I’m at a hospital emergency room and I noticed that the doors seem to have dual hinges. What’s the purpose/advantage of something like this?
Is is possible those hinges allow a wider opening (for a large cart to go through) than ordinary hinges?
Well, it’s so you can go either way through the door. But more-
It’s so you push either way through the door while your hands are dealing with a medical emergency. But more-
It’s so you can push either way through the door without compromising sterility.
It has the disadvantage that you need to keep clear the area so that the door can swing both ways. 1940’s hospitals were often built with very wide corridors and lots of open space, both because of archaic traditions about miasma and light, and so that people could be kept at COVID-19 distances from each other and touching could be avoided. Modern hospitals are often built with cheaper use of space.
That particular double hinge allows the door to be swung completely clear of the doorway.
I’ll buy the last part. The door is like any other door in every respect. It has a jam and doesn’t open both ways. It might allow a little more room but not very much. The door in the picture is almost completely open.
On further examination, I think the picture depicts an extended hinge. Normally used when you want a gate to swing up (and away from the ground), or where the post is not vertical.
Thanks. I googled “extended hinge” and it took me to a Lowe’s ad that says:
“Designed to swing doors completely clear of opening when door is opened 90°”
It doesn’t give much extra space but it’s a cheap enough solution that it can’t hurt.
Not quite a parliament hinge but same principle, to allow the door hinges not to stick into the door frame where they could snag on trolleys.
Yes, it means that you can buy door jambs based on your hospital bed/janitorial equipment/crash cart/etc. sizes, or vice versa, because you know that the door won’t cut into the space. And/or that you can put your doorways close to the corner of the room, since the door doesn’t have to swing to near 180° to achieve the same effect. Plus, if fire code requires that passages be of a certain size, this makes it easier to meet that spec.
I have a doorway in my house that not quite far enough from the corner of the room, so it can only be opened to about 110°. At that angle, the thickness of the door still projects into the opening. I have a rolling cart that is smaller than the jamb space, but won’t go through that doorway unless I take the door off its hinges.
My sofa and loveseat are the same- just the right size to go through the doorjamb, but the door itself is in the way, and has to be removed from the hinges to get them through.
This is by no means a two way hinge. These doors can only open in one direction. Nor is there anything about this hinge system that makes it easier to open doors if one’s hands are full.
As mentioned above it is a simple offset so opened door is clear of jamb opening.
Yep.
I have a pantry with shelves that pull out like these and the contractor installed these type of hinges on the door so it wouldn’t get in the way of the shelves.
Hope everything is okay!
Thanks. Unfortunately my FIL has been diagnosed with blood clots in his lungs. Then I had to take my wife to her doctor where we learned that there’s about an 80% chance she has ovarian cancer. She has a tumor in her abdomen about the size of a basketball.
All in all, today has really sucked.
Very sorry to hear it. Sounds like a rough day for all of you.
Hope everything goes well.
As others say - so the door opens wide (in a corridor) so the opening is the size of the jamb, not constricted by the door.
Also, a safety measure… the edge of the door is fairly sharp, while the metal door frame looks rounded. So the door not projecting into opening reduces the risk of serious scrapes (but not crushes) if trying to carry/push a load through the opening. Watch your fingers…