US Patent 7182042 Support pole with pipe-hinge slide lock

A self-latching hinge mechanism (14) and apparatus (10) for applications where access to a pole mounted device is required. The hinge comprises a top section (28) with a cantilevered tail piece (38) which extends beyond a pivot (36) connected at the top (40) of a lower section (30). A latch consists of an encircling slide (32) which binds the tail piece (38) to the lower part of the pivot section (30) when in the lowered, locked position and allows the top section piece (28) to rotate relative to the lower section (30).