US 5,394,913 A · Hinge for personal leather goods

Abstract

Personal leather goods (PLG's) such as wallets, billfolds, pocket calendars have a portion which is required to bend repeatedly. This bending causes cracking and extreme wear which adversely affects the looks of the item and reduces its useful life. Disclosed is a mechanical hinge which attaches to leather-like panels of such PLG's. The hinge includes a set of interleaving knuckles of relatively soft material which form an axial bore along the length of the hinge, the bore receiving a thin pintle made of a relatively stiff but resilient material. The pintle is shorter than the axial length of the bore and is held into the bore by end caps, either separately applied or integrally formed with the hinge leaf. The leaves of the hinge have an overall curving shape having a concave side and convex side to permit the panels to which the hinges attached to remain parallel when materials are received between them. Alternative constructions are shown, including a third panel comprising a paper binder-like spine or a body made of a series of independently attached knuckles and tubular body portions which in turn forms a second, expandable hinge-like body.

Claims29

Dependent claims

A hinge for personal leather goods comprising

a pintle,
a first hinge leaf,
a second hinge leaf, each leaf having a body portion,
a series of knuckles spaced along one edge of each said body portion, said knuckles being spaced from one another to permit the knuckles of each leaf to be interlaced with the other,
said hinge knuckles including axially aligned bores which, when said knuckles are interlaced, define a hinge bore dimensioned to receive said pintle,
a first knuckle adjacent an end of each said hinge leaf being positioned axially inward from the end of said hinge leaf and cooperating when said knuckles are interlaced to form a space between the end of the hinge leaf and said first knuckle,
said hinge further comprising an end cap, the end cap including a cover having an axial dimension sized to fit flush within said space, said end cap being normally positioned in said space with said axial dimension in alignment with said hinge bore, said end cap further having means for affixing said end cap to said hinge,
whereby said pintle is held in said hinge bore by said end cap, and said end cap is substantially flush in said space.

5 more elements

A small container having at least a major surface covered with a material selected from a group consisting of leather and artificial leather and usually carried by a person and used to organize or protect that person's effects contained therein, said container including at least a pair of panels which hinge relative to one another to permit access to said person's effects contained between said pair of panels comprising

a layer of a material selected from leather and artificial leather on one major surface of at least one panel of said pair of panels fastened to a liner on the other major surface so as to form an elongated pocket along one edge thereof, and
a hinge having a first leaf with a series of spaced knuckles along one longitudinal dimension parallel to said one edge, a pintle, and a tongue extending along said one longitudinal dimension into said pocket, said series of knuckles engaging a second set of knuckles carried on a second panel of said pair of panels to define a hinge bore having an overall axial dimension therethrough with said pintle passing through said hinge bore, said first leaf being made of a resilient, flexible material which complements the flexibility and resilience of said first panel when said first panel is attached to said leaf, said knuckles being attached one to another by said pintle, said pintle being substantially stiffer than said leaf, said pintle having a length substantially shorter than the overall axial dimension of said bore, said hinge further including means for capturing said relatively stiffer pintle in said bore, said means being located at each end of said hinge bore.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Hinge for personal leather goods

Life of this patent

Hinge for personal leather goods

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims29