AU2007291475B2

AU2007291475B2 - Furniture hinge

Info

Publication number: AU2007291475B2
Application number: AU2007291475A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Wolfgang Beckmann; Jorn Kleffmann; Ralf Muterthies; Oliver Schael; Michael Schubert; Kai-Michael Stuke
Original assignee: Hettich ONI GmbH and Co KG
Current assignee: Hettich ONI GmbH and Co KG
Priority date: 2006-08-31
Filing date: 2007-07-06
Publication date: 2013-03-14
Anticipated expiration: 2027-07-06
Also published as: SI2057338T1; KR101376215B1; ES2704640T3; CN101512094B; DK2057338T3; RU2429333C2; RU2009110850A; PL2057338T3; TW200833933A; CN103132844A; AU2007291475A1; KR20090061640A; DE202006013358U1; TR201820927T4; WO2008025591A1; PT2057338T; JP5076151B2; TWI404854B; AU2007291475A2; DE202007019528U1

Abstract

A furniture hinge (1) comprises an installation plate (2) to which a side part (3) is fixed, and a hinge part (4) which is pivotable relative to the side part (3) between an open and a closed position and is articulated via a supporting lever (5) and a guide lever (6) in the manner of a parallel control arm, wherein a damper with a housing (11) and a piston rod (12) is provided in the side part (3) to damp the movement between side part (3) and hinge part (4), and wherein the damper (11, 12) is effective only in an angular range of less than 45° before the closed position of the hinge part (4). This improves the handling, with the damper preventing a furniture door from slamming shut.

Description

1 A furniture hinge The present invention relates to a furniture hinge. Background A furniture hinge is described in EP 1555372 in which a hinge part is held pivotably on a side part via two levers. A damper with an axially movable piston rod is fixed to the side part, which piston rod is pulled out during the closing of the hinge part. A chain link is mounted on a projection of a lever, so that during a pivoting movement of the lever the chain link is pivoted and the piston rod is pulled out of the housing of the damper. The disadvantageous aspect in this construction is that the damper is effective over the entire pivoting range of the lever and damping therefore also occurs even in the case of an opened furniture door. Moreover, the arrangement is comparatively complex due to the coupling of the chain link and tolerance compensation is only possible within limits as a result of the fixed rotational axis. Summary In an aspect there is provided a furniture hinge, comprising a mounting plate to which a side part is fixed, a hinge part which is pivotable relative to the side part between an open and closed position and is articulated via a support lever and a guide lever in the manner of a parallel control arm, a reversing lever which is held in a pivoting manner about an axis on the side part and configured to pivot about the axis when the hinge part is pivoted relative to the side part ; a linear damper with a housing and piston rod being provided in the side part for damping the movement between the side part and the hinge part, the linear damper being operative only in an angular range of less than 450 before the closed position of the hinge part, the linear damper being coupled on one side with the reversing lever and held on the opposite side in a pivoting manner about an axis on the side part, wherein, when the hinge part pivots relative to the side part, the reversing lever pivots about the axis, so that the linear damper operates to damp the movement between the side part and the hinge part while pivoting about the axis. Having the linear damper being held on one side on the reversing lever and on the opposite side in a pivoting manner on the side part, may assist in avoiding transverse forces between the piston rod and the housing on the damper.

