Patent Abstract:
A hinge for detachably anchoring a door to a frame of a piece of furniture includes a mounting and adjustment assembly mounted on the frame, a hinge cup attached to an arm and upper plate, and a locking mechanism attached to the upper plate. An embodiment of the mounting and adjustment assembly includes a base/mounting plate, an adjustment plate and a connecting plate. An embodiment of the locking mechanism is spring actuated to facilitate installation and removal of the door.

Full Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     None. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This present invention relates to hinges for use in furniture, preferably cabinetry. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Embodiments of the invention disclosed herein include a hinge mounted at one end to a frame of an article of furniture and at another end to a door. An integrated hinge locking mechanism allows ease of installation and removal of a door at the place of manufacture or on the job site. 
     In furniture construction two types of cabinet construction are common, face-frame and frameless. Frameless cabinets have a case upon which the door hinges are mounted directly. In face-frame construction a frame, wider than the edge of the case, is attached to the front of the cabinet case. 
     Face-frame construction allows for a sturdier mounting surface for the door hinges and better support for the door. A face-frame construction will also allow the case to better resist warping and remain square during transportation and installation. 
     Cabinet construction presents some unique design considerations. Alignment of the doors is paramount to maximize visual and functional effects. In frameless cabinets, a door in a closed position will reveal little of the cabinet case. In face-frame construction a frame, wider than the case, is attached to the front of the cabinet case. The amount of the frame that a door will cover in face-frame construction is called the overlay. Face-frame construction allows the frame, rather than the case, to show because the door does not cover the whole frame surface. Misalignments may be more visible on face-frame construction. Thus it is important that the doors are adjusted properly especially in large overlay, high end cabinets. 
     Existing face-frame hinges offer different degrees of adjustability to accommodate alignment. However correct alignment and adjustment sometimes necessitates removal of the door from the cabinet frame. It is also desirable at times to align and adjust the doors offsite and remove them for transport to the job site. There are also a variety of reasons for removing and reinstalling the doors before or after alignment. Removal of the doors for cabinet finishing onsite is necessary in many applications. Therefore a face-frame hinge must offer several options for adjustment, be as compact and lightweight as possible to maximize effectiveness, and also allow quick and efficient removal and installation of the doors. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the invention is to provide a face-frame hinge that makes it easier to mount a door to a frame, adjust the hinge arm and therefore the door with respect to the frame, and remove a door from the frame. 
     In all embodiments of the invention a mounting and adjustment assembly is utilized to mount the hinge and door to the face-frame of an article of furniture. The mounting and adjustment assembly allows adjustment of a door along the horizontal and vertical axes. An upper plate is used to connect the door to the mounting and adjustment assembly. An adjustment mechanism on the upper plate allows adjustment along a third axis approximately orthogonal to the first two axes. 
     A locking mechanism on the upper plate provides a method for quick and efficient installation and removal of the door. The locking mechanism shown and described herein is an integrated, spring-actuated pivot lever although other locking mechanisms are contemplated. 
     Modern cabinetry and storage furniture is most functional when there is easy access to the interior storage area. The challenge to hinge manufacturers is to design a compact hinge that maximizes the effective opening to allow the greatest access to the interior storage portion of the cabinet. The mounting and adjustment assemblies disclosed herein are compact by design to allow maximum access to the cabinet interior. The locking mechanisms described are also designed to minimize the projection of the hinge into the cabinet or furniture opening. 
     Embodiments of the invention are more closely described on the basis of drawing representations contained herein. Further characteristics, advantages and uses of embodiments of the invention result from the drawings and the descriptions that follow. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the hinge components attached to a cabinet door and cabinet frame. 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the components of the mounting and adjustment assembly. 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the mounting and adjustment assembled attached to the face-frame of a cabinet. 
