Article including an integrally molded ball and socket type hinge

DETAILED DESCRIPTION This invention relates to an article having two sections articulated to one another by at least one hinge.
The hinge is of the ball and socket type, and includes a substantially spherical male hinge member disposed within a recess provided by a surface of a female hinge member.
The female hinge member includes retaining means for confining the male hinge member within the recess while permitting rotational motion of the male hinge member within said recess.
The male hinge member is a molded extension of one section of the article, and the female hinge member is a continuous molded extension of another section of the article.
To the best of applicant's knowledge no one in the prior art has suggested a rigid molded article having two sections connected together by a ball and socket-type of hinge in which a female hinge member is an injection molded extension of one section, a substantially spherical male hinge member is an injection molded extension of the other section, and the male and female hinge members are in operative engagement with each other.
In a preferred embodiment of this invention the two sections of the article are articulated to one another by at least two of the above-described ball and socket-type hinges.
These hinges are laterally spaced with respect to each other to provide a linear axis of rotation between the two sections.
Preferably, the retaining means for confining the substantially spherical male hinge member within the recess of the female hinge member includes ribs forming injection molded junctions with the outer periphery of the male hinge member and the surface providing the recess of the female hinge member in the "as molded" condition of the article.
By applying a rotative force to the sections of the article the ribs are caused to fracture adjacent their junction with the spherical male hinge member.
The fractured junctions of the ribs constitute an inner race which closely circumscribes the substantially spherical male hinge member to confine it to rotative motion within the recess of the female hinge member