DESCRIPTION TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention is in the field of hinges for doors and leafs of appliances and domestic appliances, and relates to a modular hinge device particularly suitable for ovens, dishwashers and appliances provided with doors having lower, horizontal hinge axes.

BACKGROUND ART

There are known hinge devices having horizontal axes capable of balancing the weight of the doors to which they are fixed or of restraining the final closing or opening stroke thereof, or of applying a static closing force to improve the tightness of the seals, or of providing metastable intermediate positions, or of dampening the speed of a door in the final portion of the closing stroke. A drawback of these known hinge devices is that they can provide one or maximum two or three of the functions as indicated.

Another drawback is that in order to change the type or the extent of the functions of the known hinge devices, the latter need to be thoroughly redesigned.

Still another drawback is that almost every modulation or change in the functional parameters of the known hinge devices requires an almost thorough redesign of the latter.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a modular hinge device that may be easily configured to provide any combination of the following functions, in addition to the balancing of the weight of the door: moving the rotation axis towards the outside of the appliance during the opening; restraining its final closing and/or opening stroke; stabilizing the door opening extreme and/or intermediate positions; providing a "multi- balancing" ability; applying a static closing force to improve the tightness of the seals; providing metastable intermediate positions; dampening the speed of a door at least in the final portion of the closing stroke.

Another object is to provide a modular hinge device wherein the replacement or the assembly of some parts allows to alter its functional parameters.

Still another object is to provide a compact, reliable hinge device.

Document WO 2013/167708 Al discloses a hinge device provided with the features of the preamble of the present claim 1.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF DRAWINGS

The features of the invention are illustrated below, with specific reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an axonometric view of a pair of modular hinge devices, subject-matter of the present invention, fixed to the chassis of a domestic appliance consisting of an oven, where such devices are in a condition of complete opening of the door of the appliance, not shown;

Figure 2 is a side view, from the inside of the appliance, of a modular hinge device in Figure 1 , in a closed condition;

Figure 3 is a partial view of the device in Figure 2, in an extreme opening condition; Figures 4 and 5 are side views of the device in Figure 2, seen from the outside of the appliance, in a closed condition and in an extreme opening condition, respectively, and wherein some parts have been omitted to better illustrate some others;

Figures 6 and 7 are axonometric views, seen from internal points of view, of the device in Figure 2 in a closed condition and in an extreme opening condition, respectively;

Figures 8 and 9 are axonometric views, seen from external points of view, of the device in Figure 2 in a closed condition and in an extreme opening condition, respectively, and wherein some parts have been omitted to better illustrate some others;

Figures 10 and 11 are lateral views, including the hidden parts, of the device in Figure 2, in a closed condition and in an extreme opening condition, respectively; Figure 12 is a side view of the device in Figure 2, showing this device in the extreme opening condition and at the same time in the closed condition;

Figures 13-16 are axonometric and exploded views of the device in Figure 2 or of parts thereof.

BEST FORM TO CARRY OUT THE INVENTION

Referring to Figures 1-16, by 1 there is indicated the modular hinge device subject- matter of the present invention having a first connection means 3, in approximately rectangular shape and with a mainly flat development, assigned to be fixed to a structure S or chassis of an appliance, such as an oven, and a second connection means 5, in approximately elongated rectangular shape, rotatable around its own hinge fulcrum means 7 of the pivot type, and assigned to be fixed to a door or leaf of the appliance to allow the opening and closing movements around the axis of the device 1 i.e., of the respective fulcrum means 7, between the closed condition and the extreme opening condition of said door.

In an operative condition, the rotation axis of said fulcrum means 7 is horizontal and close to the lower portion of the vertical or almost vertical entrance of the appliance, and the plane of the door in the closed condition is vertical or almost vertical. Alternatively, it is also possible that the rotation axis of the fulcrum means 7 be horizontal and on the top or vertical and on the side.

