Weber Knapp Blog

As a kid, you might have marveled at the flip-up bar countertop at your parents’ favorite restaurant. But a lot has changed since then, and bar lift gates have improved significantly. 

Product makers who want to take their design to another level have more motion control options than ever.

Your manufacturer can now apply hinge solutions in a variety of innovative ways, making your product easier to use and safer at the same time. The right hinge design can, among other things:

Today’s hinges make life much easier and more comfortable. We have progressed so far from just a plain, 'ol door hinge to advanced solutions for kinematic motion, mechanical spring counterbalance, and spring assist technologies. 

The most durable and versatile products can turn out to be intimidating to the user if the wrong heavy-duty spring hinges are used. Ask anyone who lifts heavy lids all day — spring-assisted hinges are necessary for the safety and efficiency of your staff.

Customer expectations can certainly change in a 112-year span.

If you’ve ever been to a military museum, you may have taken a tour of a tank or an armored truck. The huge hatches on those vehicles are very heavy -- if you’ve lifted one, you know what we’re talking about. 

While some industries have been using motion control solutions for years, other industries could still benefit from modern hinge designs – ceramics being one of them. 

When people think of the term engineering, things like rockets or skyscrapers come to mind. But not all engineering is about building massive structures or traveling into space. 

Some engineers focus on the little details that take a customer’s product from ho-hum to high-end.

We spoke with Erik Dahlgren, the Director of Manufacturing Engineering at Weber Knapp, to find out how those little details can be a game-changer for a customer’s product.

If you’ve been following our blog you’re already familiar with Vectis™ Springloaded Counterbalanced Hinges and what they can offer but, maybe you still aren’t sure what applications they can really be used for or, maybe you’re just landing on our website and getting to know Vectis™. So, in the spirit of sharing our counterbalance knowledge, we’ve tasked our very creative Design Engineers with imagining an application using Vectis™ Hinges and bringing that application to “life” in order to show you some of the countless applications these counterbalance hinges can be used on. Following you’ll find four applications that are perfect for Vectis™ hinges as imagined by our engineering thinkers, dreamers, and inventors:

The Dresser with a Hidden Surprise

The Vectis™ team traveled to Atlanta, GA to attend the 2017 Hearth, Patio, & Barbecue Associations HPBExpo – North America’s largest indoor-outdoor living showcase.