Oven door hinge

In a domestic range having a generally cubical oven cavity with an open face closable by a pivotally movable generally rectangular oven door mounted on the range by a pair of hinge mechanisms each located at a respective one of the lower corners of the oven door, each hinge mechanism including:

• a mounting plate fixed to the front wall of the range body, the mounting plate supporting a roller, the roller being located generally at the mid-portion of the mounting plate and inboard of the front wall of the range body, the roller being fixed relative to the mounting plate, the axis of rotation of the roller extending generally parallel to the front wall of the range body;
• an elongated hinge link having one end pivotally mounted to and supported by the mounting plate at a location below the mounting plate supported roller, the hinge link being pivotally movable toward and away from the roller, the movement of the link being in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the roller;
• a hinge blade configured as a bell crank pivotally mounted to the hinge link at a location spaced from its pivotally mounted end, pivotal movement of the hinge blade relative to the hinge link being in said plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the roller, one arm of the bell crank configured hinge blade extending toward the roller and engageable with it as the hinge link pivotally moves toward and away from the roller, said one arm being spring-biased toward the roller, said one arm including a recess sized to receive the roller, the other arm of the bell crank configured hinge blade longitudinally extending generally along at least a portion of the longitudinal extent of the hinge link wherein generally axial alignment of said other arm is maintained by stop means carried by the oven door to limit the pivotal range of movement of the bell crank configured hinge blade relative to the hinge link wherein the recess provided by said spring-biased arm is held out of engagement with the roller, the recess and the roller being in aligned condition when the oven door is in a partially open condition, removal of the oven door to said partially open position moving said stop means out of interfering relation with said other arm to permit said other arm to move to a non-axial aligned position with the hinge link wherein the roller engages the recess to lock the hinge at said partially open position.