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Hidden Hinges

All About Hidden Hinges

by Charles Lewton-Brain

Hidden hinges are sometimes used on bracelets and jewelry pieces. I saw one on a
Vietnamese bracelet once and have seen several on Diamonds International pieces. The
place they pop up most frequently is in kitchen cabinets and doors on smooth surfaces
like one sees on jet planes and sometimes on the sides of ships-hatches of various kinds.
Look at these models because they are usually built to last and to be very sturdy. Kitchen
cabinet hinges are a particularly fruitful resource.

The Vietnamese bracelet’s hidden hinge can serve as a generic model for jewelry. It
should be noted that as with many fine mechanics one designs the piece first without
regard as to how it will function and then one deals with the actual solution for the
specific problem, so that every complex hinge and most fine catches differ in their
details depending upon the actual piece itself. On fine jewelry every mechanic can be
different a specific to the piece. This is why looking at models is so useful. You never
know where an idea you saw somewhere will provide a solution to a technical and
design problem you have.

The bracelet had a box catch on one side and on the opposite side where one expected
to see the tubing ends of a hinge in only a single line or crack was visible. To use it one
opened the catch, pulled slightly on the bracelet so that the hinge part slid out to the
point that it could rotate, then it rotates open to allow one to insert the wrist and close it
again.
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Hidden hinges need to bend out of the way and usually withdraw into the body of the
piece. They often involve the use of slides or double hinging in some manner. This one is
constructed with a piece of thick sheet on one side. Through the end of the thick sheet is
soldered a square hinge pin. On the other side are two pieces of strong sheet. They have
slots in them and end in a round hole. When assembled the square hinge pin just fits in
the slots and slides in and out of the body of the bracelet. When the square hinge pin
reaches the round hole it can now rotate and so the hinge operates to swing the bracelet
open. To close it one closes the bracelet and engages the box catch while at the same
time the hinge slides back out of sight into the bracelet.
 By Charles Lewton-Brain – © Brain Press Publications
All rights reserved internationally. Copyright © Charles Lewton-Brain. Users have
permission to download the information and share it as long as no money is made.
No commercial use of this information is allowed without permission in writing
from Charles Lewton-Brain.

Category:
Fabrication Articles and Videos, Hinges and Catches
" About the author

Charles Lewton-Brain

Master goldsmith Charles Lewton-Brain trained, studied and worked in Germany,

Canada and the United States to learn the skills he uses. Charles Lewton-Brain is
one of the original creators of Ganoksin.

All articles by this author

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