Moreover, a basic version of said modular device 1 comprises at least: a rocker arm means 10 whose middle portion is bonded, by means of a first pivot means 11 parallel to the fulcrum means 7, to the first connection means 3 in a freely rotatable manner around the axis of the first pivot means 11, where a first protruding portion of that rocker arm means 10 bears a second pivot means 13 spaced from, and parallel to, the first pivot means 11;

a connecting rod means 14, elongated in shape, having one end connected to the rocker arm means 10 by means of the second pivot means 13 in a freely rotatable manner around the axis of that second pivot means, and having its opposite end connected to the second connection means 5 by means of a third pivot means 15 parallel to, and spaced from, the fulcrum means 7, in a freely rotatable manner around the axis of that third pivot means 15;

a resilient means consisting of a first elastic means 17 connected to the rocker arm means 10 and acting on the latter with an elastic force or torque according to the closing direction at least in some operative balancing conditions of the device 1.

The first elastic means 17 is connected to the rocker arm means 10 at a given point, such that in said operative balancing conditions, that first elastic means 17 transmits to the door or leaf, by means of the rocker arm means 10, of the connecting rod means 14 and of the second connection means 5 a force or an elastic balancing torque directed according to the closing direction.

For example, the first elastic means 17 consists of a helical spring exerting a pulling action and having one end connected to the rocker arm means 10 by a first connecting means 18 spaced from the first pivot means 11 and having the opposite end fixed to a second connecting means 19 directly or indirectly connected to the first connection means 3. The first connecting means 18 is fixed to the rocker arm means 10 at said connecting point of the first elastic means 17 and, in said operative balancing conditions, the straight line of action of the spring is spaced from the axis of the first pivot means 11 so as to generate a balancing elastic torque.

The first connection means 3 and the rocker arm means 10 are equipped with optional stop means 21, 22 assigned for the mutual contact in the extreme opening condition to prevent the door movement further on this condition and/or the first connection means 3 and the rocker arm means 10 are equipped with optional friction means 21, 22 mutually sliding with friction to slow down the movements of the door or leaf.

The stop means 21, 22 comprise a sort of peg 21 , for example in a plastic or metal material, interlockingly fixed to the first connection means 3, and a loop 22 created in the rocker arm means 10, in the form of a circular sector centered on the axis of the first pivot means 11 and slidingly engaged with the peg 21. In the extreme opening condition, the peg 21 rests on an end of the loop 22, thus helping in preventing any further movement of the door in the opening direction.

Preferably, the free end of the peg 21 has an enlarged head, e.g., of the mushroom type, assigned to slide on the edges of the outer face of the rocker arm means 10, adjacent to the loop 22. The shape, size and material of the peg 21 may be designed so as to create a static and dynamic friction with the edges of the loop 22, to restrain the stroke of the door, and to help stabilizing the extreme or intermediate position thereof.

In addition, the optional peg 21, and especially its head, may produce an anti-twisting effect of the rocker arm means 10, as it keeps the latter flat and parallel to itself. Obviously, and alternatively, the peg 21 may be interlockingly fixed to the rocker arm means 10, and the loop 22 may be created in the first connection means 3; this variant, wherein the peg and loop positions are exchanged, may require a proper dimensioning of both the rocker arm means and the first connection means, but is equivalent to what was described above and depicted in the drawings.

The first connection means 3 and the rocker arm means 10 of the device may be equipped with a plurality of fastening and/or connection means that make the device become modular, with configurable functions and adjustable functional parameters.

In particular, the first connection means 3 may further comprise:

fastening and/or connection means arranged for fixing some locking means 39 of a possible cam means 35;

guide means 41 to connect in a sliding manner a possible slider means 40 equipped with a rack means 44;

connection and/or fastening means for a pivot means 52 of a possible clamp means 50;

connection and/or fastening means for a possible damper means 60;

and the rocker arm means 10 may further comprise:

connection and/or fastening means for a pivot means 30 for a possible swinging arm means 32 assigned to cooperate with a possible cam means 35; connection and/or fastening means for a connecting means 48 of a possible pinion means 45, e.g., a toothed wheel, assigned to cooperate with the possible rack means 45 44, e.g., a straight toothed segment compatible with the toothed wheel pinion means 45;

an edge shaped like a circular sector centered on the first pivot means 11 assigned to slidingly abut with a possible friction means 54 of a possible clamp means 50.

