Patent Publication Number: US-7591044-B2

Title: Hinge for furniture with a low thickness and improved structure

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a hinge for furniture of the “frame” type provided with an improved structure and low thickness. 
     2. State of the Prior Art 
     For furniture built following the known load-bearing front frame system (widespread above all on the American market), single-pin hinges provided with position adjustment are more and more often required. The maximum adjustment capability is represented by the possibility of moving the furniture door in the three orthogonal spatial directions. To obtain this type of adjustment in a correct manner the hinge must be provided with three distinct operating members. 
     A further requirement consists in reducing the hinge thickness so as to obtain a minimum bulkiness inside the piece of furniture. The last-mentioned point is of great importance in making furniture for the American market for example, where the “frame” type construction already constitutes an important reduction to the piece of furniture opening. 
     A typical hinge construction for the frame system comprises a base portion to be fastened to the piece of furniture and pivotally mounted to a hinge box to be embedded into the furniture door. For maximum adjustment, the base portion is formed with two elements or plates slidably coupled with each other by a cam (or a screw) to supply front adjustment of the hinge. The innermost element is screwed on the frame edge by a fastening screw enabling vertical adjustment of the hinge position. The outermost element has one end bent at a right angle slidably supporting an arm pivotally mounted to the box (again with a cam or screw), so as to also enable a side adjustment of the position. 
     For reasons connected with the frame sizes, the cam for adjustment between the two base elements is usually located behind the fastening screw seat of the inner element on the frame. Therefore, riveting by which the cam axially locks the two components is not sufficient to ensure a good holding between the two components because said cam is disposed too rearwardly. 
     Consequently, for steady fastening it is necessary to create another coupling point on the forward part of the base relative to the fastening screw. This coupling must lock the two base components in the direction of the cam axis and, simultaneously, allow free longitudinal displacement of the two components for front adjustment. According to the known art, this coupling is obtained through formation of a pair of transversely aligned holes in one of the two components (in the fixed part of the piece of furniture, for example) and a pair of slots aligned with the holes and elongated in the front adjustment direction in the other component. A pin is inserted through the holes and slots and locked to the holes for transverse sliding along the slots, so as to obtain fastening between the two plates while at the same time maintaining a possibility of adjustment between the two parts of the base. 
     This solution however has some drawbacks. First of all use of another component (the pin) is made necessary so that the pin cost and the difficulties and costs for mounting of the pin are to be added. 
     In addition, for clear die-forming reasons, the hole must be made to a suitable distance from the upper wall of the fixed plate (the material width between the hole and edge should not be smaller than the material thickness). Due to the above, the overall height of the movable plate and therefore the hinge bulkiness within the frame opening cannot go below a minimum value (usually not less than 8.5 mm). 
     It is a general aim of the present invention to obviate the above mentioned drawbacks by providing a hinge of the frame type offering wide adjustment possibilities, while having a reduced thickness and being at the same time of easy and cheap construction. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of this aim, in accordance with the invention, a hinge for furniture of the “frame” type has been devised which comprises a base portion to be mounted on the frame of the piece of furniture and a portion for fastening to the furniture door and articulated on the base portion, the base portion comprising a lower element intended for fastening to the furniture frame and an upper element for supporting the articulation to the portion fastening the hinge to the door, the lower and upper elements being connected to each other for mutual-sliding movement in a direction longitudinal to the hinge, means for controlled adjustment of the sliding movement being present close to one end of the base portion, so as to offer front adjustment of the hinge, means for sliding constraint in the adjustment direction being also present close to the other end of the base portion, characterized in that the two base elements are made up of cut-out and bent sheet metal and the sliding-constraint means comprises half-punched pins projecting from side walls of one of the two elements for sliding fitting into corresponding slots in the other element. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For better explaining the innovative principles of the present invention and the advantages it offers over the known art a possible embodiment applying said principles will be described hereinafter, by way of example, with the aid of the accompanying drawings. In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a hinge in accordance with the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a cross-section view of the hinge base, taken along line II-II in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a plan view of a lower component of the hinge base portion seen in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a plan view of an upper component of the hinge base portion seen in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is an elevation side view, in an exploded representation, of the hinge base portion seen in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a partially sectioned view showing a detail of the component in  FIG. 4 , taken along line VI-VI in  FIG. 5 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference to the drawings, shown in  FIG. 1  is a hinge of the frame type generally denoted at  10  and made following the principles of the present invention. 
     Hinge  10  comprises a base portion  11  to be fastened to the frame  12  of the piece of furniture and on which a box  13  to be embedded into the furniture door (not shown) is pivotally mounted. 
     The base portion  11  is made up of two elements or plates  14 ,  15  slidably coupled with each other, in a direction longitudinal to the base, through use of adjustment and constraint means  16  disposed close to one end of the base to supply front adjustment of the hinge while at the same time preventing the elements from moving apart from each other. This adjustment means advantageously consists of a cam (or a screw)  16  disposed close to the rear end of the base. 
     The definitions “front, side and vertical adjustments” appearing herein are intended as normally used in the field of furniture hinges, in particular in the case of hinges mounted laterally of the furniture door. 
