LUBRICATING POST WAR STANDARD STEEL DOOR HINGES

 

Remembering the trauma I went through many years ago trying to tighten these contraptions up, I was amused to find a Service bulletin detailing modifications  to the hinges that would improve their lubrication.  They were an ingenious device comprising a hinge and slide to allow the thin doors to open without scraping the adjacent jamb.  The slide which carried the full weight of the door was made of bright steel as were the hinge pins and the body of the hinge was brass which no doubt simplified casting.  They were neatly covered with a highly polished chromed plate and largely forgotten until opening a door was reminiscent of dragging the serrated edge of a bread knife over a sharpening steel!  Lubrication usually fixed that problem but meanwhile considerable wear had occurred.  Originally the Factory recommended removal of the highly polished plate and then vigorous application of oil particularly to the upper slide but they realised that this would not last long so they resorted to grease.  To get the grease in, two holes were drilled through the slide where a grease gun could be applied.  They also recommended a graphite based grease.