-2 As recited above, the damper for damping the movement between the side part and the hinge part is arranged in such a way that the damper is operative only in an angular range of less than 450 before the closed position of the hinge part. It is thus prevented that damping is effected already in an opened position of the hinge part or a furniture door fixed to the same, which rather obstructs handling. The damper shall especially prevent slamming of a furniture door, so that it is sufficient when the damper is effective only in an angular range before the closed position of the hinge part. According to an embodiment, the damper is only effective in a range of between 200 and 400 before the closed position. As a result, a sufficient damping path is still available, but handling is not obstructed with an opened position of the furniture door. In an embodiment, a reversing lever is provided which is held in a rotatable way on the side part and which is coupled on the one hand with the damper and on the other hand with a rod assembly. As a result of the rotational bearing of the reversing lever, a predetermined rotational movement of the reversing lever is present both on the side facing the damper and on the side of the rod assembly. Preferably, the rod assembly is rotationally held on the support lever or on the guide lever, thus achieving a compact configuration. The rod assembly can be arranged between the rotational axes of the support lever and guide lever on the side of the side part. According to an embodiment, the rod assembly is linked to the support lever facing the hinge part adjacent to the axis of the support lever arranged on the side part, so that during the swiveling of the hinge part to the widely opened position there is hardly any movement of the axis of the rod assembly. Only when the hinge part is closed will the pivoting of the support lever occur, so that the rod assembly will also be moved only then. The rod assembly can be linked to the support lever in such a way that the rotational axis is arranged closer to the axis to the side part than to the axis to the hinge part, e.g. approximately one-third of the length of the distance between the axes of the support lever. In order to avoid transverse forces on the piston rod, the damper can be coupled with the reversing lever via a curve guide and the piston rod can then be displaced axially relative to the housing for damping. The curve guide can be arranged in such a way that an oblong hole is arranged on the reversing lever for coupling with the damper, into which hole a pin engages which is connected with the piston rod or the housing. By arranging a curve guide or an oblong -3 hole, the point can be determined from which the damper is effective during a closing movement of the hinge part. The initial point can be set from which the damper is effective during a closing movement in the case of a respective arrangement of the curve guide. The damper can be fixed to the mounting plate and/or the side part for simple mounting. The invention is explained below in greater detail by reference to two embodiments shown in the enclosed drawings, wherein: Figs. 1 A to 1 C show various sectional views through a furniture hinge in accordance with invention first embodiment, in different positions; and Figs. 2A to 2C show various sectional views through a second embodiment of a furniture hinge in accordance with the invention in different positions. Figs. 1 A to 1 C show a furniture hinge 1 made of metal and/or plastic which comprises a mounting plate 2 which can be mounted in a fixed manner to the furniture carcass. A side part 3 is mounted on the mounting plate 2 in a fixed manner or via an adjusting mechanism, on which a pot-like hinge part 4 is held in a pivoting manner. The hinge part 4 can be connected with a furniture door or any other component. For pivoting the hinge part 4, a support lever 5 which faces the hinge part 4 and an adjacently arranged guide lever 6, with the support lever 5 being linked via an axis 7 to the hinge part 4 and via an axis 8 to the side part 3. The guide lever 6 is linked to the hinge part 4 via an axis 9 and to the side part 3 via an axis 10. As a result, the hinge part 4 can be moved relative to the side part 3 via a predetermined pivoting orbit, with the support lever 5 and the guide lever 6 forming a parallel control arm. A damper is provided for damping the movement of the hinge part 4 over a part of the pivoting range, which damper comprises a housing 11 and a piston rod 12 which is displaceable relative to the housing 11. The damper is arranged as a linear damper and can be a fluid damper or gas pressure damper for example. The damper is connected with the piston rod 12 with a reversing lever 13 which is held on the side part 3 pivotable about an axis 14. An axis 17 is further formed on the reversing lever 13, to - -ja which axis a rod assembly 18 or a rod is linked which is fixed on the opposite side to the support lever via an axis 19. The axis 19 is arranged on a link 20 of the support lever 5 which is arranged on the outside of the support lever 5 towards the side of the hinge part 4. The axis 19 is arranged between the axis 7 and on the hinge part 4 and the axis 8 on side part 3 in such a way that the distance between axis 19 and axis 8 is shorter than the distance of axis 7 and axis 19. For -4 example, the axis 19 can divide a connecting line between the axes 7 and 8 at approximately one third into two-thirds. In Fig. IA, the furniture hinge I is shown in the opened position, in which the hinge part 4 is pivoted in such a way that a furniture door is in an opened position over 900. For the closing movement, the hinge part 4 is pivoted, as is shown in Fig. lB. By pivoting the hinge part 4, the support lever 5 and the guide lever 6 rotate, with the axis 19 hardly moving at the beginning of the closing movement as a result of the choice of the axes 7 to 10. In Fig. lB, the hinge part is before the closing position, approximately at an angle a of approximately 45*. The damper is inactive until this closing position because the piston rod 12 has not yet been moved relative to the housing 11. When the hinge part 4 is now further pivoted, the support lever 5 rotates counter-clockwise and thus moves the rod assembly 18 in the direction towards the reversing lever 13 which is now pivoted about axis 14. The reversing lever 14 thus moves at first in such a way that a pin on axis 15 is guided in an oblong hole 16 on the reversing lever 13 until the pin reaches the end of the oblong hole 16. In a further movement of the hinge part 4, the rod assembly 18 and the reversing lever 13 are moved in such way that the piston rod 12 is pushed into housing 11. Fig. 1 C shows the closed position of the furniture hinge 1, in which the piston rod 12 is inserted in the housing 11. From this closed position, the hinge part 4 can be pivoted into the opened position again, with the damper being effective either only in an initial region or damping occurs on only one side, so that the opening process occurs in a substantially non-dampened manner. The hinge part 4 is pre-tensioned via spring to the closed position. In the illustrated embodiment of Figs. I A to IC, an oblong hole 16 is arranged as a curve guide on the reversing lever 13, with the oblong hole 16 determining the start of the effectiveness of the damper or the movement of the piston rod 12 relative to the housing 11. It is also possible to provide another curve guide instead of an oblong hole 16 in which the length of the path of displacement can be set during a rotational movement of the reversing lever 13, so that the start of the effectiveness of the damper can also be set. Figs. 2A to 2C show a further embodiment of a furniture hinge ' in accordance with the invention, in which the same reference numerals are provided for the same components, as in the first embodiment. The furniture hinge 1' comprises a mounting plate 2 which can be fixed to the furniture body and on which a side part 3' is provided or attached. A linear damper with a housing 11' and a piston rod 12' is pivotably held on the side part 3', with a rotational axis 21 being provided. The piston rod 12' is fixed on one side to a reversing lever 13' via an axis 15', which reversing lever is held on side part 3' rotatable about an axis 14'. The reversing lever 13' is connected with the support lever 5 by the rod assembly 18 again, with the connection to the hinge part 4 with the support lever 5 and the guide lever 6 being arranged as in the preceding embodiment. When the hinge part 4 is pivoted from a wide opened position (Fig. 2A) to an only partly opened position (Fig. 2B) which lies approximately 450 before the closed position, the reversing lever 13 is not moved, or moved only very little, as a result of the linkage of the rod assembly 18 to the support lever 5, which has no effect yet on the damper with the housing 11' and the piston rod 12'. Only in a range of between 200 and 40* before the closed position, the rod assembly 18 is moved via the support lever 5 in such a way that the reversing lever 13' is rotated and the piston rod 12' is pushed into the housing 11', with the housing 11' being pivoted slightly about the axis 21 within the scope of the rotational movement of the reversing lever 13' in order to avoid transverse forces. The closed position is shown in Fig. 2C. The piston rod 12' is located in the retracted position in housing 11'. In the illustrated embodiments, the piston rod 12, or 12' respectively, is coupled with the reversing lever 13. It is naturally also possible to couple the housing 11, or 11' respectively, with the reversing lever 13 and the piston rod 12, or 12' respectively, with the side part 3, or 3' respectively. It is to be understood that, if any prior art publication is referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art, in Australia or any other country. In the claims which follow and in the preceding description of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising" is used in an inclusive sense, i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention.

