A dual hinge assembly for removably attaching a lid to a container, wherein:
- the container is a box in the form of a rectangular prism with an open top,
- said container comprising
- a horizontal rectangular base with four sides, said base having a length corresponding to its two long sides and a width corresponding to its two short sides, and further comprising
- four walls rising vertically from the four sides of the base, the four walls comprising a front wall on one long side of the base and a back wall the other long side, and a left wall and a right wall on the two short sides, said four walls having a common fixed height and each of the four walls having an exposed top edge, said top edges bounding the open top of the container, and
- the lid is rectangular in shape with the same length and width as the base, said lid, when in a horizontal position, having a top surface that is flat and a bottom surface that is flat, said lid having a closed position wherein
- said closed lid is horizontal and covers the open top of the container,
- and wherein
- said closed lid has a back edge that aligns with the top edge of the back wall of the container, and wherein
- the bottom surface of said closed lid is in physical communication with the top edges of the four walls, and wherein
- the weight of said closed lid, inclusive of any matter resting on its top surface, is borne by the top edges of the four walls,
- the hinge assembly comprising two reversibly engageable ball-and-socket hinges, being a lefthand hinge and a righthand hinge, said two hinges connecting the back edge of the closed lid to the top edge of the back wall, wherein
- the lefthand hinge is positioned on the back edge of the closed lid at a distance from the left wall, and the righthand hinge is positioned on the back edge of the closed lid at the same distance from the right wall, said distance being equal to approximately half of the width of the lid, and wherein
- each hinge comprises a ball component and a socket component,
- the ball component comprising a ball mounted on a stem rising vertically from the top edge of the back wall, the ball being spherical and the stem being cylindrical with a diameter that is smaller than the diameter of the ball, and
- the socket component comprising a hemispherical recess set into the back edge of the lid, said hemispherical recess having a circular open face that is oriented vertically and faces backwards when the lid is in the closed position, such that
- for each hinge, the ball of its ball component cospherically mates with the hemispherical recess of its socket component when the lid is in the closed position, and
- for each hinge, the socket component further comprises a slot in the bottom of its hemispherical recess to accept the stem of the ball component during such cospherical mating, and wherein
- each hinge has two possible states, being
- an engaged state wherein the ball of its ball component is cospherically mated with the hemispherical recess of its socket component, in which engaged state said hinge's socket component can rotate relative to its ball component around the vertical axis of its stem, and
- a disengaged state wherein the ball of its ball component is not cospherically mated with the hemispherical recess of its socket component, and
- each hinge further comprises a securement mechanism for releasably securing its ball within its hemispherical recess when said hinge is in the engaged state,
- said securement mechanism comprising at least one flexing member that provides a point of slidable contact on the surface of said ball to press said ball into said hemispherical recess when said hinge is in the engaged state, wherein
- said flexing member has sufficient flexure to move aside when said ball is forcibly withdrawn from said hemispherical recess, thereby allowing said hinge to transition from the engaged state to the disengaged state, and wherein
- said flexing member has sufficient flexure to move aside when said ball is forcibly inserted into said hemispherical recess, thereby allowing said hinge to transition from the disengaged state to the engaged state,
- the hinge assembly
- being operable in a lefthand direction and a righthand direction, wherein
- in the lefthand direction, the lefthand hinge is in the engaged state and the righthand hinge is in the disengaged state allowing the lid to swivel forwards and to the left in an arc of at least 90° around the vertical axis of the stem of the lefthand hinge, at which point the lid is positioned sideways over the left wall, and the open top of the container is partially exposed adjacent to the right wall, and wherein
- in the righthand direction, the righthand hinge is in the engaged state and the lefthand hinge is in the disengaged state allowing the lid to swivel forwards and to the right in an arc of at least 90° around the vertical axis of the stem of the righthand hinge, at which point the lid is positioned sideways over the right wall, and the open top of the container is partially exposed adjacent to the left wall, and
- wherein, while operating in either the lefthand direction or the righthand direction,
- the lid remains in a horizontal plane, and
- the lid remains in physical communication with portions of the top edges of at least two of the four walls, and
- the weight of the lid, inclusive of any matter resting on its top surface, is uninterruptedly borne by portions of the top edges of at least two of the four walls.