US3351975A

US3351975A - Hinge mechanism

Info

Publication number: US3351975A
Application number: US479406A
Authority: US
Inventors: Goto Koji
Original assignee: Toyota Motor Corp
Current assignee: Toyota Motor Corp
Priority date: 1964-08-23
Filing date: 1965-08-13
Publication date: 1967-11-14
Anticipated expiration: 1984-11-14

Description

,1967 KOJ. GOTO 3,351,975

HINGE MECHANISM F1165 Aug. 13, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. I

PRIOR ART FIG. 2

Nov. 14, 1967 KOJI GO'TO I 3,351,975 v HINGE MECHANISM Filed Aug. 15, 1965 v 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 5 KOJI GOTO 3,351,975

' .HINGE MECHANISM Filed Aug. 13, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Nov. 14,- 1967 O I 601-0 3,351,975

HINGE MECHANISM Filed Aug. 13, 1965 r 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Mffi h u dlada ufl%%zti United States Patent HINGE MECHANISM Koji Goto, Toyota, Japan, assignor to Toyota Motor Company Limited, Toyota, Japan Filed Aug. 13, 1965, Ser. No. 479,406 Claims priority, application Japan, Aug. 23, 1964,

2 Claims. (Cl. 16128.1)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hinge mechanism for opening and closing a cover member, comprising a collapsible quadrilateral linkage including an upper member rigidly adapted to be secured to said cover member, a stationary part, a base member pivotally mounted on said stationary part, a pair of generally arallel front and rear connector members pivotally connected between said upper member and said base member, and a locus member pivotally connected at one end to said rear connector member at a point intermediate the base member and the upper member and at the other end to the stationary part, the locus member guiding said quadrilateral linkage to move the pivotal connection of the upper member and the rear connector member substantially only vertically during opening and closing of said cover member.

This invention relates generally to a hinge mechanism and more particularly to such a mechanism for opening and closing a cover plate, such as a hood for an automotive engine, having both ends of a linkage operatively coupled thereto.

The conventional type of hinge mechanisms referred to is disadvantageous in that a cover plate can be opened and closed through a relatively great amount of its foreand-aft movement; angle to which the cover plate can be opened being insuflicient, a helical balance spring used with the hinge mechanism has either end anchored in non-consistent state on the associated part resulting in that the cover plate is unstable in its open position, the mechanism requires a relatively large space and so on. These disadvantages further lead to various objections.

Therefore a general object of the invention is to eliminate the abovementioned disadvantages.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide an improved hinge mechanism for opening and closing a hood for an automotive engine by which the hood can be opened and closed through a relatively small amount of its fore-and-aft movement while at the same time the hood in its open position forms a large angular opening through which the internal construction normally enclosed by the hood is accessible.

The invention as to its organization and its manner of operation as well as other objects and advantages thereof will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating one form of the conventional hinge mechanisms and the mounting thereof;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the mechanism illustrated in FIG. 1 and viewed from its internal side;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but illustrating another form of the conventional hinge mechanism;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a hinge mechanism constructed in accordance with the teachings of the invention with its mounting also illustrated;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but illustrating the mechanism shown in FIG. 4;

ice

FIG. 6 is a perspective View of the essential part of the mechanism illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 but as looked at in the direction reversed from that in FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a fragmental plan view of a motorcar useful in explaining the effect of the invention.

While the invention has various applications the same is particularly suitable for use in opening and closing a hood for an automotive engine and will now be described in conjunction With such a hood.

According to the teachings of the invention a hinge mechanism operatively coupled to an engine hood is operable to open the hood such that the hood effects a forward movement limited to a relatively small distance while the rear end thereof is moved in the substantially vertical direction. This prevents the inner edge portion of each fender adjacent one rear corner of the hood in its closed position from possible damage, due to violent closing of the hood. Also when the hood is in its open position rainwater is prevented from being driven or dropped through a clearance formed between the rear end of the hood and the adjacent portion of the associated car body into the interior of the body.

The present mechanism includes links operative to rotate the same as a whole rearwardly upon opening the engine hood until the links are brought into the substan tially vertical position upon fully opening the hood. Therefore the hood can be opened to a relatively large angle relative to the horizon and firmly maintained in its fully open position. This increases the safety with which any desired operation can be performed and various operations performed around the hinge mechanism also are facilitated.

