference to  FIGS.  14 - 16   , filler panels  202  are removed from the front and rear passenger side of the UTV/ATV, and the mounting bolts  204  thereof are returned to their mounting holes. 
     Now, as shown in  FIGS.  17  and  18   , the front and rear lower brackets  148  and  168  are mounted to the UTV/ATV, both on the driver side and the passenger side. In some cases this mounting may be done using the reserved factory hardware  150  from  FIG.  17   , to mount the brackets, depending on the specific configuration of the UTV/ATV. The fasteners are just loosely tightened at this time. In the UTV/ATV configuration illustrated, the front most of the 2 mounting holes  150  in the front bracket are used for the mounting fastener, whereas the rear most mounting hole  170  is used for the rear brackets. 
     Referring now to  FIG.  19   , the hinge assembly  100  may be mounted to the UTV/ATV frame by using the mounting hardware  198  reserved in the step shown in  FIG.  12    to secure the shorter upper portion  112  of frame mounting plate  102  to the UTV/ATV frame via mounting holes  116  and  118  of the hinge assembly. While the mounting hardware  198  is loose, the hinge assembly is positioned such that a gap at the upper and lower portion thereof is about equal, and then the hardware  198  is tightened to secure the hinge assembly to the UTV/ATV. One such hinge assembly is mounted to the UTV/ATV frame for each of the doors. 
     Now, referring to  FIG.  20   , the is hinge plate is secured to the lower bracket  148  via a fastener that is passed through hole  114  in lower end of the flange portion  110  of the hinge and hole  158  in the lower bracket. This is repeated for the other doors (using hole  176  in rear lower bracket  168 , for the rear doors). The hinge assembly is now fully mounted to the UTV/ATV. 
     Referring to  FIGS.  21 - 24   , the reserved hardware from the front doors indicated at  186  in  FIG.  8   , is used to mount the front striker brackets  160  to the UTV/ATV frame. For the rear striker brackets, referring to  FIG.  22   , bolts  206  are removed from the UTV/ATV frame that mount the factory rear latch  208 , and exposing fastener holes  210  ( FIG.  23   ). The rear striker bracket is now mounted to the UTV/ATV frame by using fasteners through mounting holes  180  in rear striker plate mounting plate portion  178 . Rear striker  212 , first mentioned in connection with  FIG.  7   , is visible in  FIG.  24     
     Now the doors can be mounted to the UTV/ATV. Referring to  FIGS.  25 - 27   , the doors are positioned at the frame of the UTV/ATV by moving the door into position and engaging the striker with the door latch  214  ( FIG.  25   ). The UTV/ATV will now appear as shown in  FIG.  26   , with the hinge assembly positioned in the inside faces of the doors at positions indicated at  216 ,  218 . As shown in  FIG.  27   , plural bolts/fasteners  220  mount the door to mounting plate  104  via mounting slots  126 ,  128 ,  130 ,  132 . The door is now securely mounted to the UTV/ATV. 
     Adjustment of the door to fine tune the alignment thereof is accomplished by loosening the bolts in the mounting slots  126 - 132 , and then repositioning the door. The two Latch Adjustment bolts on the door can be loosened to reposition the latch for adjustment thereof. 
     Once the doors are attached, the removed seat components may be reinstalled. 
     Accordingly, an improved method and apparatus for mounting doors to an UTV/ATV has been shown and described. 
     Although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.