Position Control Hinges

Compression Latch Solutions at Innotrans

Monday, September 20, 2010 by Daniel McCourt

This week Southco will be exhibiting at the Innotrans Convention held in Berlin Germany from 21 - 24 September. Innotrans is an International Trade Fair for Transport Technology and has become established as an international industry showplace focusing on Railway Technology.

We'll can be found in Hall 3.1 Stand 220. Stop by and see what over 60 years of constant innovation in compression latch technology can do for you. Our technical staff will be on hand to answer questions and help solve the most difficult application challenges you show them.

On display will be our stainless steel compression latches, electronic access solutions, and position control technology.

We look forward to seeing you this week!

Off-highway interiors: Safety, comfort and convenience

Tuesday, June 29, 2010 by Daniel McCourt

Part 3 of a 3-part series on off-highway access components

Anyone who has spent a long day in the cab of an off-highway vehicle knows the importance of comfort, convenience and safety. So it’s not surprising that Southco has developed our products for these vehicles with ergonomics as a top priority.

Streamlined position control hinges allow for precise control of the cab environment—the perfect angle of the armrest or the most ideal position of LCD touch screens. And a broad range of access hardware means everything is securely stored and won’t go tumbling out every time you hit a bump. Southco also incorporates easy accessibility into its access hardware, so you won’t have to stretch and strain to reach to a stored item. This attention to detail plays an important role in enhancing the total experience of owning and operating off-highway vehicles.

Southco’s standard and custom designed tilt and swivel mechanisms provide multi-axis control for raising, rotating and positioning display screens. And quarter-turn fasteners range from lightweight plastic fasteners to heavy-duty stainless steel varieties so the right fastener can be found to suit your application’s requirements.

To share your thoughts on entry door solutions or learn more about Southco’s complete system offerings, email us or download your copy of our Design Guide today.

Global Positioning Technology

Thursday, May 20, 2010 by Jim Ford

A recent trip to Japan and China reminds me of an old truth. Every person and place has unique qualities, yet at their core people are more alike than not. I'd like to thank my wonderful local hosts, in all the places I visited who made an extra effort to make me feel welcome, and show me some of the things that make their countries, companies, and people special.

In customer visits, and facility tours, working with design engineers, manufacturing engineers, and sales and marketing professionals, one thing came through time and time again. Everyone has a desire for and ease of use and convenience. Where this desire meets the uniqueness of each individual - personal preference, physical size, strength, etc. - there is often a need for position control to deliver an ergonomic solution

Southco's positioning technologies, from constant torque hinges, to our new AV series Dynamic Mounting Arms are a great way to make displays, doors, and devices conform to the physical needs of the user.

Have ideas or questions on how positioning technology can enhance your product? Post your thoughts here.

Two Southco Products Named Golden Mousetrap Finalists

Wednesday, April 21, 2010 by Daniel McCourt

This week Design News announced its Annual Best New Products Awards finalists and winners. Two Southco products were named as finalists in the Fastening and Joining Category; The Electromechanical Swing Handle and the Dynamic Mounting Arm.

Southco’s H3-EM Electronic Locking Swinghandle provides efficient electronic access security to datacenter cabinets and industrial enclosures. Integrated sensors and multiple output signals provide data for both local and remote monitoring. The H3-EM can be integrated with industry standard rack monitoring solutions with a simple retrofit. The efficient microprocessor-controlled gear motor design ensures minimal power consumption and multi-event status reporting.

Southco’s AV-D30 Dynamic Mounting Arm provides integrated positioning technology that enables the arm to function efficiently in applications needing a robust, stable solution. The constant torque, user-friendly positioning features full tilt, swivel and swing out adjustments. Additionally, the arm can withstand touch forces, vibration and heavy loading.

While neither product won the category, our design teams are honored to have two of our new products selected as finalists by Design News. We look forward to competing again next year!

If you are interested in seeing any of the other 25 new latches, hinges, or fasteners that we launched in the past year, click here.

HIMSS10

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 by Maureen Donovan

Atlanta in March – a nice break from the snow and cold! Someone forgot to tell the weatherman, as two inches of snow landed on the Atlanta landscape and caused school closings, business closings, and airport craziness…

Inside the Georgia World Congress Center people seemed not to notice. HIMSS10 (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) Conference and Exhibition offered networking opportunities and over 300 educational sessions regarding the latest solutions for improving healthcare through IT, including EHRs and HIPPA requirements.

The halls seemed to go on forever, with more than 900 exhibiting companies showing their latest innovations including medical carts, cabinets, software, networks, and security solutions to name a few. The 27,000+ attendees walked the show, visited booths, played video golf, and Rock Band, and possibly even stopped by the well-attended daily happy hour at a booth I won’t mention by name.

