Patent ID: 7832054

Claim:
A free stop hinge which can be stopped at any angle for connecting an opening and closing member to a main body portion so that the opening and closing member can be opened and closed with respect to the main body portion and can be stopped at an arbitrary opening angle, the free stop hinge comprising: a hinge base to be fixed to one of the main body portion and the opening and closing member, the hinge base being provided with a bearing plate having a shaft hole; a hinge arm to be fixed to the other one of the main body portion and the opening and closing member, the hinge arm being provided with a bearing plate having a shaft hole; a support shaft inserted through said shaft holes to connect the hinge base and the hinge arm to each other, to thereby support the hinge arm in a rotatable manner with respect to the hinge base; a friction plate having a shaft hole disposed between the bearing plate of the hinge base and the bearing plate of the hinge arm; and a compression coil spring, wherein: the compression coil spring is disposed to press one of the bearing plate of the hinge base and the bearing plate of the hinge arm such that said bearing plate pressed by the compression coil spring is biased to the other one of the bearing plate of the hinge base and the bearing plate of the hinge arm through an intermediation of the friction plate; the support shaft has a shaft portion inserted through the shaft holes and a receiving seat of a flange shape formed on a base end of the shaft portion; the compression coil spring is disposed to an outer periphery of the support shaft, a base end portion of the compression coil spring abutting on the receiving seat and a distal end portion of the compression coil spring abutting on the bearing plate; the hinge base is provided with a receiving plate, said receiving plate being disposed oppositely to the bearing plate of the hinge base at a predetermined interval; the support shaft has one end thereof inserted and locked in a first shaft hole formed in the bearing plate of the hinge base and the other end thereof inserted and locked in a second shaft hole formed in the receiving plate; and the compression coil spring is disposed between the bearing plate of the hinge base and the receiving plate.