CA2097273A1

CA2097273A1 - Floor hinge

Info

Publication number: CA2097273A1
Application number: CA002097273A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Moon-Hyoun Lee
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1992-06-08
Filing date: 1993-05-28
Publication date: 1993-12-09
Also published as: KR940000715A; JPH06146705A; DE4318903A1

Abstract

ABSTRACT

The present invention discloses an improved floor hinge for automatically closing a push-pull door. In a conventional floor hinge, mechanical parts and hydraulic parts are located in one room filled with one working oil, thereby causing mechanical abrasion and oil contamination, leading to improper operations and a short life-span. And it's constant closing speed caused a great loss of air conditioning. Furthermore, it is very difficult to install and adjust.
According to the present invention, lubrication oil and working oil are respectively provided to separated mechanical and hydraulic parts, thus achieve a long-term reliable operations of the hinge. And a main and auxiliary conduits enables a smooth closing, and integral levelling means facilitate its installation and adjustment.

(FIGURE 2)

Description

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FLOO~ HING~

BACKGRQ~ OF THE INVENTIO:~

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a floor hinge for automatically closing a hinged door.

2. Prior Ar~
FOI automatically closing a hinged door, a door closer or dooI check is conventionally used. The door closer is an apparatus for automatically closing an opened door by a lo link-lever mechanism and elastic restoration means being fabricated between the door and the door frame. When it goes to a flush door made of a glass or plastic panel, especially to a transparent flush door, floor hinge is generally adopted as the door closer spoils the appeaxance of the door.
The floor hinge is embedded in the floor of the door frame to form the swiveling hinge of the door, and automatically closes the door by the elastic restoration force of oil and/or spring. Several types of floor hinges have been disclosed. According to the investingation performed by the present inventor, the floor hinge shown in Figure 1 is commerically used, though it is not disclosed in a written matter.

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Referring to Figure 1, a hinge shaft 101 is installed in one side of a hinge body 110 which is fitted in a casing 111, and a cylinder 131 containing a piston 132 is extended therefrom. The piston 132 is elastically biased to one side of the cylinder 131 by a compression spring 136, and a piston rod 123 of the piston 132 and the hinge shaft 101 are coupled by a cam mechanism including a driver 121 and a follower 124. Meanwhile, a check valve 133 and a conduit - 103 having ~elatively small bore are provided with the piston 132, and a prescribed working fluid or oil is filled in the cylindeI 131.
As for the operation of the floor hinge described above, if the hinge shaft 101 rotates as a passenger push/pull a door(not shown), the piston moves to the left lS side of the drawing to compress the compression spring 136 through the cam mechanism 121, 124. At the same time, the check valve 133 is opened and working oil travels fast. On the other hand, if the external force applied to the doox is removed, the piston 132 moves right by the ~estoration force of the compression spIing 136, then the door shuts in a controlled speed since the working oil travels slowly through the narrow conduit 103 In the conventional floor hinge described above, the ; internal spaces of the hinge body 110 communicate each other, and are filled with one working oil. As working oil used in an oil device generally has a oil base of relatively low density and viscosity, it cannot provide a : 2 ........ . .. . . . .
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sufficient lubrication to mechanically contacting parts such as the hinge shaft 101 and cam mechanism 121, 124.
Therefore, these parts experience severe mechanical abrasion and shed off metal particles on the friction s su~faces. These metal particles will contaminate working oil to clog the check valve 133 or the conduit 103, so that the door stands still in open state and may not be automatically closed. TherefoIe, the conventional floor hinge caused frequent troubles and could not assure smooth and automatic door closing in the long term, thus exhibits a short serYice life problem.
Furthermore, the cross-sectional area of the conduit 103 is fixed, so that the user cannot control the door closing speed at his will. Therefore, the duration from the open state to the closed, will be elongated to cause a large heat losses of air conditioning and a wind inflow damage especially in a stormy weather. If the elastic restoration force is intensified to speed up the closing speed of the door, a user should exert a large force to open the door, he may have hi~ fingers or head hurted by the door.
Meanwhile, the floor hinge should be installed at a even level to maintain a predetermined gap with respect to the swivel shaft or the frame of the door. However, since the floor on which the floor hinge is to be installed, is generally sloped and/or and rugged, a worker have much difficulties in the exact installation of the floor hinge.

