CERTAIN NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN DOOR HINGES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stephen Orator Mason, of the State of Connecticut,
of the United States of America, for the Invention of "CERTAIN NEW AND
USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN DOOR HINGES."-A communication from John
Chauncy Mason, a resident of the State aforesaid.
Scaled the 28th May 1858, and dated the 8th April 1858.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Stephen Orator Mason at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, and
Declaration on the 8th April 1858, pursuant to the 9th Section of the
Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, BE IT KNOWN,
that I, STEPHEN ORATOR MASON, of the State of Connecticut, of the United
States of America, do hereby declare that I am in possession of an Invention
of "CERTAIN NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN DOOR HINGES," (the same having
been communicated to me by John Chauncy Mason, a foreigner and resident
of the State aforesaid, and that the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which it is to be performed, are fully described and represented in
the following Specification and the accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
The nature of the said Invention is to be found in so constructing the joint
parts or journals and bearings of the two leaves of a hinge, with one or more
locking recesses and holding projections or their equivalents, as to enable the
two leaves to be either connected or disconnected in a lateral direction, and to
operate together, as will be herein-after particularly described. I am awaró

page_text: *that a disconnecting hinge has been made with a journal projecting from one
leaf, and a socket therefor extending from the other leaf, and so that the two
could be either connected or disconnected longitudinally or in line of the
turning axis; my Invention is not of this nature, as by means of it either the
connection or disconnection of the leaves is effected in a direction laterally or
about at a right angle to the turning axis of their joint.
Of the accompanying Drawings, Figures 1 and 2 represent two separate
modes of applying my said improved hinges to a door, the former Figure
exhibiting them as applied to one edge only of it, while the latter Figure
denotes them as adapted to both edges of it, and for the purpose of enabling
it to be opened or swung out at either edge; Figure 3 is a top view of one
leaf of the hinge, which for the sake of distinction may be termed the "male"
leaf; Figure 4 is an underside view of the other or female leaf; Figure 5 is
an outer edge view of the female leaf; Figure 6, a top view of such female
leaf; Figure 7 is an inner edge view of the male leaf; Figure 8 is a front
elevation of a hinge of a different form, but containing my Invention, such
hinge being useful for gates; Figure 9 is a rear elevation of such last or gate
hinge; Figures 10 and 11 are rear elevations of its male and female parts or
leaves; Figure 12 is a top view of its male leaf; Figure 13 is a longitudinal
section of its female leaf; Figure 14 is a longitudinal section of the two parts
or leaves when together or connected and in one plane with each other;
Figure 15 exhibits their positions when they are just ready either for engage-
ment or disengagement.
In Figures 1 and 2, A and B represent respectively a case or frame and a
door hinged thereto; in one Figure the door is shown as having one spring
bolt e, while in the other it is exhibited as provided with two of such bolts.
In the Drawings, c and d denote the two parts of the hinge, the part d
being shown on a more extended scale in Figure 8, it being the portion
termed the male leaf, the other leaf or that marked c being the female leaf.
The hinge exhibited in Figures 3 and 4 differs from that shown in Figure 1
only in the number of its joint connections; in other respects it is substantially
the same in construction. In Figure 1, the part c or female leaf of such hinge
is represented as fastened to the door frame, the male part d being secured to
.the door. Under these circumstances the hinges become so applied as to
prevent the door from being detached from the frame except by the removal
of the female part c of each hinge therefrom. In Figure 2 the female leaves c
are exhibited as affixed to both edges of the door, while their corresponding
male leaves are attached to the door frame. In this latter case the door can
be opened at either edge or from the right or left with equal facility, it being

page_text: understood that the leaves of each hinge are fastened respectively to the edge
of the door, and the corresponding part of the casing. In putting the hinge
together or connecting its two parts, the male leaf d (Figure 3) is to be placed
upon the female leaf e³ (Figure 6), and the male portion & slid laterally until
the projecting parts of its joint, shown at o, o, and p in Figure 3, enter the
recesses i, a, shown in Figure 5; this having been accomplished, if the female
part be turned a little on the axis of its joint, the male and female portions
of the hinge will become connected; by reversing the operation they may be
disconnected. The male part of the hinge is constructed with journals p, p,
or p, p, and c, as shown in Figure 3, each of these journals having a small
semi-cylindrical projection o extended axially from it, as shown in the
Drawings. The female part of the hinge is constructed with one or more
curved tubular bearings B to lap around and receive the journals, each of such
bearings receiving two of the journals p, p, and being furnished with recesses a, i,
or entrance notches, by which the journals p, p, and their semi-cylindrical
projections o, o, may be extended within the bearings. The semi-cylindrical
projections serve to maintain the male and female parts of the hinge in con-
nection when they are together and do not lie flatwise on one another. The
particular advantage of this hinge is that it may be formed in but two pieces,
and it does not require any separate center pin or any drilled bearing or socket-
for the reception of such a pin. Consequently, it can be constructed cheaper
than the ordinary butt hinge, whose leaves are confined together by a separate
joint pin. When castings of the male and female parts of this binge aro
smoothly founded they will require little or no finishing or filing to render
then applicable to a door.
The gate hinge shown in Figures 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14, as above
mentioned, has its female part c constructed with a bearing, cavity, or recess a
formed not only to receive and allow to operate the projecting part 6 of the
male portion d, but the journals f, f, thereof. This projecting part is also
furnished with a notch g, the whole being formed in other respects as exhibited
in the Drawings, the said notch being for the reception of the part h of the
female leaf, in order to allow the journals of the male leaf to enter their
bearings of their female leaf during the process of conjoining the two leaves;
as soon as such leaves have been joined together, the projection a of the male
leaf and its journals acting in connection with the part of the female leaf
and the bearing will maintain the two leaves of the hinge in connection. In
general the said gate hinge when used is to be fastened flatwise on a gate and
the gate post or frame, and with the two leaves of the hinge in or about one
plane.
h

page_text: In both of the improved hinges, as above explained, the parts or leaves turn
or oparate with respect to each other like the leaves of an ordinary butt
hinge.
I claim a hinge constructed with journals and bearings or the joint parts of
its two leaves made substantially as herein described, and as represented in the
accompanying Drawings; that is, with one or more locking recesses and
holding projections or their equivalents, so constructed and arranged as to
enable the two leaves to be either connected or disconnected in a lateral
direction with respect to their turning axis and to operate in other respects
essentially as herein-before explained.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my signature and seal, this
16th day of March, 1858.
STEPHEN ORATOR MASON. (L.S.)