As I walked the show, the applications I saw were endless. Carts galore – from simple mobile workstations to very complex medication dispensing carts with electronic latching and full audit trail capability – most with Southco solutions! There were also many storage cabinets used for equipment, supplies and medications, again using Southco latches and hinges for a distinctive look and feel. Electronic access solutions seemed of great interest to nearly everyone we talked to as hospitals strive to ensure patient safety and privacy, while keeping medications controlled. On many occasions I found our electronic rotary latches and electronic strikes on applications at the conference. Which makes sense since I have often seen our design engineer’s workstations filled with pieces of medical equipment that they are developing new products for.

As the day went on my legs grew tired and I knew I had to refresh… a quick game of pop-a-shot and a Red Bull later, I was ready to explore again! And what did I find, but opportunities for Southco positioning control technology all over the expo. Ergonomics was on the top of everyone’s mind. The need to position monitors, devices and other medical equipment is vital to doctors, nurses and technicians work and companies are dedicating major resources to improving this area. There was a lot of interest in our new Dynamic Mounting Arm that allows easy positioning of screens and monitors. In addition to the Arm, our positioning control hinges will improve the flexibility of all kinds of medical equipment including wall mounts, cart monitors and even hand-held medical devices.

Well, I must close now… there is a lot of follow-up to be done for this fantastic show. Hope to see you next year in Orlando with Mickey!

HIMSS10 - Healthcare IT Conference and Exhibition

Monday, March 1, 2010 by Daniel McCourt

Starting today, March 1st, and running through Wednesday, March 4th, our design and business teams will be attending the HIMSS10-Healthcare IT Conference and Exhibition in Atlanta, Georgia. They will be walking the show and talking with customers regarding their needs for monitor arms and electronic access solutions.

We look forward to meeting with any of you visiting the Georgia World Congress Center for what promises to be an exciting event. We're there to help with any access hardware or position control challenges you are facing so don't be shy! Let us know how we can help.

Southco's Dynamic Mounting Arm goes where no display has gone before

Monday, December 7, 2009 by Jim Ford

I am very pleased to announce the introduction of Southco's newest product family, the AV-D30 Series Dynamic Mounting Arm.

The release

of Southco's new AV series display mounting arms brings a set of features that allows users to position displays in applications where conventional "home theatre" type mounts simply don't meet the customer needs.

With the integration of the positioning technology first developed in Southco's line of constant torque hinges into every joint, the AV series arms gain the ability to precisely control all user operating efforts.

Want mount a display in a moving vehicle? The AV-D30 series will ensure the arm stays in position when subject to normal braking loads.

Have a wall that isn't quite level? The Dynamic Mounting Arm stays exactly where you position it, with no drift.

Positioning a touchscreen? The integrated positioning technology makes sure the display stays put, even as users press on the screen, while still allowing easy, tool free repositioning of the display.

Want to see the AV-D30 in action? Check out these installation and features and benefits videos.

Build a better mousetrap

Thursday, November 5, 2009 by Jim Ford

For many years, we have been providing customers with custom position control hinges with an integrated counterbalance feature. Adding counterbalance to a constant torque hinge can provide several benefits. The counterbalance can allow users to lift a heavier lid with fingertip ease, or can help stabilize and resist user input forces on touchscreen displays.

Seeing this demand time and time again, we set out to make counterbalancing available in a standard product. This allows customers large and small to access the best in positioning technology, without the additional engineering and tooling costs associated with custom designs.

We are honored to have our new ST-12C series hinges recognized with the receipt of Design News' Golden Mousetrap Award for 2009. To read the full story you can visit the Design News website.

New counterbalancing hinges

Monday, August 24, 2009 by Daniel McCourt

It looks like a ray gun.

That's what my 8 year old son said when he saw a picture of our new ST - Counterbalanced Embedded Hinges on my desk. I have to admit, the picture of this new product on our website does look like something from a science fiction movie.

So he asks me what it is. In my best "TV commercial" voice, I respond "Well son, this is an ST - Counterbalanced Embedded Hinge. It delivers rugged, long-lasting, high-torque performance in a compact package. Further, these hinges provide lift-assist to reduce the required operator effort and give the designer the ability to control the desired user-effort to position panels or screens."

He looks at me and laughs like I just said the funniest thing he had ever heard! "No really dad, what does it do?"

Still laughing, I explain "These ray gun thingies are actually little hinges that hold open the lid to a metal box. Kind of like how you hold a laptop screen open."

Remarkably he hasn't reached for the remote or started staring off into space yet, so I continue.

"Now that's pretty cool but what these hinges do is they HELP you open the lid to a heavy box. They make it easier to open. This is good for the lid to a freezer chest or a piano bench lid."

Sensing I should wrap this up.... "So really anywhere you have a heavy lid to open, these little "ray gun hinges" help you open it up and they keep the lid where you want it."

I know have completely lost him at this point but feel satisfied that I have both fascinated and bored him in just 10 minutes.

So what do you think? Feel free to leave a comment about what this new hinge looks like to you!

