Infinite position door hold-open

• US 4,332,056 A
• Filed: 08/08/1980
• Issued: 06/01/1982
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/1980
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: General Motors Corporation (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Original Assignee: General Motors Corporation (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Inventors: Griffin, Henry W., Hollar, Arthur W. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Reynolds, Wm. Carter
• Application Number:
  US06/176,414
• Time in Patent Office: 662 Days
• Field of Search: 16/140, 16/141, 16/142, 16/144, 16/145, 16/146, 16/154, 16/341, 16/347
• US Class Current: 16/341
• CPC Class Codes: E05D 11/1071 specially adapted for vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/21 Brakes
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2900/531 Doors

Abstract

The free end of an arm rotatable with one hinge member contains a roller receiving cavity which opens to an arcuate friction layer on the other hinge member which is disposed about the axis of relative rotation of the hinge members. A spring biased double faced wedging member is movable into and out of the center of the cavity and each face of the member is respective to a semi-cylindrical roller retention surface of the cavity. One face is more steeply sloped than the other. When the hinge members are in door closed position the less steeply sloped face resiliently holds a cylindrical roller against a roller retention surface and the friction layer. As the hinge members rotate toward door open position, the cylindrical roller rotates along the friction layer, past the less steeply sloped face, and into rolling contact with the other retention surface and friction layer under the bias of the more steeply sloped face. When the hinge members move to the desired door open position, a slight reversal thereof causes the more steeply sloped face to force the roller into the friction layer and roller retention surface to provide a hold-open.

Claims

1. In combination with a vehicle having a door, an infinite position door hold-open comprising,

a pair of hinge members rotatable relative to another for mounting the door on the vehicle body for movement between open and closed positions,

one hinge member including an arcuate friction layer radially disposed about the axis of the hinge members,

the other hinge member including therein a cavity which opens to the friction layer and includes a spaced pair of roller retention surfaces,

a roller which rolls in the cavity along the friction layer from engagement with one retention surface to the other during door opening and closing movement,

and resilient biasing means included on the other hinge member and including a wedging member face resiliently wedging the roller against the friction layer and one of the retention surfaces as the door is initially moved in a closing direction from the fully open position to provide a hold-open.

2. An infinite position door hold-open comprising,

a pair of hinge members rotatable relative to one another between open and closed positions,

one hinge member including an arcuate friction layer disposed radially about the axis of relative rotation of the hinge members,

the other hinge member including a cavity opening to the friction layer and bounded at its opposite ends by a pair of roller engaging surfaces,

a roller contained in the cavity in frictional engagement with the friction layer for rolling movement along the friction layer by alternate ones of the roller engaging surfaces during relative rotation of the hinge members,

a wedging member mounted on the other hinge member and including a pair of intersecting faces sloped in opposite directions with respect to the friction layer, each face being respective to one of the roller engaging surfaces and being in tangential engagement with the roller when it is in contact with the respective roller engaging surface,

means associated with the other hinge member to resiliently bias the wedging member faces into the roller and the roller into the respective roller engaging surface and the friction layer,

the roller moving along the engaged face to compress the wedging member and move past the intersection of the faces into engagement with the other face and its respective roller engaging surface upon the initial rotation of the hinge members in an opening direction,

the other face wedging the roller against the friction surface and its respective roller engaging surface upon a reversal of the direction of relative rotation of the hinge members to provide a hold-open.

3. An infinite position door hold-open for a vehicle having a pair of relatively rotatable hinge members mounting a door on the vehicle for rotation between closed and open positions, comprising,

an arcuate member associated with one hinge member and disposed about an arc of relative rotation of the hinge members with a friction layer on the surface of the arcuate member,

an arm associated with the other hinge member and rotatable therewith, a free end of which rotates concentrically with the arcuate member and further includes a roller receiving cavity open to the friction layer,

a wedging member associated with the arm and movable transversely into and out of the roller receiving cavity and including an intersecting pair of faces sloped in opposite directions with respect to the friction layer, one face being more steeply sloped than the other,

the free end of the arm also comprising a pair of roller retention surfaces, a first surface being respective to the less steeply sloped wedging member face and a second surface respective to the more steeply sloped wedging member face,

a cylindrical roller biased by the less steeply sloped wedging member face into the first roller retention surface and the friction layer when the door is in the closed position, the roller rolling along the friction layer and moving out of engagement with the first roller retention surface and past the less steeply sloped wedging member face into engagement with the more steeply sloped wedging member and second roller retention surface as the door is opened, the roller continuing to roll along the friction layer and slidably rolling with respect to the more steeply sloped wedging member face and the second roller retention surface until the fully open position of the door is reached,

the roller then being biased into the second roller retention surface and the friction layer by the more steeply sloped wedging member face as the direction of door movement is incrementally changed toward the closed position, the slope of the more steeply sloped wedging member face, coefficient of friction of the friction layer and the strength of the biasing means being chosen so that the roller will not move past the more steeply sloped wedging member face without the application of sufficient force by the door operator, thus providing a hold-open.