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That is, a worker should install the floor hinge by inserting spacers or wedges while he frequently chec~s the exactness of the gap and eveness using a level or a square, thus the procedures Iequire high skills and take much time.
Even if the installation of the floor hinge is completed through the above mentioned difficulties, the floor hinge is liable to decline during the use by the considerable weight of the door, and the user have to repeat boresome relevelling procedures.
lo Meanwhile, Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 58-12432 discloses an appaIatus couplins an heart shaped cam and crab type arm, and Japanese Patent Publication No Hei 2-45750 discloses an apparatus for locking the f:Loor hinge over a pIescribed opening angle. But, these appatuses do not provide any means to solve problems described herein before.

QBJECT~ OF ~HE JNV~TION
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a trouble-free floor hinge which has the extended life span by preventing the abrasion on the contacting Ericti.on surface and the contaimination of the working oil.
It is other object of the present invention to provide a floor hinge capable of automatic door closing in a rapid and smooth manner.
It is anotheI object of the present invention to : .

2 ~ 7 3 provide a floor hinge capable of easy and exact installation and level readjustment.

To achieve the primary object of the preset invention, ; 5 a floor hinge is provided, having a hinge shaft coupled to a rotating shaft of a push-pull door, a cam mechanism coupled to the hinge shat, a piston coupled to the cam mechanism through a piston rod and elastically biased to one side by a compression spriny, a check valve and a lo plurality of conduits for controlling the restoration movement of the piston by the compression spring, the floor hinge further comprising: a hinge box Eor storing the hinge shaft and the cam mechanism; and a cyli~der for storing the ,; piston, check valve and conduits; the hinge box and the cylinder are separated by a partion and a ~eal ring to form a cam chamber and an oil chamber, ~espectively.
To achieve other object of the present invention, the said conduits for controlling the res~oration speed of the piston comprise a main conduit and an auxiliary conduit, wherein the main conduit keeps open while the auxiliary conduit is closed by the piston at its final restoration stage.
To achieve another object of the present invention, the hinge body is stored in a casing of which level can be adjusted, and two levelling means for checking the level . .
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are provided with the hinge body or the casing at an angle of 90.
Therefore, according to other aspect of the present invention the cam chamber and oil chamber of the floor hinge, can be independently filled up wi.th separate fluids, namely lubrication oil and working oil. As a result, smoother lubrication can be provided to the mechanical parts and the contamination of working fluid can be prevented.
According to still other aspect of the present invention, the floor hinge pIovides smooth closing at the final stage of closing, while prevents the loss of air conditioning or wind inflow due to the rapid door closing.
According to another aspect of the present invention, it facilitates the exact initial installation and adjustment of the floor hinge level, as the level of the hinge can be adjusted without a separate means, such as a level.

~RIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRA~INGS
By way of example and to make the description more clear, reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a horizontal cross-sectional vlew of a conventional floor hinge, Figure 2 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a floor hinge according to the present invention, : .

7~73 Figure 3 is a ve~ticall cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III of Figure 2, Figure 4 is a tIansverse CIOSS- sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of Figure 3, Figure 5 is a partially enlarged cross sectional view for illustIating operations of the piston, Figure 6 is an partially exploded perspective view taken along arrow VI of Figure 3 Figure 7A to Figure 7D are cross-sectional ~iews for illustrating the operation of the present invention in series.