Moreover, the possible cam means 35 and/or the possible slider means 40 with the respective rack means 44 and the corresponding and possible pinion means 45 are modular and differently configurable to modify the functional characteristics of the device; for example, the cam means 35 may be shaped with portions having opposite inclinations so as to favour or counteract the closing of the door in corresponding portions of the stroke of the latter, or with recesses to create metastable intermediate positions of the door and/or the number of teeth of the pinion means 45 may be varied according to the rack means 44 of the slider means 40, to modify the stroke and the maximum projection of the fulcrum means 7 in the extreme opening condition of the door.

The above shall become clearer following the description of the preferred embodiment provided with all optional elements of the modular device 1 , set forth hereinbelow.

The rocker arm means 10, approximately "S"-shaped, with an enlarged discoid-shaped middle portion, bears a un fourth pivot means 30 spaced from, and parallel to, the first pivot means 11. The fourth pivot means 30 is preferably fixed to a second portion protruding from the rocker arm means 10 and opposed to the first protruding portion bearing the second pivot meansl3. Said fourth pivot means 30 is assigned to connect a swinging arm means 32 to the rocker arm means 10 in a freely rotatable manner around the axis of that fourth pivot means 30.

Said swinging arm means 32, e.g., with transversal staple-shaped sections, for example, also carries an abutment means 33 of a sliding or rolling type consisting for example of a freely rotating bushing on a pin cantilever ly fixed to the swinging arm means 32.

The device 1 further comprises a cam means 35 in a single body with the first connection means 3 or fixed thereto and a second elastic means 36 acting on the swinging arm means 32 to press the abutment means 33 against the cam means 35 during the opening and closing movements or their portions.

As seen above, the fourth pivot means 30 is in a position opposite to the second pivot means 13 in respect of the first pivot means 11. The second elastic means 36 consists of a helical spring exerting a pulling action, having one end connected to the first connecting means 18 of the rocker arm means 10 and having the opposite end fixed to the swinging arm means 32 by a third connection means 37.

The cam means 35 has a profile on which slides or rolls the bushing of the abutment means 33, this profile is shaped to transmit to the rocker arm means 10 a force acting according to the closure or to the opening or for a metastable equilibrium in corresponding portions or positions of the door or leaf movements.

For example, the profile of the cam means 35, clearly visible in Figures 4 and 5, has 4 straight, mutually inclined portions passed through by the abutment means 33; the first portion, i.e., the one in Figure 4, is in contact with the abutment means 33 and corresponding to the closed condition, is inclined so as to transmit to the rocker arm means 10 and to the door an additional closing force useful to ensure the tightness of the seals of the door, and the last portion, corresponding to the extreme, as may be seen in Figure 5, exerts a force opposed to the balancing one and assigned to stabilize that extreme opening condition. The intermediate portions may be inclined in various ways to obtain different functional parameters, e.g., a slowing down of the final closing stroke, or they can be provided with recesses or protrusions to create metastable intermediate positions of the door. The possibility of fixing to the device cam means 35 having different profiles 35 allows to adapt the behaviour and movement of the door to various needs and applications.

Alternatively, the invention provides an obvious variant, the understanding of which requires no specific figures, wherein it is provided that the cam means 35 is shaped on an edge of the rocker arm means 10 or is fixed to the rocker arm means 10, and that the swinging arm means 32 is pivoted, by means of the pivot means 30, to the first connection means 3. In this variant, the ends of the second elastic means 36 are connected to the swinging arm means 32 and to the first connection means 3, respectively, and exert an elastic pulling action between them 32, 3. In this case, too, the abutment means 33 is cantileverly mounted on the swinging arm means 32 and slides or rolls along the shaped profile of the cam means 35 during the opening and closing movements of the door. This variant, wherein the positions of the swinging arm means 32 and cam means 35 are exchanged, is functionally and technically equivalent to the main embodiment described above and depicted in the drawings.

Preferably, the first 17 and second elastic means 36 are distinct and provided with respective elastic features, and may be of a different kind so as to adapt the device to different needs. Alternatively, those elastic means may consist of a single spring. As a further alternative, it is provided, mutatis mutandis, that the first 17 and second elastic means 36 may be of a type exerting a compressing action, and that they are equipped with respective spring guide means.

