Hinge Attaches to Fin & Adjacent Side Panel - Distributes Impact Forces to Floor

The most critical element in structural glass wall design in high impact environments is the hinge. It is imperative that impact forces on the inside of the court be distributed through the stabilizing fin and into the concrete floor below. DOUBLEPLAY walls achieve this structural feature by anchoring the hinge to the door, adjacent sidelite panel and the fin.

Another common problem associated with structural glass walls, is door sagging. A 3-0" x 7-0" ½" tempered glass door weighs 136 lbs., and consequently puts tremendous force on the hinges. Until the advent of the DOUBLEPLAY patented "wrap-around" hinge design, other systems supported the weight of the door to the fin by passing a bolt through a hole in the fin and small nylon bushing on the opposite side. Over time, the soft nylon bushing compresses into the hole and the door begins to sag. The DOUBLEPLAY "wrap-around" hinge completely eliminates the possibility of door sagging by cutting a notch in the fin and passing one flange of the hinge behind the fin to the opposite side. The weight of the door rests against the entire surface of the flange, not a small nylon bushing.

Aluminum hardware provides superior strength characteristics. An independent testing laboratory compared the load capacity of the DOUBLEPLAY hinge to the most common polyurethane hinge available. The results were remarkable. The DOUBLEPLAY hinge tested 20% stronger. This ensures that hinges will not fail even under severe conditions. The glass is insulated from the aluminum hardware using clear polypropylene gaskets.

The unique pivot location of the DOUBLEPLAY hinge eliminates the gap created between the edge of the door and the edge of the adjacent sidelite panel when using any other glass wall hinge. On other hinges, the pivot point is located within the plane of the door and consequently when the door opens, a 2" section of the door swings inward towards the hallway creating a dangerous gap. The pivot point on the DOUBLEPLAY hinge is in line with the edge of the door. When the door opens the edge remains close to the edge of the sidelite panel and no portion of the door swings inward towards the hallway.

Other manufactures typically use large black polyurethane hinges and attaching hardware. DOUBLEPLAY structural glass walls use white powder coated hardware. There is no tendency for the player to lose sight of the ball against a dark background. The white hardware creates a dramatic contrast with the ball. Other manufactures have attempted to make their polyurethane components white, but they turn yellow after only a few years due to the ultraviolet light inside a sports facility. The powder-coated surface of the DOUBLEPLAY hardware is impervious to ultraviolet radiation.

The DOUBLEPLAY glass hardware is unique in that the holes through which the bolts pass are threaded. This feature is significant to both the strength of the system and to the installation process. Other systems rely solely on the bolt and nut to hold the glass in place. The DOUBLEPLAY system uses the strength of the entire component to secure the glass panels, doors and fins to its supporting hardware.

We have provided the shop drawings for the Squash Glass Back Wall (21'W x 7'H) and the 20'W X 12'H Glass Wall in a 200 dpi format for viewing and printing on 8½" x 11" paper. Please be aware that these drawings take a few minutes to download. To request a password to download the actual AutoCAD 13 files please click here.

Compare our walls to theirs...

Ours		Other Companies
Attaches to Fin, Door & Adjacent Sidelite Panel The patented DOUBLEPLAY hinge utilizes design features that distribute impact forces from the inside of the court to the support fins and into the concrete floor below. This photograph clearly shows how the DOUBLEPLAY hinge has a 3-point attachment configuration. The hinge attaches to the Door, Sidelite panel and Fin. Because the hinge attaches to the fin, impact forces are transferred from the inside of the court to the concrete floor below.		No Fin Attachment Our competitor's hinge does not attach to the support fin in any way. The hinge shown has only a 2-point attachment configuration - the hinge attaches only to the door and adjacent sidelite panel. As this photograph shows, the side of the hinge merely rests against the side of the fin. There is no means for impact forces on the inside of the court to be transferred to the fin.
No Finger Traps Click on the photo to view the movie! The DOUBLEPLAY hinge has a unique pivot location that eliminates the gap between the edge of the door and the edge of the adjacent sidelite panel. Even when the door is opened, the maximum gap created between the two pieces of glass is 3/16". Additionally, there is no kick-back of the door. No portion of the door swings out of the plane of the wall into the hallway. Click here to compare our hinge		Dangerous Kick-Back Click on the photo to view the movie! The pivot location of the hinge shown is 1-5/16" along the door. When the door opens, a 1-5/16" heel portion of the door swings out of the court into the hallway behind. As a result, a large gap is created along the length of the door. We perceive this to be a dangerous situation where fingers could easily be caught in the door while it is opened and closed. Click here to compare their hinge
Less Hardware - Clearer View The DOUBLEPLAY hinge is dramatically smaller than any other hinge available. This is due to our choice of material. Aluminum is much stronger than urethane plastic and can therefore be made into a hinge that is only 4" x 6-¼". Aluminum can also be powder-coated any color desired, although white is the most common choice.		More Hardware - Cluttered View The hinge shown is significantly larger than the DOUBLEPLAY hinge (5-3/8" x 7-¾"). In fact, when you add up the total surface area that is covered up by hardware, DOUBLEPLAY glass wall hinge hardware covers only 75 square inches. The hinge configuration shown conceals 134 square inches - a 78% increase! Some manufacturers have attempted to make their hinges out of white plastic in lieu of the standard black. The result is translucent milky white hinge that is not very atractive to begin with, and yellows in just a few years under florescent lights. The DOUBLEPLAY hinge is powder-coated white and is impervious tot he effects of ultraviolent radiation.

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