         FIGS. 4A through 4D  illustrates the steps of attaching the upper plate and hinge arm to the mounting and adjustment assembly. 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of another embodiment of a mounting and adjustment assembly and upper plate and arm. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  shows components of a preferred embodiment of the invention attached to a cabinet door  10  and cabinet frame  11 . The frame is connected to the front of the cabinet case  13 . The mounting and adjustment assembly  16  is connected to the inner side wall  14  of a vertical component of the face-frame  12 . The hinge cup  18 , arm member  20 , and upper plate  22  are connected to the cabinet door. The pivot lever  24  on the upper plate is used to lock the upper plate in place after it is attached to the mounting and adjustment assembly. The pivot lever is typically spring actuated (spring not illustrated). A shoulder screw  26  is used to allow further movement of the hinge and door with respect to the mounting and adjustment assembly. 
     The frame  11  is comprised of two vertical components  12  and two horizontal components  15  that form a rectangular structure. The opening or access into the interior is defined by four frame inner walls (only inner walls  14  and  17  are shown). As can be seen, face-frame construction reduces the access to the interior therefore hinge components must be compact so they do not further reduce access. 
       FIG. 2  shows the individual components of the mounting and adjustment assembly. The connecting plate  28  is moveably attached to the adjustment plate  30 . The adjustment plate is moveably attached to the mounting or base plate  32 . The connecting plate, adjustment plate, and the mounting plate are attached before the mounting and adjustment assembly is secured to the cabinet face-frame. 
     The first adjustment mechanism  34  allows the connecting plate  28  to move in two directions along the z-axis (see coordinate orientation) in relation to the adjustment and mounting plates and cabinet frame. The first adjustment mechanism illustrated in  FIG. 2  is sometimes referred to as a cam device or eccentric. In the  FIG. 2  embodiment, portions of the sides  36  of the connecting plate dovetail into mating sections  38  of the adjustment plate. These dovetailed, beveled surfaces allow more precise movement of a plate with respect to an adjacent plate. 
     The second adjustment mechanism  40  allows both the connecting plate and adjustment plate to move in two directions along the y-axis in relation to the mounting plate and cabinet frame. Thus, the mounting and adjustment assembly allows four directions of movement. Mating dovetailed sections on the base plate  42  and the adjustment plate  44  allow the movement controlled by the second adjustment mechanism (cam, screw or eccentric). 
     The connecting plate pin  46  is utilized by the upper plate for connection purposes. The bridge  48  and bridge slot  50  are utilized in conjunction with the shoulder screw to aid in connecting the upper plate to the mounting and adjustment assembly. 
     The complete mounting and adjustment assembly  16  is shown attached to an inner side wall of the cabinet face-frame in  FIG. 3 . The pin  46  is shown affixed to the connecting plate. The pin is typically connected to the upper plate by swaging. Swaging is a metal-forming technique in which the metal or a portion of a metal component is plastically deformed to its final shape using high pressures, either by pressing or hammering, or by forcing through a die. The ends of the pin here can be swaged to hold the pin in place within the connecting plate. 
       FIGS. 4A through 4D  presents top views illustrating the sequence of attaching the upper plate and arm to the mounting and adjustment assembly. These components are shown unattached to the cabinet door and frame for clarity. 
       FIG. 4A  shows the relative alignment orientations for the connecting components of the upper plate and the mounting and adjustment assembly. The shoulder  52  and recess  54  of shoulder screw  26  are utilized to help affix the upper plate  22  to the mounting and adjustment assembly  16 . 
     The shoulder  52  is first aligned with the slot in the bridge  48  of the connecting plate as illustrated in  FIG. 4B . The shoulder screw is then fully positioned in the bridge slot and the pin  46  is aligned with the upper plate positioning slot  56  as seen in  FIG. 4C . As the slot of upper plate is further engaged by the pin, the leading edge  58  of head of the pivot lever is in contact with the catch  60  on the mounting and adjustment assembly. The pivot lever begins to rotate as the upper plate is fastened to the mounting and adjustment assembly. The catch on the mounting and adjustment assembly is typically part of the connecting plate. 
     The pivot lever contains an internal spring  25  shown in  FIG. 4A  which biases the lever into a locked position when the leading edge  58  clears the catch  60 . When the upper plate is fully fastened as shown in  FIG. 4D , the head of the pivot lever is engaged over the catch in locked position  62 . To remove the upper plate, one would merely push gently on the trailing edge  64  of the pivot lever to counter the force of the internal spring and release the upper plate from the locked position. 