The fulcrum means 7 may be fixed to the first connection means 3 or, preferably, and as depicted in the Figures, may be fixed to an outer end of a slider means 40 bonded to the first connection means 3 by means of guide means 41, 42 for the sliding of the slider means 40 in the inner and outer directions in respect of the appliance; said slider means 40 comprises a rack means 44 engaged with a pinion means 45 coaxial with the first pivot means 11 and bonded to the rocker arm means 10 so as to rotate integrally with the latter around the axis of the first pivot means 11, where the opening movement of the door or leaf causes, by means of the connecting rod means 14, the rotation of the pivot means 11 and of the pinion means 45 by causing the translation of the slider means 40 and of the fulcrum means 7 towards the outside of the appliance. Preferably, the guide means 41 consist of two or more straight loops created in the first connection means 3 and parallel to the exit direction from the inside of the appliance i.e., parallel to the direction identified by the straight rack means 44 of the slider means 40 and to the direction of translatory motion of the latter; the guide means 42 comprise pins or studs fixed to the slider means 40 and slidable in the loops 41. Obviously, it is provided that the loops may be created in the slider means 40, and that the pins be fixed to the first connection means 3, or that the guide means 41, 42 are different in nature, e.g., with tracks and carriages, or the like.

The configuration and connection, described above, of the slider means 40 explain how the replacement of the pinion means 45 with others having different operative ranges, and the corresponding replacement of the slider means 40 with one equipped with a rack means 44 suitable for the pinion means 45 allows to easily modify the range of the fulcrum means 7 during the strokes of the door. The device 1 further comprises a clamp means 50, consisting for example of a flat sheet or plate having a slightly curved plan in the central area, having an end connected to the first connection means 3 by means of a fifth pivot means 52 parallel to the fulcrum means 7 in a freely rotatable manner around the axis of that fifth pivot means 52 and having the opposite end connected to a resilient means. This clamp means 50 further bears a friction means 54 pressed against the rocker arm means 10 by said resilient means, this preferably consisting of the first elastic means 17. An end of the first elastic means 17 is fixed to the corresponding end of the clamp means 50 by means of the second connecting means 19.

The friction means 54 is fixed to the clamp means 50 by a pin oscillating means 53 and abuts with an edge of the rocker arm means 10 shaped like a circular sector centered on the first pivot means 11 ; alternatively that edge may be shaped differently or interrupted so as to modulate or cancel, or almost cancel, the friction and the restraining effect; for example, an interruption or a recess of the edge in the area occupied by the friction means 54 in the closed condition, cancels, or almost cancels, the static and dynamic friction forces in that closed condition.

The choice of the position of the pin oscillating means 53 in the clamp means, and of the features of the friction means 54 allow to modulate the intensity of the restraining and stabilizing effect on the door. In particular, the friction means 54 of the clamp means 50 allows to ensure a functioning of the device in a manner that is largely independent of the weight of the door; for example, the device associated with an unpaneled door and with an identical door bearing a coating panel, will provide a very similar way of functioning for both doors, e.g., by preventing their backward strokes from the extreme opening position and/or by allowing the doors to stop in intermediate positions, and thus providing a function also referred to as "multibalancing".

An obvious variant of the device provides that the friction means 54 be pivoted to the rocker arm means 10 and that it frictionally slide along an edge or margin of the clamp means 50 during the opening and closing movements, thus providing an obvious equivalence with the embodiment described hereinabove.

Optionally, the middle portion of the clamp means 50 may be equipped with an arc- shaped loop centered on the pivot means 52 and slidingly engaged with the shaft, fixed to the first connection means 3, of a body having a head sliding on the edges of the arc- shaped loop to guide the oscillation of the 50 and/or to prevent any twisting thereof.

The end of the slider means 40 opposite to the fulcrum means 7 bears a first contact means 47, e.g., consisting of a folded edge of the plate-shaped body constituting the 40, assigned at least in the final portion of the closing stroke to contact a movable end of a damper means 60 whose body is fixed to the first connection means 3 to dampen the closing speed in said final portion, without reducing the elastic force acting on the seals of the closed door.

