ARISTO hinges
A furniture hinge and hanging and opening mechanism were invented before the War by an Italian named Arturo Salice.
This hinge is made of a case with a mechanism consisting of two levers. One side of each lever is rigidly fixed on the case with a pivot; the other holds the cup that is mounted into the hole on the reverse side of the door to be opened.
The mechanism is designed in a way to allow only two fixed positions of the levers; in this positions the cup is either parallel or perpendicular to the case. The design of the mechanism that moves the levers into these two extreme positions from any intermediate positions is various. Initially it was made as two spiral springs to be later replaced with more compact flat ones. Force of these springs securely holds doors in a closed position tight to the furniture. Some hinge designs allow adjusting this force.
The hinge case with a cup is attached to so-called mounting pad of the hinge, which is fixed on the vertical side wall of the furniture framework. The mounting pad initially looked like a flat-top section part fixed perpendicularly to the edge of the vertical furniture wall. Further they started making them as a metal bar molded of plastic or light alloy. Nowadays the majority of hinges have mounting pads furnished with two side ridges to fix them (cross mounting pad). These two ridges ensure free adjustment movement of the whole hinge along the furniture side edge what was impossible before.
A hinge case with a cup and mounting pad is usually connected with a fastening screw screwed into a strike. The hinge is moved onto a mounting pad so, that the fastening screw slides in the hole on the end of the hinge shoulder and then pressed by this very screw. The height of the hinge case in relation to the side wall of the furniture unit is adjusted by a different screw on the hinge case; this screw either is presses against the mounting pad or enters into the hole in it. There are many hinge designs that ensures fast connection of the hinge case with a strike by a latch (fast mounting system).
