Long life means SELECT Hinges save you maintenance headaches and costs down the road

High-traffic entrances wear out butt and pivot hinges, causing doors to sag and drag. Building owners and maintenance staff struggle with the hassle and expense of these repeated repairs — repairs that eat into already shrinking budgets.

Geared continuous hinges, which use 38 or more fasteners to attach door to frame from top to bottom, distribute a door's weight more evenly along the frame and reduce repeated maintenance expense and hassle. They are ideal for high-traffic doors in retail storefronts, schools, convention centers, sports facilities, airports and other public buildings.

Geared continuous hinges can also salvage expensive doors and frames since the full-length hinge leaves cover up cut-outs, screw holes and door/frame damage.

Geared continuous hinge benefits

Made of extruded architectural aluminum, geared continuous hinge components mesh together under a cap that runs the length of the hinge. Hinges are available for doors 6 ft-8 in to 10 ft, with custom lengths available.

Several key features give SELECT geared continuous hinges unmatched durability and longevity for high-traffic entrances. Pair-Matched™ hinge leaves, manufactured and machined together, fit doors better and last longer. Lifetime lubrication helps reduce wear, quiets performance and eliminates periodic maintenance. Anodizing after machining delivers superior wear, durability and corrosion protection.

For architectural appearance, you can often match a custom paint color on the gear cap or the entire hinge. White gear caps are commonly in stock and custom color anodizing is also available.

To meet building fire codes, geared continuous hinges are available with up to a three-hour fire rating.

Geared continuous hinges may initially be more expensive — around $100 to $150 vs. $50 to $75 for three ball-bearing butt hinges — but geared hinge durability makes the initial investment pay back easily over the long haul.

Tested for 25 million cycles

A SELECT geared continuous hinge surpassed 25 million open/close cycles in laboratory testing — equivalent to 50 years of average high-traffic entrance use — which is 10 times beyond the Grade 1 cycle count. The ANSI Physical Endurance test, conducted at Architectural Testing, Inc. in St. Paul, Minn., mounted a full-mortise geared continuous hinge on a standard FRP door to simulate a real-world situation. The hinge completed the 25 million cycles with no loss in performance and a measurable drop of only 0.03 in.

Ballistic Resistance (BR) Test and Forced Entry (FE) Test — U.S. Department of State (DOS) Approved

The U.S. DOS approved a SELECT geared continuous hinge for use in its embassies overseas to protect workers from an angry mob or terrorist attack based on tests conducted at H.P. White Laboratory, Inc. in Street, Md.

In the first test, attackers fired eight shots from high-powered military rifles directly at the hinge from 20 feet away. All bullets were stopped, so the entrance was classified as "no penetration."

Next, attackers used every means at their disposal — 10 and 12 lb sledgehammers, a 9 x 2-1/2 in wood-splitting wedge, 1 in and 3/4 in cold chisels, pry bars, plus other tools — to gain entry. After separate attacks lasting one hour, none had penetrated.

As a result, the SELECT geared hinge earned 60-minute BR and FE certification and this model of hinge is now approved for use on all DOS doors.

The green hinge

Because SELECT hinges last longer on high-traffic doors than butt or pivot hinges, they save the materials and energy needed to produce years of replacement hinges. Their 50-plus-year lifespan means no metal will end up in a landfill because you wouldn't need to discard any hinges. No doors need to be discarded or replacements manufactured either, since no hinges will wear out and cause door damage. Plus, they'll save the energy from lost heating and cooling due to bad hinges causing doors to not seal properly. They are a hassle-free way to make buildings greener, and reduce maintenance worries and budgets.

Applications

Geared continuous hinges provide a strong solution to high-traffic entrances. Geared hinges stand the test of time, and even stand the test of cycles, sledgehammers and high-powered gunfire.