~3~s~R-QDTMENT
Referring to Figure 2 and 3, the floor hinge of the present invention comprises a hinge body 10 stored in a cover 17 and a casing 11. The hinge body 10 is mainly consisted of a hinge box 1 enclosing a hinge shaft 2 and a cam mechanism 21, 24, and a cylinder 31 enclosing a piston 32 and a piston rod 23. According to one aspect of the present invention, the hinge box 1 and the cylinder 31 are separated by a partition 12 and a seal ring 22 in order to allow only the piston rod 23 to sealingly Ieciprocate between them, thereby internal space of the hinge body 10 being seperated into a cam chamber 20 in the hinge box 1 and an oil chamber 30 in the cylinder 17.
Preferably, working oil of relatively low viscosity is .: . ~ .

2~72~3 filled in the oil chambeI 30, and lubrication oil or grease of relatively high viscosity in the cam chamber 20, so that those two oils are not to be mixed up by the partition 12 and the seal ring 22. It is preferable to employ an o-shaped ring oE elastic material as the seal ring 22 in order to allow the movement of the piston rod 23 and prevent the mixtuIe of lubIication oil o:E cam chamber 20 and working oil of oil chambeI 30.
In the cam chambeI 20 of the hinge box 1, a hinge shaft 2 to be coupled to an coupling socket of a doo~(not shown), and a cam mechanism coupled to the shaft, having a : driver 21 and follo~er 24, are respectively stored as of conventional floor hinge. sut the construction of the drawings does not restrict the present invention, and other type of cam mechanism or a lever-link coupling mechanism can be duly adopted.
Meanwhile, in the oil chamber 30 of the cylinder 31, a piston 32 being elastically biased to one end of the oil chamber, namely to the right side of the drawing, by a compression spring 36, is stored. And a piston rod 23 coupled to the piston 32 at one end, is coupled to the follower 24 of the cam chamber 20 at the other end. The oil chamber 30 is divided by the piston 23, into a first room 30a in front of the piston 32 and a second room 30b at the rear of the piston 32, and those two rooms 30a, 30b are selectively communicated each other thIough a check valve 33, a main conduit 34a and an auxiliary conduit 34b.

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In this specific embodiment, the check valve 33 consists of a ball 33a, a spring 33b for biasing the ball in a conduit 3 and an adjusting screw 33c Eitted into the front end of the piston rod 23, as well shown in Figure 5.
The adjusting screw 33c allows the flow of working oil to the conduit 3 through its bore, and the setting pressure of the check valve 33 can be adjusted by turning the screw.
The main and auxiliaIy conduits 34a, 34b are constructed as shown in Figure 3 to 5. At one side of the lo oil chamber 30, a part of the cylinder 31 reduces its diameter in the stroke range of the piston 32 to form a land portion 31a, and the main conduit 34a runs through the land portion 31a along the longitudinal direction of the cylinder 31. From the intermediate portion of the main conduit 34a, the auxiliary conduit 34b is branched off to the inner side of the cylinder 31, namely to the oil chamber 30. At upper portion of the auxiliary conduit 34a, an adjusting screw 35 is provided for adjusting the cross-sectional area of conduits 34a, 34b in a manner that the screw can be turned outside of the cylinder 31.
Referring now to Figure 5, operations of the check valve 33, main and auxiliary conduits 34a, 3~b and the interrelation with the piston 32, will be described. As shown in Figure 5, the piston 32 located at an initial position (dashed line A), moves left (solid line C) when a person opens the door. In the meantime, the ball 33a of the check valve 33 presses the spring 33b to open the ., .
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- : ... i ~ .. , valve, thereby working fluid of the first room 30a traveling to the second room 30b through the conduit 3. If the external force applied to the door is removed, the piston 32 returns to the initial position. In the meantime, as the ball 33a of the check valve 33 blocks the conduit 3, working oil of the second room 30b returns to the first room 30a through the main and auxiliary conduits 34a, 34b to control the closing speed of the door. Then, the fore end of the plston 32 passes the location s, the lo auxiliary conduit 34b is closed by the peripheral wall of ;~ the piston 32, so that the working oil travels only thxough the main conduit 34a. Therefore, flow rate will be xeduced to make the door shut very slowly at the final stage of the clo5ing. The force required to open the door can be adjusted by turning the adjusting screw 33c of the check valve 33, and the closing speed of the door can be acljusted by changing the cross-sectional areas of the main and auxiliary condui~s 34a, 34b. The cross-sectional areas of the conduit can be varied by means of the adjusting screw : 20 over the auxiliary conduit 34b. Therefore, the floor hinge according to the present invention does not achieve only a rapid door closing but also a slower and smoother closing at final stage.
Meanwhile, the floor hinge according to the present invention is provided with the several level and the location adjusting means for facilitating the initial installation and adjustment of the apparatus. For " 10 ,. .

