Unitary hinge and spring member

Claim 1

A unitary spring toggled hinge molded of a resilient material which is flexible in thin sections, said hinge comprising: two substantially thick and rigid plate portions interconnected by linelike relatively thin and flexible sections of said material, said sections being aligned with each other along a main bending line of said hinge and spaced apart by an aperture through said hinge, said aperture extending laterally of said main bending line partially into each plate portion; an arcuate toggle spring formed of a relatively rigid but resilient substantial thickness of said molded material, said spring extending arcuately away from and over said main bending line spanning said aperture and having each of its opposite ends connected to a respective one of said plate portions by additional thin linelike flexible sections of said molded material which form second and third bending lines of said hinge at respective opposite ends of said aperture, said second and third bending lines being parallel to said main bending line but respectively offset therefrom in said extensions of said aperture whereby said arcuate spring serves to resiliently urge said plate portions in either of two permissible directions of bending along said main bending line away from an aligned relationship with each other and thereafter to resiliently retain said plate portions in one of said nonaligned relationships.