US3714680A

US3714680A - Counter-balance support

Info

Publication number: US3714680A
Application number: US00199584A
Authority: US
Inventors: C Little
Original assignee: Weber Knapp Co
Current assignee: Weber Knapp Co
Priority date: 1971-11-17
Filing date: 1971-11-17
Publication date: 1973-02-06
Anticipated expiration: 1990-02-06
Also published as: JPS4858975A; JPS5427506B2; NL7206915A; GB1364778A

Abstract

A COUNTER-BALANCE SUPPORT FOR A SUSPENDED LID INCLUDING A PAIR OF COMPRESSION SPRINGS ACTING ALTERNATIVELY TOGETHER AND IN OPPOSITION FOR EFFECTIVELY COUNTER-BALANCING THE WEIGHT OF THE LID DURING VERTICAL SWINGING MOVEMENT THEREOF.

Description

Feb. 6, 1973 c. H. LITTLE COUNTER-BALANCE SUPPORT Filed Nov. 17, 1971 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. CfiPL H 4/771 5 ATTORNEYS Feb. 6, 197 3 c. H. LITTLE 3,714,680

COUNTER-BALANCE SUPPORT Filed Nov. 17, 1971 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 C/QRL H. LITTL E ATTORNEYS 4/0 ANGLE (DEGREES) BY United States Patent 3,714,680 COUNTER-BALANCE SUPPORT Carl H. Little, Jamestown, N.Y., assignor to Weber- Knapp Company, Jamestown, N.Y. Filed Nov. 17, 1971, Ser. No. 199,584 Int. Cl. Ef 1/12 US. Cl. 16-190 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A counter-balance support for a suspended lid including a pair of compression springs acting alternatively together and in opposition for effectively counter-balancing the weight of the lid during vertical swinging movement thereof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed towards a counterbalance support for suspending a lid or cover plate for opening movement in a direction upwardly towards an operator. More specifically, the present invention is directed towards an improved hinge mechanism which will effectively counter-balance the weight of a suspended lid at substantially all positions thereof throughout its operative arc of movement.

The present invention features the utilization of a pair of compression springs arranged to act alternately together and in opposition and a friction-brake mechanism associated with one of the springs; the springs and friction-brake mechanism co-operating to provide torque forces variable throughout the extent of vertical swinging movement of the lid as required to counter-balance the weight of the lid.

The nature and mode of the present invention will now be more fully described in the following detailed description as taken with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view partially in phantom illustrating the placement of the pair of hinge mechanisms forming the counter-balance support of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken generally along line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken generally along line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken generally along line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken generally along line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken generally along line 66 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a graphic comparison of the torque effect curves of the lid and counter-balance support.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Reference is now made specifically to FIG. 1 wherein a pair of

hinges

10 and 10, which are formed in accordance with the present invention, are shown as being employed to suspend a generally L-shaped lid or cover 12 beneath a console or other machine control enclosure 14; the altter being supported on a machine case cabinet or stand 16 by means of a pedestal 18. It will be understood, that lid 12 is shown as being in its normally closed position, wherein horizontally disposed lid part 12a is arranged to cover an opening, not shown, in the top surface of machine base cabinet 16 and lid part 12b is arranged in facing engagement with pedestal 18. Of course, lid portion 12b may be employed to close any opening present in the pedestal, as required. Alternatively, lid portion 12a may be dispensed with and lid portion 3,714,680 Patented Feb. 6, 1973 'ice 12b employed to cover an opening in a vertically disposed wall or cabinet side.

In that

hinges

10 and 10 are of similar construction, only hinge 10 will be discussed in detail and similar parts of hinge 10, where shown, will be designated by primed numbers.

Now making particular reference to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, it will be seen that hinge 10 generally includes a housing member 20, which is suitably fixed, as by machine screws 22 to the framework of console 14; a pivot nose piece member 24, which is mounted by a pin shaft 26 in housing member 20 and serves to support lid 12 for vertical swinging movement; and first and

second spring mechanisms

28 and 30.

Housing member 20 is formed from sheet metal to define an inverted generally U-shaped intermediate portion 32 having

side flanges

32a, 32b and a top flange 32c; a pair of parallel spring mechanism mounting

flange portions

34a and 34b, which extend from

side flanges

32a and 32b; and a single side mounting flange portion 36, which extends from side flange 32a and is formed with apertures to receive housing member mounting screws 22. Further,

side flanges

32a and 32b are formed with aligned openings to receive pin shaft 26 and are punched out to define inwardly converging

stops

38a and 38b; top flange 320 is punched out to define a slot opening 40; and the ends of mounting

flange portion

32a and 32b are formed with notches, as at 42.