The invention further provides the possibility of achieving a dampening of the speed of the final portion of the opening stroke, for example by fixing to the first connection means 3 a second damper means in an almost mirror-like arrangement in respect of the first damper means 60, with respect to the first contact means 47 in an intermediate condition of the device. Alternatively, the invention provides that the slider means 40 be equipped with two contact means 47 faced with, parallel to, and spaced from each other; and that the device comprise two damper means arranged side-by-side, staggered, opposed and located and position between the two contact means 47 such that in the final portion of the closing stroke, the one of the two contact means 47 rests on the movable portion of the one of the two damper means 60, thus restraining that final closing portion; and that in the final portion of the opening stroke, the other of the two contact means rests on the movable portion of the other of the two damper means, thus restraining that final opening portion. There is contemplated a further alternative that provides the use of a double-action damper means whose movable portion, in the absence of any external forces, is arranged in a middle position from which it can move, when stressed by outer forces, towards an inner and outer direction in respect of the fixed body thus dampening those forces. The movable portion of that double-action damper means bears a pivot slidably engaged with a loop of the slider means 40, parallel to the motion of the latter and dimensioned such that its ends abut with said pivot of the double action damper means in the final portions of the stroke of the door, thus dampening the speed. The device equipped with the two damper means or with a double action damper means may or may not be equipped with the clamp means 50 with the respective friction means 54 because in some applications the double or double- action damper means may make those clamp means 50 and friction means 54 superfluous, since they slow down both final portions of the stroke of the door. A simple variant of the device, the understanding of which requires no specific figures, provides that the end of the slider means 40 opposite to the fulcrum means 7 bear a second contact means spaced from the first contact means 47. The damper means 60 is bonded to the first connection means 3 such that in its condition of maximum extension, its opposite ends, i.e., its movable portion and the opposed ends of the body, abut with respective fixed stops or limits of the first connection means 3, thus allowing the body of the damper means 60 to translate towards the movable portion and allowing the latter to translate towards the body.

In other words, the body of the damper means 60 is fixed to the first connection means 3 so as to freely slide between two extreme positions, and the movable element of the damper means 60 is bonded with respect to the first connection means 3 so as to freely slide between two extreme positions. The damper means 60 is interposed between the first contact means 47 and the second contact means.

In the final portion of the closing stroke, the damper means 60 acts as in the first of the embodiments described above, and dampens the speed of the door in that final portion of its closing stroke.

In the final portion of the opening stroke, the second contact means of the slider means 40 translates the corresponding end of the body of the damper means 60 towards its 60 movable portion, and dampens the speed in said final opening portion by shortening the damper means 60 itself.

A further variant of the device, whose understanding requires no specific figures, provides that the resilient means does not consist of the first 17 and second 36 elastic means, but comprises a spring of the helical extensible type or of the compressible type, and with spring guide means, having an end connected to the swinging arm means 32 by a third connecting means 37 and the opposite end connected with an end of a flexible means, such as a small textile or metal cable, a belt, e.g.,, of the fiber-reinforced type, a chain, or the like.

A middle portion of the flexible means is engaged with a bushing or a pulley fixed to the clamp means 50, spaced from the fifth pivot means 52 and rotating around a rotation axis parallel to that fifth pivot means 52.

The end of the flexible means opposed to the one fixed to the helical spring is preferably fixed to the slider means 40 or the rocker arm means 10 close to the second pivot means 13 or to the first pivot means 11, or to the connecting rod means 14.

In this manner, one single spring of the resilient means produces all necessary elastic forces.

Preferably, the elastic or resilient elements of the device are made of harmonic steel, and the remaining main elements, such as the first connection means 3, the second connection means 5, the rocker arm means 10, the connecting rod means 14, the swinging arm means 32, the cam means 35, the slider means 40, the pinion means 45 and the clamp means 50 are made in a sheet metal that is sheared and/or die cut, and possibly punched and/or bent and tridimensionally shaped. The pivot means may be of the type having a shaft or a tube made of steel and/or of the riveted type.

It is obvious that in addition to the preferred embodiment, the invention provides that the device may be made with any combination of its optional elements, for example identified in the dependent claims, or without any of them, whereby it can be made also in its basic configuration, and yet prepared for the optional means.

The modular configurability and the modifiability of the physical and/or dimensional parameters of its organs allow them to be made so as to meet different operative needs by making minimum modifications, additions and/or substitutions in the assembly stage.