The mechanism further includes a helical balance spring member having both ends capable of coupling to the linkage in a predetermined constant state independent of the angular position of the mechanism displaced due to opening and closing movement of the engine hood. This measure permits the necessary expansion and contraction of the balance spring member to be fully utilized.

In addition the invention contemplates to improve both a coupling position at which either end of the helical balance spring member is coupled to the linkage and the construction of a supporting shaft about which the mechanism can be rotated resulting in compactness, simplicity and inexpansiveness.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is illustrated one form of the conventional hinge mechanisms for opening and closing a hood for an automotive engine. An arrangement illustrated comprises a pair of front and rear connector members 1 and 2, an upper member 3 pivotally connected at both ends to the upper ends of the connector members 1 and 2 by a pair of pivot pins 4a and 417 respectively, a lower or base member 5 pivotally connected at one end to the lower end of the front connector member 1 by a pivot pin 40, and a locus rod 6 pivotally connected at both ends to the adjacent portion of the base member 5 and the lower end of the rear connector member 2 by a pair of

pivot pins

4d and 4e to form a linkage.

The upper member 3 is rigidly secured on an engine hood 7. The base member 5 has the other end pivotally mounted on a support shaft 8a disposed on a bracket 9 rigidly secured to a fender 10 while the rear connector member 2 has the lower end portion pivotally mounted on another support shaft 8b also disposed on the bracket 9. The arrangement further comprises a helical balance spring 11 having one end anchored to the base member 5 and the other end anchored to an appropriate portion of the bracket 9.

With the arrangement illustrated it will be seen that J the base member 5 can be rotated about its support shaft 3:! thereby to rotate the hinge mechanism as a whole.

If the engine hood 7 is manually opened from its position illustrated at dotted-and-dashed line in FIG. 2, the pivot pins 411 through 4c will move along their res ective locus designated by lines A, B and C in FIG. 2. As a result, each of two rear corners 12 of the hood 7 move along its locus D and advances to an appreciable extent.

The construction as above described has several disadvantages. For example, with the engine hood having both longitudinal sides converging toward each other (as shown by the reference characters a and b in FIG. 8), violent closing of the hood may cause a bent flange part formed at each rear corner 12 of the hood 7 to damage a coating on the upper surface of the adjacent portion of the fender as a reaction. If the engine hood is opened in the rain, rainwater will drop upon various devices projecting forwardly from a dashboard 13 through a relatively wide spacing formed between the rear edge of the engine hood 10 and a channel 14 disposed on a cowl 15 when the hood is in its open position. Further, after the engine hood has been opened, any desired operation is difficult to be performed around the hinge mechanism within an engine space. For example, the various devices disposed adjacent the dashboard 13 may be inspected with difficulty. This is because the position of the base member 5 relative to the front connector member in the longitudinal direction of the associated vehicle remains substantially unchanged regardless of whether the engine hood is opened or closed. Also, since the engine hood in its open position can be tilted only at a relatively small angle to the horizontal, there is a fear that the operator may dash his head against a locking member attached at the free end portion of the engine hood. Further, in addition to its complicated construction, the expansion and contraction of the helical balance spring 11 cannot be satisfactorily utilized for the reason that, an angle at which either end of the spring is anchored to the base member 5 or the bracket 9 respectively is changed with the angular position of the engine hood.

In order to reduce fore-and-aft movement of an engine hood during its opening and closing movements there has also been known a hinge mechanism of the type shown in FIG. 3 wherein like reference numerals designate the components similar to those illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. As in FIGS. 1 and 2, a base member 5 is pivotally supported at one end to a bracket 9 by a support shaft 3 and has a front connector member 1 pivotally connected thereto at the other end. The front connector member 1 and a rear connector member 2 serving as a main connector member are pivotally connected to an upper member 3 which, in turn, is rigidly secured to an engine hood 7. The main connector member 3 is provided on the lower portion with a longitudinally elongated slot 16 into which a support pin 17 on the bracket 9 projects. A helical balance spring 11 has one end anchored at the lower end of the rear member 3 and the other end anchored to an appropriate portion of the bracket 9.