Nose piece member 24 is of generally U-shaped crosssectional configuration, wherein legs 24a and 24b are formed with three pairs of aligned apertures to receive pin shaft 26, and pin shafts or

rivets

44 and 46 for supporting ends of first and

second spring mechanisms

28 and 30, respectively. The base portion 24c of member 24 is formed with apertures 48 for receiving suitable fastener devices, not shown, by which cover part 12b is secured against the free edge surfaces of legs 24a and 24b.

First spring mechanism 28 includes a coil type com pression spring 50, which is arranged concentrically of a bolt 52 to bear adjacent its opposite ends of an adjustment nut 54 and a washer 56. Washer 56 is carried on one end of a resiliently deformable, plastic brake shoe 58, which is arranged concentrically of and in frictional engagement with bolt 52. The other end of shoe 58 is preferably rounded and arranged in engagement with the converging inner or hearing walls of a through bored, cup shaped member 60, which is in turn movably received within an opening 61 formed in a generally H-shaped mounting plate 62. As best shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, legs 64 of mounting plate 62 are arranged to lie within mounting flange notches 42, whereby to positionally anchor or constrain one end of spring mechanism 28 relative to housing member 20. As will be apparent from viewing the drawings, bolt 52 freely passes through member 60 and mounting plate 62, such that it is freed for reciprocating and/or rotary adjustment movements relative to housing member 20. Vertical pivotal movements of bolt 52 relative to housing member 20 is facilitated by arranging a flat rim portion of member 60 in engagement with a pair of dimples 63, which project rearwardly of mounting plate 62 in opposite directions from adjacent opening 61.

The opposite end of spring mechanism 28 is positionally fixed to nose piece 24 by freely fitting a reduced diam eter end portion of bolt 52 within a bore opening 66 formed in an adjustment connector 68; the latter being pivotal-1y mounted on the nose piece member by pin shaft 44, which is arranged essentially parallel to pin shaft 26.

As will :be apparent from viewing FIGS. 3 and 4, adjustment nut 54 is threaded onto a relatively short threaded portion 70 of bolt 52 and formed with a top edge opening slot 72, which is dimensioned to slideably receive a guide extension or finger 74 formed integrally with adjustment connector 68. As will be apparent, nut 54 may be moved lengthwise of threaded portion 70 upon rotations of bolt 52 in order to adjustably vary the extent to which spring 50 is initially compressed.

By again referring to FIG. 4, it will be appreciated that spring 50 serves to drive the round nose portion of shoe 58 into engagement with the converging inner walls of member 60, thereby squeezing the inner wall surfaces of the shoe radially inwardly into friction-bearing contact with bolt 52. The snubbing or friction braking effect generated by friction between the shoe and the bolt will be a function of the degree of compression of spring 50 and tend to oppose movement of the lid during both openings and closures thereof. Deformation of shoe 58 may be facilitated by slotting diametrically opposed wall portions of shoe 58, as at 76, except for a small web portion 78, which serves to maintain the two halves of the shoe in an integral relationship. It will be understood that the construction of shoe 58 per se forms no part of the present invention; the structure and mode of operation of such shoe having been disclosed in commonly assigned US. Pat. 3,187,374.

Second spring mechanism 30 includes a compression spring 80, which is arranged concentrically of a bolt 82 and bears adjacent its opposite ends on a bearing washer 84 and an enlarged shoulder portion of a sleeve 86. Sleeve 86 is bored to slideably receive bolt 82 and formed with a rounded end portion moveably seated within a cupshaped recess formed in a mounting plate 88; the mounting plate additionally being formed with a vertically disposed slot opening 89 for freely receiving bolt 82. As best shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 6, spring mechanism 30 is positionally anchored to housing member 20 by forming mounting plate 88 with a pair of edge notches 90, which are arranged to bear against

stops

38a and 38b; and an upper tab portion 92, which is received within slot 40. It will be apparent that with this construction, bolt 82 is supported for both reciprocation and relative vertical pivotal movement relative to housing member 20.

The opposite end of spring mechanism 30 is pivotally aflixed to nose piece member 24 by threading bolt 82 into connector 94, the latter being engaged by hearing plate 84 and pivotally mounted on the nose piece member by pin shaft 46 arranged essentially parallel pin shaft 26.

When lid 12 is in its closed position,

spring mechanisms

28 and 30 occupy the full line positions illustrated in FIG. 4, wherein each of

springs

50 and 80 is compressed; spring 50 tending to pivot the lid towards its open position illustrated in phantom and designated as 12, and spring 80 opposing spring 50 and cooperating with the weight of the lid to maintain same in fully closed position. As the lid is moved towards its open position, spring 50 is permitted to expand in a continuous manner until its associated pin shaft 44 moves into the phantom line position designated as 44' when the lid is in its open position. However, spring 80 is progressively compressed during opening movement of the lid from its closed into an intermediate position, which is determined when pin shaft 46 moves into a centered or aligned relationship relative to pin shaft 26, as indicated at 46'. As pin shaft 46 is moved over center relative to pin shaft 26 into a lid open position designated in phantom line at 46" during continued door opening movements, spring 86 is permitted to progressively expand.