       FIG. 5  shows another embodiment of a mounting and adjustment assembly and upper plate and arm. An embodiment of this nature could accommodate a door that provides a bigger overlay. In this embodiment the bridge  68  on the connecting plate does not have a slot because there is no shoulder screw on the upper plate. The end of the bridge  68  actually engages in a bridge positioning slot  70  on the upper plate. The upper plate would be attached to the mounting and adjustment assembly by first aligning and inserting the end of the bridge  68  into the bridge position slot  70  on the upper plate. The upper plate can then be fastened into a locked position in the manner described with the previous embodiment. 
     Adjustments on the mounting and adjustment assembly in both embodiments illustrated offer movement of the cabinet door in the horizontal (z) and vertical (y) directions. Embodiments of the present invention also allow movement of the cabinet door approximately along the x-axis. This adjustment is useful whether one or two doors are mounted on a face-frame cabinet. The spacing between the adjacent surfaces of the two doors is critical to appearance and function. The x-axis adjustment can be utilized to alleviate uneven spacing between two doors mounted on a cabinet face-frame. 
     The upper plate  22  shown in the  FIG. 1  embodiment has an adjusting shoulder screw  26  that provides for movement of a cabinet door approximately along the x-axis. This movement approximately along the x-axis is relative to the cabinet door being in a closed position. 
     The adjusting mechanism for movement approximately along the x-axis is positioned on a bracket  72  of the upper plate on the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 5 . This adjustment also allows door movement approximately along the x-axis relative to the cabinet door being in a closed position as previously disclosed. 
     CONCLUSIONS, OTHER EMBODIMENTS, AND SCOPE OF INVENTION 
     The three main components of the mounting assembly, the connecting plate, the adjustment plate and the base plate can be interconnected through a variety of manners. In one embodiment, the dovetailed sections are swaged so that the plates can have limited movement with respect to an adjacent plate. Other types of metal forming procedures could be utilized to allow each plate limited movement with respect to the adjacent plate. 
     The connecting plate pin  46  can also be affixed to the connecting plate by a variety of methods. Either cold or hot metal forming procedures could be utilized effectively. 
     The pivot lever disclosed herein is spring actuated. An internal spring helps engage the lever into a locked position. Other embodiments could include a pivot lever that does not utilize an internal spring. A cam, latch or screw component could be utilized to hold the lever in a locked position until an operator unlocked the lever. A spring-actuated lever is preferable due to the ease in unlocking the lever and removing the door and attached hinge components from the mounting and adjustment assembly. 
     The position of the pivot lever on the upper plate also aids in removing the door from the mounting assemblies. An installer can support the door with one hand and quickly flip each pivot lever to remove the door from its mountings. 
     Other embodiments of a face-frame hinge could have only two adjustment mechanisms as an integral part of the hinge. One example of such an embodiment would be to eliminate the adjustment plate and have a first adjustment on the connecting plate and a second adjustment on the upper plate. In these embodiments, the connecting plate would still be utilized to attach and secure the upper plate to the mounting assembly and frame. The connecting plate could be adjusted along only one axis, i.e., either the z or the y axis. The second adjustment on the upper plate would allow the cup to be adjusted approximately along the x axis. All embodiments would include a locking mechanism attached to the upper plate. Although there would only be one adjustment mechanism integral to the mounting assembly, there could still be adjustment of the assembly along the axis not controlled by the first adjustment mechanism. Adjustment along the axis not affected by the first or second adjustment mechanism could be accomplished through the use of standard screw fitted into a slot in the mounting plate, for example. 
     In yet another embodiment with a locking mechanism attached to the upper plate, only two adjustment mechanisms would be integral to the hinge. As an example, the third adjustment could be eliminated from the upper plate. Thus, there would only be a first and second adjustment integral to the mounting and adjustment assembly. 
     When an adjustment mechanism “integral to the hinge” is referenced, this does not include a slot that could accommodate a standard screw attached to the frame. An adjustment mechanism in the context of the embodiments of this invention that is integrated with a hinge must be mounted on a hinge component. 
     Thus, although there have been described particular embodiments of the present invention of a new and useful device, it is not intended that such references be construed as limitations upon the scope of this invention except as set forth in the following claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 8