, example, a plurality of brackets 15 and levelling screws 14 aIe pIovided to the casing 11 for adjusting the height and level of the f 100I . And at least one location pin 13 is provided at a p~escribed position of the casing 11 fo aligning the floor hinge to a certaln reference point.
Meanwhile, two level tubes 16a, 16b for determining level are fixed at two intersecting locations of inner side of the casing 11. These level tubes 16a, 16b are preferably transparent liquid-filled vials comp~ising a bubble.
Moreover, the floor hinge of the present invention is capable of changing its Ielative position with respect to the casi.ng 11. E'or the storage of the floor hinge in the casing 11, to each side of one end of the hinge body 10, a SUppOIt bIacket 47 is affixed through welding OI iIltegIal casting. The SUppOIt bracket comprises a horizontal portion 47a and a veItical poItion 47b to form an angle, and the location adjusting screw 37 is coupled to the vertical portion 47b. The hoIizontal portion 47a of the support bracket 47 is used foI coupling the hinge body 10 to the casing 11 and the cover 17 with a coupling screw 19.
At the support plate 38 of the casing 11, an elongated hole 38a is ~ormed for allowing relative movement during the screw adjusting. The coupling screws 19 are also provided outside of the hinge box 1, and an elongated hole 38' is also formed on the corIesponding location of the support plates 38'. The hinge body 10, the casing 11 and the cover 17 are interconnected by the support bracket 47 as .
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described above with Ieference to Figure 4. As the hinge body 10 is movably fotted in the casing 11, the location of the hinge shaft 2, namely the swiveling shaft of the door can be adjusted by changing the relative location of hinge body to the casing 11 with the location adjusting screw 37.
A cap 40 is preferably coupled to one end of the cylinder 31 for sealing the oil chamber 30, and a limit switch 39 can be provided, if required, to the inner side of the cap 40. The limit switch 39 can be embodied in, for example, an eddy c11rrent or impedance sensor, and mon.itor the movement of the piston 32 in order to indicate the status of the door to a recognition circuit(not shown).
According to the signal from the limit switch 39, the floor hinge can also exhibit security function as the access of ; a visitor can be remotely awared. For this purpose, therecognition circuit preferably connects to a proper means for alarming, for example, a lamp and/or a buzzer.
Now, the operations of the floor hinge according to the present invention will be described with reference to Figure 7A to Figure 7D.
Figure 7A shows the initial status of the floor hinge, in which the hinge shaft 2 coupled to swiveling shaft of a door(not shown), is located in its centeI position, and the piston 32 is also in its initial position of most right side of the drawing.
If a user pushes or pulls the door to open it, the : ' '' ' ': . :

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hinge shaft 2 coupled to the door rotates counterclockwise as shown in Figure 7A, then the driver 21 of the cam mechanism accordingly pulls the follower 2A to the left side of the drawing to make the piston 32 move left compressing the spIing 36. Consequently, the check valve 33 opens to allow working oil of the first room 30a to rapidly travel to the second room 30b through the conduit 3.
If the external force is removed from to the door, lo the compression spIing 36 is elongated to push the piston 32 to the Iight side of the drawing, and accordingly the follower 2~ coupled to the piston pulls the driver 21 to make the hinge shaft 2 rotate clockwise as shown in Figure 7C, so that the door can be closed automatically. At the same time, working oil in the second room 30b of the oil chamber 30 travels to the first cavity 30a through the main - and auxiliaxy conduits 34a, 34b formed on the land portion 31a of the cylinder 31, so that it controls the restoration spaed of the piston 32, namely the automatic closing speed .~ 20 of the door. If the piston 32 passes the location of the auxiliary conduit 34b and close the conduit 34a with its ~;; peripheral wall, working oil moves only through the main conduit 34a, thus the door speed at the closing stage is decellerated much smoothly.
~i 25 Meanwhile, if the opening angle of the door exceeds a certain range as shown in Figure 7D, the hinge shaft 2 is not to be rotatable, though the piston rod 23 pulls the .' .

