McKinney 450 Series Double Acting Spring Hinge

The McKinney 450 is a full surface double acting spring hinge, surface applied to both the door face and the frame, so the door swings both directions and the coil springs pull it back to center on their own. That is the setup you want on a service or traffic door people push through with both hands full, kitchen and stockroom doors, and interior openings where you do not want a closer overhead. It is a commercial-rated steel part, not a residential one.

No mortising. The 450 is a full surface hinge, so both leaves screw onto the face of the door and the face of the frame. That is the main reason to pick it over a mortise spring hinge: you can hang it on an existing door without routing hinge pockets or pulling the door for machining. It ships with 1 x 12 wood screws, so a wood door and wood frame are covered out of the box; metal substrates need your own fasteners.

Both swing a door in and out. The difference is where the work happens. The McKinney 450 mounts on the surface of the door and frame and holds the door closed with coil springs, so it is a retrofit-friendly choice on an existing opening with no floor work. A double acting pivot such as the BEST DAP-3 carries the door on a pivot point instead of on the door edge, which is the route for heavier doors and for openings where you do not want hinge hardware sitting on the door face. If the floor and header are already prepped for hinges and you just need the door to swing both ways and self-close, the 450 is the simpler install.

No. The 450 is a double acting hinge, built to let the door swing both directions and return to center, and it mounts on the surface of the door and frame. For a single-swing door in a standard hinge pocket, look at a full mortise spring hinge instead, like the Stanley Security 2060R in 4-1/2 by 4-1/2 with square corners. Putting a double acting hinge on a rabbeted single-swing frame will not work, because the door has to be able to pass through the frame plane in both directions.

The McKinney 450 is a full surface double acting spring hinge, surface applied to both the door and the frame, and it comes in 9 inch, 11 inch and 13 inch sizes. If the opening is better suited to floor and header mounted hardware rather than surface applied springs, the BEST DAP-3 is a heavy duty double acting pivot for commercial interior doors. Both let the door swing in both directions; the McKinney does it with coil springs mounted on the face of the door and frame, while the DAP-3 does it as a pivot set.

No. A ball bearing hinge such as the Orca Hardware 3535, a 4-1/2 inch by 4-1/2 inch square corner ball bearing commercial hinge, or the Don-Jo HWBB74545 heavy weight full mortise ball bearing hinge in 4-1/2 inch by 4-1/2 inch, carries the door and lets it swing freely. The McKinney 450 uses coil springs made of high grade steel wire to close the door on its own. If the door needs to self close, a ball bearing hinge will not do it without a separate closer.

NRP is available as an option on the 450, ordered at the same time as the hinge. Specify it on any opening where the hinge is exposed on the accessible side and someone could otherwise back the pin out and lift the door off. On a two-way interior door that lives inside a secure space it is usually not needed.

No. The 450 is a mechanical spring hinge with no wiring path through it. To carry power to a lock or exit device through the hinge, you need an electrified transfer hinge, for example the Command Access ETH-BB68 heavy duty 5 knuckle or the ETH-CB70 3 knuckle standard weight, or the BEST CECB179-12C full mortise electrified hinge with a 12-wire quick connect. Note those are all mortise-style hinges, so they suit a conventional single-swing prepped door rather than a two-way surface applied opening.

They do different jobs. A ball bearing hinge such as the Orca 3535 Series 4-1/2 by 4-1/2 square corner or the Don-Jo HWBB74545 carries a heavy door smoothly and quietly, but it does not close the door, so it needs a closer. The McKinney 450 carries the door and closes it, using coil springs, and it swings both directions. If the opening needs a fire-rated latching door on a closer, a bearing hinge plus a closer is the route. If it is a two-way traffic door that just needs to fall shut behind someone, the 450 does both jobs with one part.

The McKinney 450 mounts on the surface of the door and the frame. If the opening needs the hinge concealed in the mortise, the Ives 3CB1 is a 3 knuckle concealed bearing full mortise hinge rated medium duty, and the Hager 920 is a full mortise concealed plain bearing hinge with 2 knuckle steel construction, also medium duty. Both hang in a mortised jamb rather than on the face, and neither self closes the way the McKinney springs do.

The McKinney 450 can be ordered with the NRP non-removable pin option, and it is a commercial steel double acting spring hinge in 9, 11 and 13 inch sizes. For a standard swinging exterior door where the leaf mortises into the frame, the Hager BB1168 is a non-removable pin full mortise ball bearing hinge rated heavy duty. Pick the McKinney when the door swings both ways and needs to close itself; pick the BB1168 when the door swings one way on a mortised jamb.

Square corners on the 450. Because it is a full surface hinge screwed to the door face rather than set into a routed pocket, corner style is about how the leaf sits against the door and frame face rather than matching an existing mortise, so square corners work on doors prepped either way.

The closing force comes from coil springs wound from high grade steel wire, with a steel hinge body. It is specified as commercial rather than residential hardware, which is what you want on a door being pushed through dozens of times an hour rather than a household interior door.

The McKinney 450 is a surface applied commercial spring hinge for self closing doors. For a security opening, the Hager 990 STEEL is a full surface prison hinge, 3 inch by 4 inch with a welded tip, rated heavy duty, and the Stanley BB855 is a double weight prison hinge, 5 inch by 6 inch, furnished with no holes and not swaged. The Hager 990 is also full surface, so it mounts on the face like the McKinney, but it is a fixed hinge without the closing springs.