IMPROVED SPRING HINGES
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Clark at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th January
1861. A communication from abroad by Mr. Charles François Alexis
Arnaud, Manufacturer, of Paris.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer & Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVED SPRING HINGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a new system of spring hinge for either double or
single doors, opening to the right & left, by pushing and pulling, and closing
automatically, the action being produced by an anterior spring in the sockets
of the hinge, so that single or folding swing doors furnished with this Inven-
tion may describe a circle of 360 degrees, instead of half a circumference, or
180 degrees only. These self-closing doors open at will either to the right or
left, by traction or pushing, and are employed especially in public establish-
ments in which the entrance doors should open with the greatest ease, and
should especially close automatically.
I have represented these improved hinges in the annexed Drawings, where
Fig. 1 shows a vertical central section on line 1, 2, Fig. 2, of a simple hinge
opening on one side to an angle of 180 degrees, that is to say, performing half
a circle, and arranged to close the door automatically according to this system;
Fig. 2 shows an end view of this same hinge; Fig. 8 shows a central vertical
section, partly in elevation, of a double hinge for opening two ways by pulling
or pushing, and capable of moving to an angle of 360 degrees, that is to say,
throughout a whole circumference, and closing automatically. In the three
Figs. the same letters represent the same parts seen in different views.

page_text: a, plates of the hinge furnished with screw holes 6; they are furnished with
hollow knuckles c, which interlock the one in the other, as in ordinary hinges;
d, case or cylinder substituted for the pin or axis of ordinary hinges, which
connects the one part of the hinge a to the other; e, spiral spring, one of its
extremities is fixed at one end of the hinge to the fixed piece f, which is fixed
by a pin in the knuckle c of the one plate a, the other extremity of said spring
is fixed at the other end of the hinge to the screw 9 by pin j. This screw g
screws into the extreme end of the knuckle of the other plate.a. h, part
terminating the knuckle joints, similar on the exterior to f, it is screwed on
the end i of the screw 9, the screw 9 serves to tighten the spring by turning
it more or less by means of a key, and securing and fixing it by the pin k,
which fits into the extreme socket of the second plate a. It will be under-
stood that the two extremities of the spiral spring being fixed each to a
knuckle c belonging one to each of the plates a, when the door is opened the
spring opens or closes to the extent of half a circumference, which, by reason
of its resilience, will tend to return to its first position, and will produce the
automatic closing of the door. In Fig. 3 is seen two cases d, end to end,
separated by a collar, herein-after described, these cases form the joint pins
of the two plates a; e, spiral spring, one half of which is wound in one way,
and the other half in the opposite direction. The two extremities are fixed to
screws g similar to that of g, in Fig. 1, and which have the same effect, the
ohe serves to tighten and secure the upper half, and the other the lower part
of the spring; h, stoppers secured to the head of screws 9, each end has a
cavity to lodge the extremity of the step supporting it; 1, collar separating the
two parts of the spring; it carries a groove m, in which is fitted the right
half of the spring, this part should connect the two spiral parts of the same
spring; n, 1st pin fixed to the knuckles c of one of the plates a; o, 2nd pin
fixed to a knuckle c of the other plate a. To these two pins the springs so
are connected that they turn the one in one direction, and the other in the
other. It will be understood from the above description that Fig. 3 simply
presents a hinge similar to those described in Fig. 3, working to the right and
eft, & consequently the door can perform half a revolution, either to
the right or left, and therefore completes, as above mentioned, an entire
revolution.