In FIG. 7, the torque curves for spring 50, spring 80, lid 12 and the support (both of springs 59 and 80) are plotted in full line, whereas curves representing the snubbing effects of shoe 58 on the support curve are indicated by dashed lines. In practice, the support curve is designed to approximately match the lid curve with a view to substantially counterbalance the weight of the lid and preferably to positively bias the lid towards open position during a wide range of opening movem and the snubbing action of shoe 58, which opposes all movement of the lid, is employed in conjunction with the suP port to define a counter balance envelope to enclose the lid curve for only that portion of lid movement during which it is desired to counter balance the lid and prevent coasting thereof towards either closed or open positions. When the lid curve falls outside of the counter balance envelope, the lid is not balanced and will either fall under the influence of gravity or be propelled upwardly by the support towards open position depending upon whether the lid curve lies above or below the counter balance envelope, respectively. In the illustrated construction, the design is such that the lid curve lies above the counter balance envelope for about the last 15 of lid closing movement in order to permit the lid to fall with progressively increasing force into firmly closed position. Of course, adjustment of the initial composition of spring 50 will produce adjustments of the counter balance envelope and thus the relative ease with which the lid is opened and closed.

When the weight and/or configuration of the lid is such as to permit more accurate matching of the support and lid curves and/or lid coasting movements are not deemed undesirable, the friction shoe may be dispensed with. Moreover, in installations where uniform snubbing action is not required and/or not desired, the friction shoe may be associated with the second spring mechanism.

I claim:

1. A cover mounting combination hinge and counterbalance and motion snubbing mechanism for suspending a cover relative to a cabinet for opening movement vertically upwardly towards an operator and for closing movement vertically downwardly away from such operator, which comprises in combination:

a pair of hinge parts fixed one to each of said cover and cabinet;

hinge pin means for joining said hinge parts for relative vertical pivotal movement about an essentially horizontal hinge axis between cover open and closed positions;

first and second compression springs;

first means coupling opposite ends of said first spring one to each of said hinge parts for establishing a moment tending to continuously bias said cover upwardly towards said open position;

second means coupling opposite ends of said second spring one to each of said hinge parts for establishing first and second moments tending to alternately bias said cover towards said closed and opened positions during movements of said cover between about said closed position and an intermediate position and between about said intermediate position and said open position, respectively; and

friction means carried in operative association with one of said springs by an associated one of said first and second means for dampening movements of said cover as a function of spring compression variations of said one spring incident to cover positional changes, said moments of said first and second springs cooperating with said friction means to counter balance the torque effects of gravity on said cover throughout substantially the whole of the opening and closing movements.

2. A mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said friction means is in operative association with said first spring, said first means includes a connector having a bore opening, pin means extending essentially transversely of said bore opening for coupling said connector to one of said hinge parts for pivotal movement about an axis essentially parallel to said hinge axis, an aprtured member defining a converging bearing surface, means for positionally mounting said apertured member relative to the other of said hinge parts, a bolt having one end extending freely through said apertured member and having another end rotatably supported within said bore opening, and a plate threadably carried by said bolt adjacent said other end thereof whereby to permit adjustments of said plate lengthwise of said bolt towards and away from said connector; said friction means is resiliently deformable and arranged in frictional engagement with said bolt intermediate said apertured member and said plate; and said first spring is arranged essentially concentrically of said bolt to bear adjacent opposte ends thereof on said plate and said friction means whereby adjustments of said plate varies compression of said first spring and said friction means is biased by said first spring into engagement with said converging bearing surface and thereby into frictional engagement wtih said rod.

3. A mechanism according to claim 2, wherein said second means includes a second connector, second pin means for connecting said second connector to said one hinge part for pivotal movement about a second axis essentially parallel to said hinge axis, a second bolt fixed adjacent one end thereof to said second connector, a sleeve having an opening therethrough to slideably support another end of said second bolt, and means for positionally mounting said sleeve relative to said other hinge part; and said second spring is arranged essentially concentrically of said second rod to bear adjacent opposite ends thereof on said second connector and said sleeve.