     The innermost element  15  is provided with a slot-shaped hole  17  designed to receive a screw (in chain line in  FIG. 5 ) for fastening onto the frame edge, which screw can be manipulated through a corresponding aperture on the upper plate. The slot  17  is elongated transversely of the hinge extension to enable vertical adjustment of the hinge position through loosening of the screw for fastening to the piece of furniture. Advantageously, the slot is at an intermediate position relative to the adjustment means and the front means for sliding constraint between the two base elements. 
     Advantageously, the outermost element  14  has a front end  18  bent at a right angle and slidably supporting an arm  19  terminating with an articulation  20  on the hinge box  13 . A spring  21  may be provided, in accordance with the known art, for reaching and maintaining the extreme positions of open hinge and closed hinge. Between the base end  18  and arm  19  there is a screw or cam  22  to supply adjustment of the mutual position (a vertical adjustment in  FIG. 1 ). This adjustment therefore represents the hinge side adjustment. Such an adjustment system is known by itself and will not be further described. 
     Alternatively, should this adjustment be judged unnecessary, arm  19  can be in a one-piece construction with or rigidly connected to the base element  14 . 
     As clearly seen in section in  FIG. 2 , the lower base element  15  is made of metal sheet with the two side flaps  23  and  24  upwardly bent at a right angle. Opposite pins  25  and  26  are formed on the bent flaps  23  and  24 , on the opposite side from the seat of the cam or screw ( 16 ); said pins are obtained through generally cylindrical half-punching operations and project outwardly being aligned with each other with respect to an axis transverse to the hinge. 
     The upper movable plate  14  is preferably made of metal sheet as well and has two side walls  27 ,  28  bent in the opposite direction relative to flaps  23 ,  24 ; the size of said plate is adapted to internally receive plate  15  with a minimum side clearance, enabling guided to-and-fro sliding of same. 
     Advantageously, a dished portion  33  projecting on the upper surface of plate  15  constitutes a slidable support for a recessed portion  34  of the upper plate  14 , at the adjustment cam  16 . 
     Shown in the figures is the preferred embodiment of a front adjustment obtained through use of cam  16  having its shank  35  fitted into a hole  36  of the lower plate  15  and riveted thereon, with a region  37 , eccentric to the shank, that is received in a transverse slot  38  in the upper plate  14 . 
     The movable plate  14  on its side walls  27  and  28  has two through slots  29 ,  30  cut out with substantially the same height as the diameter of the respective half-punched pins  25 ,  26  and elongated in the to-and-fro sliding direction of the two base elements. 
     When the hinge is assembled, as shown in  FIG. 1 , the half-punched pins  25 ,  26  are slidably received within the elongated through slots  29 ,  30  so as to form the sliding-constraint front means. The two base elements can slide without however being separated as they are retained at the rear by the screw or cam  16  and at the front by the half-punched pins in the through slots. 
     For mounting of the two parts, at the rear end of the through slots  29 ,  30 , the two side walls  27 ,  28  of the upper element have two outwardly enlarged regions  31 ,  32 . The width L 1  (shown in  FIG. 4 ) between the inner walls of the enlarged regions  31 ,  32  is slightly larger than the overall width L 2  (shown in  FIG. 3 ) between the two opposite ends of the half-punched pins  25 ,  26 . 
     In this way, as also clearly visible in the section in  FIG. 6 , the two slots  29 ,  30  at their rear ends, have an entrance region for the half-punched pins. Thus mounting can be done easily by inserting the upper plate  14  over the lower plate  15  causing vertical sliding of the half-punched pins  25  and  26  within the enlarged regions  21  and  22  (as shown in  FIG. 5 ) and subsequently horizontally and rearwardly moving the upper plate so that the half-punched pins  25 ,  26  fit into the narrower region of the guiding through slots  29 ,  30 . The enlarged regions are advantageously obtained by drawing of the walls. 
     Advantageously, as viewed from  FIG. 5 , the through slots can have such sizes that when operated for front adjustment, the half-punched pins cannot be brought into the enlarged regions, so that mounting becomes steady and no longer reversible once the two elements are connected by means of the cam or screw  16 . Still in  FIG. 5  it is possible to see that the lower element can be advantageously provided with tabs  39 ,  40  projecting downwardly at its front and rear ends to surround the edge of the furniture frame. 
     At this point it is apparent that the intended purposes have been reached. Since the side half-punched pins  25 ,  26  do not involve material removal, they can be carried out leaving a minimum space with respect to the upper margins of flaps  23 ,  24 . By adopting suitable die-forming expedients this space can be easily reduced to zero, as diagrammatically shown in the figures. 
     Likewise, through use of the upper wall of plate  14  as the cutting out die, the through slots  29 ,  30  can be obtained using punches that are close to tangency with respect to the lower extremity of the side walls  27 ,  28 . At this point it is clear that, although on mounting of the hinge at least one component (a slidable junction pin inserted between the two slidable elements of the base) is made unnecessary with respect to the known art, the hinge in accordance with the invention is of solid and less bulky structure as compared with the known art. The base thickness reduction can be also of 30%, the other features being the same. 
     Obviously, the above description of an embodiment applying the innovative principles of the present invention is given by way of example only and therefore must not be considered as a limitation of the scope of the patent rights herein claimed.