With the arrangement illustrated it will be appreciated that the main and

base members

2 and 5 serve essentially to bear the engine hood 7 in its open position. This measure together with the helical balance spring 11 anchored to the main member 3 and the bracket 9 in the manner shown in FIG. 2 requires the use of the bracket 9 having a large dimension and hence a large space occupied by the hinge mechanism within the associated engine room. This cooperates with the structure by which the spring 10 is anchored to the main member 2 and the bracket 5! to impart to the helical spring only a relatively small expansion and contraction. Therefore, the engine hood may be expected to be maintained in balanced state in its open position only when the spring is formed of a resilient wire having a large diameter. In addition the sliding engagement of the main connector member 2 with the support pin 17 on the bracket 9 may have more play during movement of opening and closing the engine hood than the rotational engagement as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Moreover, an increase in an angle formed between the open hood and the upper surface of the associated tender leads necessarily to a complicated shape of the elongated slot 16. Also, any desired operation is difiicult to be performed around the hinge mechanism within the engine space. Also, as in the mechanism illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, when the engine hood has been opened to its maximum possible angle, the torque effect is not expected resulting in a danger of damaging the operator. Finally an increase in dimension of the hinge mechanism leads to an increase in manufacturing costs.

The invention contemplates to eliminate the abovementioned disadvantages of the prior art practice.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5 wherein like reference numerals designate the components similar to those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, there is illustrated a hinge mechanism constructed in accordance with the teachings of the invention. An arrangement illustrated comprises a pair of front and rear connector members 1 and 2, an upper member 3 and a base member 5 to form a quadrilateral linkage as will be subsequently described. The upper member 3 having for example an L-shaped section is rigidly secured to an engine hood 7 while the base member 5 is pivotally mounted at the rear end on a support shaft So on a bracket 9 rigidly secured on the internal wall surface of a fender 1%. The front connector member 1 is pivotally connected at both ends to the upper and base members 3 and 5 at the front ends by a pair of pivot pins 4a and 4c respectively while the rear connector member 2 pivotally mounted at both ends to the rear end portion of the upper member 3 and to the substantially middle portion of the base member 5 by a pair of pivot pins 415 and 4d respectively to form a quadrilateral linkage. Preferably, the axis of the pivot pin 4d is positioned above a line passing through the axes of the pin and

shaft

4b and 8a and nearly midway between the latter axes.

As shown, the rear connector member 2 has a locus member 6 pivotally connected at one end thereto substantially at a middle point intermediate the axes of the pivot pins 46 and 4a by a pivot pin 46 and at the other end pivotally mounted on a support shaft 812 disposed on the bracket 9 at a predetermined distance from the support shaft 8a. It is to be noted that the locus member 6 should be disposed and arranged with respect to the base member 3 such that the lower edge is always substantially aligned with the upper edge of the base member regardless of the angular position of the hinge mechanism during its rotational movement.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the base member 5 has the upper edge portion at substantially right angles to the plane formed of the remaining essential members and provided on the side of a pivot pin 4b with a notch 1811. Similarly the locus member 6 has the lower edge portion bent at substantially right angles to the plane just described and provided on the side of support shaft with a notch 18b. A helical balance spring 11 is disposed between the base and

locus members

5 and 6 by having both ends engaging the

notches

18a and 18b respectively.

Thus it will be appreciated that the quadrilateral linkage composed of the

members

1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 can be rotated about the support shafts 8a and 8]) while extending and collapsing.

The mechanism thus far described is operated as follows: When the engine hood 7 is in its closed position the hinge mechanism is in its collapsing state as shown by dotted-and-dashed line in FIG. 5. As the engine hood 7 is manually opened, the base member 5 connected to the internal surface of the hood 7 through the upper member 3 secured to the latter and the front member 1 pivoted to the upper member is rotated about the axis of the support shaft 8a in the clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 5. During this rotational movement of the base member 5, the pivot pin 40 common to the upper and base memhers I and 5 will move upwardly and rearwardly along a locus designated by dotted-and-dashed line C while the pivot pin 4a connecting to the front member 1 to the upper member 3 will move upwardly along a locus desi nated by dotted-and-dashed line A in FIG. 5, until the front and base members 1 and 5 reach their maximum open positions where they form an obtuse angle approximately at right angles therebetween.

