DESCRIPTION

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention is part of the sector concerning hinges for appliances and household appliances such as ovens, dishwashers and the like and refers in particular to a compact and dampened hinge device for the swivelling connection of a door to a respective appliance to allow its closing and opening and able to provide the door, in its initial opening or ending closing ways, with an additional modulable elastic force capable of damping the speed of the final closing rotation.

BACKGROUND ART

There are known hinge devices capable of modulating the elastic forces acting on a respective door and which can dampen the travel thereof.

A drawback of such known devices consists in the fact that they are generally of large dimensions and complex axes.

Another drawback of such hinged devices consists in the fact that they often have a not very smooth operation and are subject to jamming and/or not sufficiently regular rotations.

A further drawback of such hinge devices consists in the fact that the elastic and damping forces transmittable to the door are correlated and not independent.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to propose a compact and dampened hinge device which can also be installed in household appliances and appliances having little space available for the hinge device itself. Another object is to propose a hinge device with a smooth and regular operation.

A further object is to propose a hinge device in which the elastic forces can be decoupled from the rotation damping forces to act on the door with elastic forces independently from the damping of the rotation thereof.

Previous documents N. EP 1 847 670 A2 and EP 3 073 038 A1 disclose hinges which show some of the characteristics of the preamble of claim 1 of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The characteristics of the invention are highlighted below with particular reference to the accompanying drawings in which: figure 1 shows a side view of the compact and dampened hinge device object of the present invention, in an opened condition;

figures 2-4 show respectively axial, top and front axonometric views of the device of figure 1;

figure 5 shows an exploded view of the device of figure 1;

figure 6 shows a section view according to a longitudinal plane of the device of figure

1 in a partially opened condition;

figure 7 shows an enlarged view of a detail of figure 6;

figures 8-10 show enlarged and axonometric views of a detail of the device of figure 1, in a partially opened condition, in which some details have been fractured and/or removed;

figure 11 shows a partially sectioned and split side view of figure 10.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

With reference to figures 1-11, numeral 1 indicates the compact and dampened hinge device, object of the present invention, for hatches, shutters, flaps, doors and the like, of appliances, household appliances, furniture, furnishings and the like, below collectively indicated also with the only term "appliances" alone. The device 1 comprises a first connection means 3 assigned to be fixed to an hatch or shutter for rotation of the latter between the closed and totally opened conditions of said appliance, household appliance or the like and swivelling connected, by means of a hinge pin 4, to a second connection means 5 assigned to be fixed to a structure or frame of an appliance, household appliance or the like.

The device 1 comprises at least a first elastic means 7, consisting for example in a helical spring operating in compression between the first connection means 3 and the second connection means 5, to which such spring is connected by means of transmission means comprising a spring mean and a sliding element to transmit to the first connection means 3, and then to the door, an elastic torque directed towards the closed condition of the household appliances or appliance and of the hinge device 1.

Said device 1 further comprises a damper element 11 of the linear type, for example comprising a tubular cylinder whose cavity contains a viscous fluid, a piston sliding in the cylinder and equipped with a rod protruding from the cylinder, valve and/or drawbench elements and an elastic means which applies to the piston and to the rod a moderate extension force of the rod itself with respect to the cylinder so that in the absence of opposite forces the rod protrudes to a maximum extent from the cylinder.

The damper element 11 has a longitudinal geometric axis and one of its first ends is connected to the first connection means 3, for example and as illustrated, by means of the aforementioned sliding element.

Alternatively, the damper element 11 first end can be connected to the second connection means 5 directly or through interconnecting means.

The damper element 11 second end is assigned to match with an abutment element 13 sliding in a sliding direction approximately aligned or parallel to the axis of the damper element 11. Such movement of the abutment element 13 takes place by means of a translating means 15 sliding in said sliding direction which is operated, at least in the terminal closing phase of the door and/or in other rotation phases, by at least one offset element 17 transversely fixed to the second connection means 5 at a respective predetermined distance from the hinge pin 4.

At least during the rotation of the hatch in a predetermined angular sector, for example and as illustrated in said terminal closing phase of the door, the offset element 17 matches with the translating means 15 making it slide together with the abutment element 13 into the sliding direction compressing the damper element 11 which brakes the rotation of the door in such angular sector.

The second connection means 5 carries a cam element 21 fixed to or made in the second connection means 5 and the device comprises a spinning element 23 elastically pressed in the sliding direction by a second elastic means 19 which, at least in an angular sector of the door rotation, transmits its elastic force to the cam element 21 by means of the spinning element 23.

