Austin Baer earned a patent for his design of hinge leaves with intermeshed gears in 1963. He earned a second patent, in 1968, for adding thrust bearings to his original design. The patent expired in 1985 and Hager Companies purchased Mr. Baer’s company in 1989.
The continuous hinge, with intermeshed gears and thrust bearings, allows the weight of the door to be distributed over the entire door length rather than concentrated on two or three spots as is the case with pivot or standard hinges. This provides an excellent solution to heavy traffic or abused door openings in new or existing construction.
Door openings in schools, especially gyms, receive a tremendous amount of abuse. Kids will hang off doors, kick doors, kick balls that hit doors and run into doors. The same can be said for professional or college sports facilities. Having the weight of the door dispersed the length of the door actually helps protect the opening by preventing impact shock and closer kickback.
Have you ever walked through a hospital and noticed any doors loose from the hinges? Or worse been on a gurney while being rolled through the hospital corridors and hit the doors edges? Major door abuse!
The door above has a lot going wrong. Today we are just going to focus on the damage to the door edge. Instead of replacing the existing door and/or frame installing a continuous hinge can cover the damage and reinforces the door edge, saving time and allowing the door & frame to gain more life. That saves you money.
Continuous hinges also help deter wood doors from warping. This is especially helpful when the door opening is 3’6” or 4’0” wide. No one likes sag, not even in doors.
Doors and hardware have been used to keep buildings secure since they were invented. Continuous hinges further the cause since there is no pin to remove, like a standard hinge. Prying off a continuous hinge would be near impossible since it takes 32 screws to install. It is a smart choice for the back doors of strip malls or convenience stores.
If you are feeling cold or hot air, depending on the time of year, while standing on the inside of an exterior door the opening isn’t energy efficient. Continuous hinges help close the gap between the door and frame on the hinge side. This is helpful for storefront door openings especially.
While there are several continuous hinges on the market obviously we feel we offer the best – the original continuous hinge. We offer a lifetime warranty on many of our Roton continuous hinges and can meet most door opening special requirements modifications like electronic and anti-ligature preps.
Save your door, install a Roton! Contact Hager Companies Customer Service Department for additional information at 800-255-3590.