Claims

1. A furniture hinge, comprising: a mounting plate to which a side part is fixed, a hinge part which is pivotable relative to the side part between an open and closed position and is articulated via a support lever and a guide lever in the manner of a parallel control arm, a reversing lever which is held in a pivoting manner about an axis on the side part and configured to pivot about the axis when the hinge part is pivoted relative to the side part; a linear damper with a housing and piston rod being provided in the side part for damping the movement between the side part and the hinge part, the linear damper being operative only in an angular range of less than 450 before the closed position of the hinge part, the linear damper being coupled on one side with the reversing lever and held on the opposite side in a pivoting manner about an axis on the side part, wherein, when the hinge part pivots relative to the side part, the reversing lever pivots about the axis, so that the linear damper operates to damp the movement between the side part and the hinge part while pivoting about the axis.

2. A furniture hinge according to claim 1, wherein the linear damper is only operative in an angular range of between 200 and 40* before the closed position of the hinge part.

3. A furniture hinge according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the reversing lever is held in a rotatable way on the side part and is coupled on the one hand with the linear damper and on the other hand with a rod assembly.

4. A furniture hinge according to claim 3, wherein the rod assembly is rotatably held on the support lever or on the guide lever.

5. A furniture hinge according to claim 3 or claim 4, wherein the rod assembly is linked to the support lever facing the hinge part adjacent to an axis of the support lever arranged on the side part.

6. A furniture hinge substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.