March is time to Spring Ahead at Guden

This past weekend was time to “spring ahead” by losing an hour and pushing the clock ahead, and if you’re reading this and just remembering to do it, well you’re probably almost late for work this Monday morning.  So speaking of Spring, lets talk about spring hinges!  We have two types, spring to open, and spring to close.  But the words “open” or “close” don’t necessarily mean what the hinge will do for the door, but just what the installed hinge springs will do to the rotation of the hinge leaves.  So to help clear up what you need to know to specify the right type of spring hinge, lets have a look at a couple side view shots.

Above is a spring to open hinge.  This spring is installed to push the leaves of the hinge apart, or to push the hinge “open”.  You can tell this by seeing the spring legs on the same side of the leaf as the pin.  The action of the spring is as indicated by the directional arrows.

The opposite is true for the spring to close version.  This hinge spring is installed to push the leaves “closed” or to make them touch.  You can tell this version by the spring legs on the side of the leaves opposite of the pin.  Again, the action of the spring on the leaf rotation is indicated by the arrows.

So next time you’re designing a hinge to close or open a door, make sure you keep the action of the hinge in mind.  Knowing how you’ll mount the hinge in relation to the side of the door or frame is key to specifying whether you want a hinge that’s spring loaded to “open” or spring loaded to “close.