Pantographing Hinge

Did you try a google search for pantograph hinge?

yup. I am actually in the final stages of the design and prototyping of a 'one-off' hinge for a specific application. I am curious about how other people have solved some of the issues.

I'd go for a CAD solution... that's Cardboard Aided Design .

The lever mechanism on this device was done that way...

Del

Yeah, mock up is your friend! I attached a few screenshots of what I have. This part has been run through collision detection and motion prediction programs. Just curious if anyone has come up with more elegant solutions, interesting solutions, etc.

Globalspec and search on; hinge ?

Try Soss. They make concealed hinges which are invisible from either side of a door when it is closed, yet pantograph to give the effect of an exposed hinge barrel. They may have what you want (even have spring closers for them).

--JMM

Please refer to the following sites (there are a lot of sites from Google, just write Pantograph):

- Pantographs

- Pantographs

- Pantograph - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

- Pantograph (rail) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Good Morning,

(well, it is here), and thank you to all of you who have taken the time to respond and share these resources. As you have probably noticed, most of the pantographs shown, are just that pantographs. They maintain the geometric relationship between the two ends. A pantographing hinge in the sense that I am building, maintains that relationship, while also rotating one end around the fixed pivot point. That way a door, for example, can open and move to the side without swinging out into a passage, or if the space is lacking. I have a short animation of this hinge, but I am not sure if I can post it here. Here is a link to a hinge which would have met our needs except for the 5 figure price tag http://www.freemanmarine.com/Doors1400 PHinge.htm.

I do not know if I understood all your problem but if you are concerned with an only translation you can use 2 equal arms placed at equal distances as the left sketch shows it and if you want to combine with an angular movement you can use the approach in the right sketch. Your problem is the deformation of a quadrilater which either a parallelogram (ie the sides are parallel by pairs) or a general quadrilater. Playing with the values of Y, L and the ration of the 2 radiuses you can get the movement you want. It is easy to make an XLS programme to compute the positions considering that L is constant and its ends move on 2 circles.

I hope it will help. Sorry for the response delay but I hope it is not too late.

Hi Nick,

Thanks for putting a mathematical spin on this. The hinge pictured is what I came up with. It works quite well. The hinge unit weighs 32#. The bearings are 316ss shoulder bolts, the shoulder bushings are oil impregnated UHMW. The whole system is working quite well.

Its always fun to see how other people's minds approach the same problem.

The whole system is working quite well.

It's getting that quite to a very that is the darndest trouble...

Del