The NSDX Soft-Down Stay seen folded inside a perspex cabinet
The UDH-16 rotary hydraulic damper – soft closing a loo seat near you!
This shallow vanity table would have no space for a conventional stay
The HG JHM16 is discreet and effective – black or white covers are available
Chart table lids that don’t slam down in a squall are a positive safety feature in a yacht
Sugatsune hydraulically door stay damper has become a standard fit item for quality furniture manufacturers the world over.
NSDX Soft-Down Stay – incredibly reliable
The mechanical stay is attached to a rotary damper, a combination which allows speed adjustment and is surprisingly robust – the NSDX range has experienced no known failures despite having shipped over 3 million units.
UDH Torque Dampers – long service in loo seats
However every now and then designers want a damped motion but the stay is either inappropriate or just plain won’t fit. Sugatsune has long supplied a capsule damper which you’ll have come across if you’ve ever used a loo seat with a soft down motion. The little capsule, about the size of a bullet, is called a UDH damper and comes in a range of torques and has been used in applications where no stay is wanted. It too is very robust having to pass 70,000 cycles in testing for the sanitary industry. However it needs to be part of a hinge assembly which puts it beyond the average cabinet maker.
Worlds first stayless damper hinge
Responding to requests from customers Sugatsune has now engineered the HG JHM16, a mortice mounted hinge with an integral rotary damper, which turns out to be the worlds first stayless damper to reach the market.
Initial applications include a vanity cabinet where the lid encloses a shallow space beneath, large enough for lipstick and powder but not for a soft down stay! Whilst the benefit here is the quiet closing there are definite Health and Safety implications which are leading the HG JHM16 to being used in Hotel concierges desks, where a crushed finger could lead to a compensation claim.
Dampers that prevents injury in yachts
Marine interior designers always snap up the latest innovations from the Kitchen Bedroom and Bathroom market where features that have aesthetic appeal in the kitchen are of real practical benefit on a yacht rolling in the swell. Many of our marine customers are beginning to specify the HG JHM16 for chart tables. The damped motion prevents the lid from accidentally slamming down: regardless of how the boat is pitching the lid will close quietly and smoothly.
Hi-tech executive market
A new low torque version is soon to arrive that is earmarked for a very particular market, pop up utility panels for boardroom tables with network and power connections. These devices are becoming very popular, in this case the damped hinge is used to bring style-driven soft-closing to the hushed environment of the boardroom.