4. A cover mounting combination hinge and counterbalnce and motion snubbing mechanism for suspending a cover relative to a cabinet for opening movement vertically upwardly towards an operator and for closing movement vertically downwardly away from such operator, said cover being characterized as being of generally L- shaped configuration having base and upstanding portions disposed essentially horizontal and vertical, respectively, when said cover is in its closed position, said mechanism comprising in combination:

a generally horizontally extending first hinge part fixed to said cabinet;

a generally vertically extending second hinge part fixed to said upstanding portion of said cover;

hinge pin means for joining an upper end of said second hinge part to said first hinge part for vertical pivotal movement about an essentially horizontally disposed hinge axis between cover open and closed positions,'said axis extending transversely of said first hinge part intermediate front and rear ends thereof;

a first spring device including a bolt, a connector having a guide projection and means to support one end of said bolt for free rotational movement about an axis extending co-directionally with said guide projection, connector pin means extending essentially transversely of said bolt rotational axis for connecting said connector to said second hinge part for pivotal movement about an axis essentially parallel to said hinge axis, an apertured plate defining a converging bearing surface, a mounting plate carried by said front end of said first hinge part and supporting said apertured member for vertical tilting movement, said apertured member and said mounting plate freely receiving an opposite end of said bolt, an adjustment plate threadably carried by said bolt adjacent said one end thereof and slideably engaging said guide projection whereby upon rotation of said bolt said adjustment plate is caused to reciprocate lengthwise of said bolt towards and away from said connector, a resiliently deformable friction sleeve arranged in frictional engagement with said bolt intermediate said apertured member and said adjustment plate, and a first coil compression spring arranged concentrically of said bolt to bear adjacent opposite ends thereof on said adjustment plate and said friction sleeve whereby said friction sleeve is biased by said spring into engagement with said converging bearing surface and thereby into frictional engagement with said bolt,

said connector pin means being arranged to move from a position in front of and above said hinge axis when said cover is in closed position over said hinge axis and into a position in back of and above said hinge axis when said cover is in open position whereby to permit said spring to establish a moment tending to continuously bias said cover upwardly towards said open position; and second spring device including a second connector, second pin means for connecting said second connector to said second hinge part for pivotal movement about a second axis essentially parallel to said hinge axis, a second bolt fixed adjacent one end thereof to said second connector, a sleeve device having an opening therethrough for slideably supporting another end of said second bolt, a second mounting plate means mounted on another of said rear end of said first hinge part for end supporting said sleeve device for vertical movement relative thereto, and a second coil compression spring arranged concentrically of said second bolt to bear adjacent opposite ends thereof on said second connector and said sleeve device, said second pin means being arranged to move from a position to the rear of and above said hinge axis when said cover is in closed position rearwardly of said hinge axis and into a position below said hinge axis when said cover is in closed position whereby to permit said second spring to establish first and second movements tending to alternately bias said cover towards closed and opened positions during movements of said cover between about said closed position and an intermediate position and between about said intermediate position and said open position, respectively, said moments established by said first and second springs cooperating to produce a support moment counterbalancing the torque effects of gravity on said cover throughout substantially the whole of the opening and closing movements thereof, and said support moment being opposed by friction between said sleeve and said bolt for dampening movements of said cover as a function of compression variations of said first spring incident to cover positional changes.

5. A cover mounting combination hinge and counterbalance mechanism for suspending a cover relative to a cabinet for opening movement vertically upwardly towards an operator and for closing movement vertically downwardly away from such operator, which comprises in combination:

a pair of hinge parts fixed one to each of said cover and cabinet;

hinge pin means for joining said hinge parts for relative vertical pivotal movement about an essentially horizontal hinge axis between cover open and closed po- 55 sitions;

first and second compression springs; first means coupling opposite ends of said first spring one to each of said hinge parts for establishing a moment tending to continuously bias said cover up- 60 wardly towards said open position; and

second means coupling opposite ends of said second spring one to each of said hinge parts for establishing first and second moments tending to alternately bias said cover towards said closed and opened positions during movements of said cover between about said closed position and an intermediate position and between about said intermediate position and said open position, respectively, said moments of said first and second springs cooperating to produce a support moment counter balancing the torque effects of gravity on said cover throughout substantially the whole of the opening and closing movements.

6. A mechanism according to claim 5, wherein said first means includes a connector having a bore opening, pin 75 means extending essentially transversely of said bore opening for coupling said connector to one of said hinge parts for pivotal movement about an axis essentially parallel to said hinge axis, constraining means tiltably mounted on the other of said hinge parts, a bolt having one end extending freely through said constraining means and having another end rotatably supported Within said bore opening, and a plate threadably carried by said bolt adjacent said other end thereof whereby to permit adjustments of said plate lengthwise of said bolt towards and away from said connectors, said first spring is arranged essentially concentrically of said bolt to bear adjacent opposite ends thereof on said plate and said constraining means whereby adjustments of said plate vary compression of said first spring.

7. A mechanism according to claim 6, wherein said connector includes a gmide projection extending codirectionally with said bore opening thereof, and said plate is arranged for sliding engagement with said guide projection,

whereby upon rotation of said bolt said plate is caused to reciprocate lengthwise of said bolt.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner P. A. ASCHENBRENNER, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 16-85; 49-386