CMEF Exhibition 2009

Thursday, May 28, 2009 by Bill Pappas

Well almost directly from Chicago, it was off to Shenzhen China for the China International Medical Equipment Fair (CMEF). Once again we were featuring our Position Control Technology, displaying our new line of fricion hinges, and our soon to be released monitor arm. We were visited by intrnationally known medical device manufacturers such as Mindray, Landwind Medical, and Sonoscape to name a few. The interest in our products was immense and generated application opportunities in portable ultrasound units, and monitor mounts for anesthesia and respiratory carts and general patient monitoring.

It was interesting to see how little position control was implemented on the keyboards for so many versions of portable ultrasound units. A few years ago our ST-10A friction hinge was designed into a Siemens Medical's unit, and both are shown below. These are the type of opportunities that appeared.

Addional applications for standard friction hinges are keyboards on medical carts. Here you can choose from our ST-10E friction hinge line that provide alternative mounting schemes.

There is so much more I can share here, but, we'll save some of that until we launch some exciting new custom solutions for some of the opprtunities we are working on as a result of the show.

HIMSS Exhibition April 2009

Tuesday, May 26, 2009 by Bill Pappas

It's been a while since I posted, but, a lot has happened since the last one.

Back in April, Southco exhibited at the HIMSS exhibition in "The Windy City". It was a well attended show, and weather that went from summer like, to a full snowstorm.

Featured at our booth, and a nice one it was, were our new Position Control Products as well as our Electronic Access Solutions. Both received quite a bit of attention, especially from the medical cart manufacturers that also happened to be exhibiting. Attendees such as hospital administrators and engineering personnel stopped by to feel the smooth movement and holding strength of our soon to be released monitor arm. This is designed to provide predictable and reliable movement through out the range of motion.

Stay tuned for some more exhibition activity, and application information.

Southco at HIMSS 2009 in Chicago

Wednesday, April 1, 2009 by Bill Pappas

Starting this Sunday, April 5th, and running through Wednesday, April 8th, Southco will be exhibiting at the HIMSS09-Healthcare IT Conference and Exhibition in Chicago. Standard products will be on display as well as featuring new monitor arms and electronic access solutions.

The new monitor arms will have embedded within, our patented friction technology allowing for reliable, precise and predictable positioning of medical moitors and other devices. Another arm feature is the means by which cable can be conveniently routed. Custom position control solutions, specifically designed for the likes of Siemens Medical's and Philips Medical Systems' ultrasound Carts will also be on display. Be sure and stop by and see these and some other new friction hinge products.

My colleagues and I look forward to meeting with any of you visiting the "Windy City", for what promises to be an exciting event. So pleeeease...

Visit us at booth 7663.

One size doesn't fit all

Friday, January 16, 2009 by Jim Ford

This week, I had a conversation with a designer about what type of position control hinge to use for a small access door. It's something I'm asked often, and the answer is usually another question. What do you want the user to experience when they open the door?

I've found that the right solution usually ends up depending as much on who will use the product, as it does the technical aspects. The designer's application was a small door, about half the size of a typical shoebox lid, which conceals a series of controls. The challenge being how to hold the door open while the user accesses the controls to adjust certain settings.

There are many ways to achieve this goal, with each different hinge mechanism providing a unique "feel" for the end user.

A constant torque hinge provides smooth motion, and allows the door to stay in any position. By selecting different torque values we can also customize the operating effort. Which torque is "right" depends on end user preference. In a consumer product application, a light, easy operating effort may be best, while for a similar door, in a piece of off highway equipment a higher effort may be desired, both to fit the robust image of the product, and to provide more positive feedback to operators with gloved hands.

A detent or bi-stable hinge can ensure the door will stay in a specific known position or "snap" open and closed like a typical flip style cell phone.

After a discussion of all the options we found a solution that achieved all the designer's original goals, plus provides some nice to have features to differentiate from competitors.

Want to see some more ways to use positioning technology? Check out the video at: http://lp.southco.com/DesignHouseVideo-CEMA.html

Save money with custom engineered solutions?

Monday, December 15, 2008 by Jim Ford

In the access hardware business, we often talk about the benefits of choosing an off the shelf product. When a designer can find a catalog product that meets their needs, this often translates to the quickest delivery, lowest product cost, and least engineering effort. A real win for everyone involved.

As with most rules, however, there can be exceptions. Consider this recent example where a custom engineered solution offered a cost savings:

A customer came to us looking for a simple torque hinge to position an LCD display panel. While any number of of Southco's standard position control hinges would have been more than adequate to meet the customer's need, taking a deeper look at the application uncovered new opportunities.

By considering the whole application, we identified an opportunity for cost reduction. By designing a custom housing which matched the industrial design of the product, we allowed the customer, to eliminate a cosmetic cover whose sole purpose was to conceal the hinge mechanism. The result - the custom solution reduced total components, and saved on both tooling and product cost.

For more design ideas and application examples, take a look at my recent article in machine design:
http://machinedesign.com/article/don-t-come-unhinged-over-enclosure-design-1023