The profile and the angular positioning of the cam element 21, which can be single or multiple, allow the second elastic means to impart to the second connection means 5, by means of the spinning element 23, a force whose intensity and whose orientation, towards closing or opening, depend on the characteristics of the compressed helical spring of the second elastic element and on the position and shape of the cam element 21 profile thanks to which it is possible to impart closing or opening forces to the door or of metastable positioning in angular sectors of the rotation of the hinge which can be determined, with great freedom, according to needs and applications. The first elastic means 7 transmits its elastic force to a connecting pin 27 fixed to the second connection means 5 at a respective predetermined distance from the hinge pin 4 and fixed to one end of a tie-rod element 29, that is the sliding element cited above, to which the first elastic means 7 is connected. This tie-rod element 29 slides approximately in the sliding direction within the first connection means 3. While the force of the first elastic means is always directed towards closure, the force of the second elastic means can be directed towards the closure or the opening and therefore it can be concordant or opposed to the strength of the first elastic means by increasing or reducing it.

The portion of the tie-rod element 29 opposite the connecting pin 27 carries or, preferably and as illustrated, has a seat element 31 bound thereto and the portion of the tie-rod element 29 carrying the connecting pin 27 has or, preferably and as illustrated, contains a support element 33 having at its own end, a rotation axis 22 of the spinning element 23, this axis 22 protrudes from the support element 33 housing holes and is slidingly engaged in slots 24 elongated in the sliding direction made in the tie-rod element 29.

The second elastic means 19 consists of a helical spring compressed between a shoulder 35 of the seat element 31 and another shoulder 37 of the support element 33. The seat element 31 houses the first end of the damper element 11 which is coaxial with the second elastic means 19.

At least the second end of the damper element 11, for example consisting of or comprising the rod thereof of the damper element 11, passes through a window 39 made in the shoulder 37 of the support element 33.

In such support element 33 is slidably housed, or along the support element 33 slides, the abutment element 13 engaged at the respective end of the translating means 15 which carries respective slots 16 elongated along the sliding direction and slidingly engaged to the rotation shaft 22 of the spinning element 23. The central portion of this rotation shaft 22 is engaged in an axial hole of the spinning element 23 and each of its side ends passes through a respective slot 16 of a translating means 15, a respective hole of the support element 33 and a respective slot 24 of the tie-rod element 29.

The first connection means 3 has a box-shaped elongated shape in the sliding direction and has at one end housings 6 for fixing the hinge pin 4 and its opposite end comprises a striker or abutment, for example consisting of its terminal face, for one end of the first elastic means 7 with helical spring. Such end or striker or abutment or face of the first connection means 3 has an opening passing through the sliding of a spring mean 43 having one end connected to the opposite end of the first elastic means 7. The other and opposite end of the spring mean 43 has a fixing pin 45, the ends of which are fixed in respective seat holes made in the end of the tie-rod element 29 opposite the end carrying the connecting pin 27. Such ends of the fixing pin 45 are also slidably housed in respective slots 44 elongated along the sliding direction and made in the end of the first connection means 3 opposite to its end carrying the housing 6 for the hinge pin 4.

Finally, the fixing pin 45 is preferably engaged in a hole or attachment of the seat element 31.

The support element 33 is made of cut sheet metal or other folded or "U" shaped squared and elongated material whose bottom or middle portion forms the respective shoulder 37 and whose ends carry holes for the rotation axis 22 of the spinning element 23.

The translating means 15 is made of cut sheet metal or other material, and a transverse dimension smaller than the space within the support element 33 which slidingly houses it and has a lateral profile approximately in side by side pairs of "V" or "L" where a pair of parallel arms houses the respective elongated slots 16 and the other pair of arms carries flat or shaped surfaces of sliding or rolling contact with the ends of the offset element 17 carrying respective sliding or rolling elements.

The abutment element 13 and the seat element 31 for the respectively second and first end of the damper element 11 are equipped with respective sliding seats parallel to the sliding direction and assigned to house an alignment rod 49.

It should be noted that the intervention sectors of the damper element 11 and of the second elastic means 19 are respectively determined by the offset element 17 and by the cam element 21 and therefore they are not necessarily correlated or linked but are completely independent. It should also be noted that, alternatively, the hinge can be connected to the appliance in an opposite way that is with the first connection means 3 fixed to the structure or frame and the second attachment means 5 fixed to the hatch while remaining within the scope of the present invention.