Patent ID: 6922872

Claim:
An automotive hinge comprising: (a) a door component adapted to be mounted to a vehicular closure panel, said door component comprising a conical pivot axis aperture; (b) a body component adapted to be mounted to a vehicular body structure said body component comprising a pivot arm; (c) the door component and the body component being adapted to rotate about a pivot axis; (d) the body component comprising an upstanding, conical structural feature, wrought from the base material of the body component extending from the body component and adapted to be coaxially aligned with the pivot axis and structurally fixed to the pivot arm of the body component; (e) said conical structural feature comprising an external conical bearing surface; (f) a rigid bushing configured to fit over the conical structural feature; (g) said rigid bushing comprising an internally facing surface comprising a lubricating coating or film adapted to contact said conical bearing surface of the conical structural feature; (h) said rigid bushing further comprising a split line and an unlubricated externally facing surface to facilitate clamping of said bushing into the conical pivot axis aperture; (i) said rigid bushing further comprising a base comprising a horizontal surface configured substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of said bushing, said horizontal surface being adapted to carry vertical hinge loadings; such that when the hinge is assembled, the door component interleaves over the body component, dimensionally locating said door and body components by means of the walls of the conical pivot axis aperture of the door component interacting with the external conical bearing surface through the interposed rigid bushing.