~7~73 follower 24 to the right side of the drawin~. TheIefoIe, the door stands still until the user apply exterIlal force to close.
During the above mentioned operating procedures, as the piston rod 23 reciprocates through the separated cam chamber 20 and the oil chamber 30, the lubrication oil of the cam chamber 20 OI the wolking oil of the oil chamber 30 sticks to the piston rod 23. But those oils will be scraped by the seal Iing 22 such as an O-ring, thereby two oils not being mixed up.
And the operation status of the present floor hinge Ol `~ the door can be monitored by the limit switch 39, if required.
As described herein before, due to the provision of lubrication for the mechanical parts without contaminating the the wo~king fluid, the present invention can provide a novel floor hinge which has an extended life span and a smoother operation. Moreover, Iapid and automatic closing of the present hinge prevents the loss of aiI conditioning Ol inflow of stormy wind, and installation and adjustment of the hinge can be Eacilitated. TherefoIe, the present invention provides a much improved floor hinge .

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Claims

1. A floor hinge, having a hinge shaft coupled to a swiveling shaft of a door, a cam mechanism coupled to said hinge shaft, a piston coupled to said cam mechanism through a piston rod and elastically biased to one side by a compression spring, and a check valve and a plurality of conduits for controlling a restoration movement of said piston by said compression spring, the flow hinge further comprising:
a hinge box 1 for storing said hinge shaft 2 and said cam mechanism 21, 24;
and a cylinder 31 for storing said piston 32 and said check valve 33 and said conduits 3;
said hinge box and said cylinder being seperated by a partition 12 and a seal ring 22 to respectively form a cam chamber 20 and an oil chamber 30.

2. The floor hinge according to claim 1, wherein two independent fluids are respectively filled to said cam chamber 20 and said oil chamber 30.

3. The floor hinge according to claim 2, wherein lubrication oil is filled in said cam chamber 20, and working oil is filled in said oil chamber 30

4. The floor hinge according to claim 1, wherein the said oil chamber 30 of cylinder is subdivided into a first room 30a and a second room 30b by said piston 32, said conduits comprising a main conduit 34a for constantly connecting said two rooms 30a, 30b, and an auxiliary conduit 34b for being closed by said piston 32 at the end of said restoration.

5. The floor hinge according to claim 4, wherein said cylinder 31 is reduced in inner diameter to form a land portion 31a of a certain length, said main conduit 34a being formed along said land portion 31a, and said auxiliary conduit 34b being branched off from an intermediate portion of said main conduit 34a to the inner side of said cylinder 31.

6. The floor hinge according to claim 4, further comprising an adjusting screw 35 for adjusting the cross-sectional area of said main and auxiliary conduits 34a, 34b.

7. The floor hinge according to claim 1, wherein said hinge box 1 and said cylinder 31 include a hinge body 10, said hinge body 10 being stored in a casing 11 and a cover 17, and said casing 11 comprises a plurality of brackets 15 and level adjusting screws 14 for levelling thereof.

8. The floor hinge according to claim 7, wherein said hinge body comprise a support bracket 47 for coupling a location adjusting screw 37 therewith, and is capable of adjusting its relative position with respect to the casing 11 .

9. The floor hinge according to claim 7, wherein at least one of said hinge body 10 or said casing 11 is provided with two intersecting level tubes 16a, 16b for determining level.

10. The floor hinge according to claim 1, further comprising, at one end of said cylinder 31, a limit switch 39 for sensing the movement of said piston 32 to check the status of said door.