At the same time the locus member 6 operatively connected to the rear member 2 by the pivot pin 42 is rotated about the axis of the support shaft 8b. During this rotational movement of the locus member 6, the pivot pin 4e will move upwardly and rearwardly along a locus E as the pivot pin 4c while the pivot pin 4b will ascend along a locus B (see FIG. 5). As a result, both rear corner ends 12 of the engine hood 7 move along a locus designated by dotted-and-dashed line D in FIG. 5 until they reach their positions adjacent and slightly above the cowl 15 whereupon the engine hood is brought into its maximum open position as shown by solid line in FIG. 5, in which it is maintained stationary.

If it is desired to close the engine hood the hinge mechanism moves through the process reversed from that above described until it is put in its position designated by dotted-and-dashed line in FIG. 5 whereupon the hood is closed.

By comparing FIG. 2 with FIG. 5 it will be readily appreciated that during its opening movement the present hinge mechanism effects horizontal movement of the engine hood very short as compared with the conventional mechanism such as that illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. As previously described, the upper edge of the base member 5 is substantially aligned with the lower edge of the locus member 6 always regardless of the angular position of the hinge mechanism during its rotational movement. This insures that the helical balance spring 11 is anchored on the associated members 2 and 9 in substantially predetermined fixed state with the result that the required expansion and contraction of the spring can be sufliciently utilized. Also as above described, the base member 5 is positioned at an obtuse angle to the front member 1 when the engine hood 7 has been fully opened. With the engine hood 7 fully opened, further, a line passing through the axes of the support shaft 8a and the pivot pin 4a is diverged downwardly with respect to a line passing through the axes of the pivot pin 4e and the support shaft 8b, as will be readily seen in FIG. 5. Therefore, the torque effect can be sufficiently presented ensuring the safety of any desired operation performed around the dashboard within the engine space.

While the invention has been shown and described in conjunction With a preferred embodiment thereof it is to be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes in the detail of construction and the arrangement and combination of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Also it is to be understood that the invention is equally applicable to hinge mechanisms for opening and closing cover members such as a cover for a trunk space of a motorcar; a rear window cover for a station wagon and the like.

What I claim is:

1. A hinge mechanism for opening and closing a cover member, comprising a collapsible quadrilateral linkage including an upper member rigidly adapted to be secured to said cover member, a stationary part, a base member pivotally mounted on said stationary part, a pair of generally parallel front and rear connector members pivotally connected between said upper member and said base member, and a locus member pivotally connected at one end to said rear connector member at a point intermediate the base member and the upper member and at the other end to the stationary part, the locus member guiding said quadrilateral linkage to move the pivotal connection of the upper member and the rear connector member substatially only vertically during opening and closing of said cover member.

2. A hinge mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein a helical balance spring has one end anchored to said base member and the other end anchored to said locus member, said base member and said locus member being disposed in substantially parallel relationship during movement of said linkage, both said base member and said locus member rotating in a common direction thereby to maintain anchoring of said helical balance spring unchanged during movement of the hinge mechanism.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10/1960 Fielder 16l63 6/1961 Krause 16-1281

Claims

1. A HINGE MECHANISM FOR OPENING AND CLOSING A COVER MEMBER, COMPRISING A COLLAPSIBLE QUADRILATERAL LINKAGE INCLUDING AN UPPER MEMBER RIGIDLY ADAPTED TO BE SECURED TO SAID COVER MEMBER, A STATIONARY PART, A PAIR OF GENPIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON SAID STATIONARY PART, A PAIR OF GENERALLY PARALLEL FRONT AND REAR CONNECTOR MEMBERS PIVOTALLY CONNECTED BETWEEN SAID UPPER MEMBER AND SAID BASE MEMBER, AND A LOCUS MEMBER PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT ONE END TO SAID REAR CONNECTOR MEMBER AT A POINT INTERMEDIATE THE BASE MEMBER AND THE UPPER MEMBER AND AT THE OTHER END TO THE STATIONARY PART, THE LOCUS MEMBER GUIDING SAID QUADRILATERAL LINKAGE TO MOVE THE PIVOTAL CONNECTION OF THE UPPER MEMBER AND THE REAR CONNECTOR MEMBER SUBSTANTIALLY ONLY VERTICALLY DURING OPENING AND CLOSING OF SAID COVER MEMBER.