Hinges - Roton

Roton hinges are produced by Hager.

A Roton hinge is a continuous geared hinge that runs along the full height of a door.

This provides the door with the full support of the frame, as opposed to standard hinges that form 3 "pressure points" in an opening.

To fully understand the advantages of a geared hinge you'll need to compare it with a standard installation using butt hinges (fig. A).  The 3 hinges place pressure on the door frame as indicated in the drawing.

Now compare this with the way the load is distributed with a geared hinge (fig. B), along the full height of the opening.

It's easy to see how the load is spread along the total height of the opening, reducing the pressure applied to any given point.

High traffic doors and those in abusive applications are ideal candidates for geared hinges.  What most people don't know is a Roton hinge can actually be used to rehabilitate a sagging door.  You can apply a Roton hinge to an opening that resembles Figure A and repair the opening at a reasonable cost.

In fact, years ago Roton hinges were primarily used to repair openings.  Today, both architects and building owners understand the benefits of a Roton hinge and specify their use in new construction.

In general, the life of any hinge is measured by wear, which is related to the product of the door weight multiplied by number of cycles of operation. Consideration should be given to the design of the door itself, selecting, where possible, an appropriately high strength-to-weight ratio, low inertia door construction for ease of operation, high performance and safety.

Roton builds hinges in five basic application ranges as explained below:

• 750 Series (Residential Grade)
• 780 Series (Standard Duty – Commercial Grade)
  
• 780 HD (Heavy Duty – Commercial Grade)
  
• 780 LL (Lead Lined – Commercial Grade)
  
• 780 Series (Fire Ratings – Commercial Grade)

1. All 750 Series Roton Hinges are manufactured with thrust bearings spaced along the hinge length on 10-1/4" centers.  A typical 750 Series 83" Roton Hinge carries the door weight on EIGHT bearings. 750 Series hinges are recommended for use at moderate frequencies with interior solid core wood doors up to 100 lbs., or in low frequency applications to 150 lbs. This series is ideal for residential applications or commercial interior. This series is not intended for hollow metal openings or exterior entranceways, except in private residential applications.

2. All 780 Standard Duty Series Roton Hinges are manufactured with thrust bearings spaced along the hinge length on 5-1/8" centers. A typical 780 Series 83" Roton Hinge carries the door weight on SIXTEEN bearings. The cover channel, the bearing spacings and screw fastener locations are designed for heavier loads than hinges in the 750 Series.

3. All 780 "HD" Series Roton Hinges are manufactured with thrust bearings spaced along the hinge length on 2-9/16" centers. A typical "HD" Series 83" Roton Hinge carries the door weight on THIRTY-TWO bearings. These hinges are supplied with staggered screw holes to suit heavy-duty applications such as high traffic entrance ways, classroom doors, stairwell doors, etc. These hinges are suffixed "HD" for Heavy Duty.

Quick Tip

Hager's web site has a ton of product data and PDF help files for Roton.

An opening that is being rehabilitated will most often use a fully surface mounted hinge. New construction is more apt to take a hinge style that is either fully concealed or 1/2 concealed.

Below is a blow up of a fully surface mounted hinge. It is the most popular model of this style hinge: 780-210. This model may be ordered in the standard version, or a heavy duty version by adding ''HD'' to the model: 780-210HD.