Thanks Anastasia, my 117's were made by Gritzner in W. Germany. They were kind of interim machines, I believe they were produced in between the Whites and the Japanese ones. I hadn't thought to check using Gritzner in my search though. So thanks for the suggestion....
I'm beginning to think this search may be more difficult that originally thought. As I mentioned in a previous post, my avatar which was produced just 2 years after my 117.740 has a whole different hinge mechanism. It's possible the exact hinge I seek was not used very long. Darn...