Patent Application
20150040495
The invention relates to suspended ceiling construction and, in particular, to grid elements used with narrow utility channel systems.
Narrow channel systems are available for housing or otherwise locating various utility hardware in a conventional rectangular ceiling grid and tile construction. The channels are viewed as more harmonious or attractive than conventional arrangements for locating lights, air diffusers and returns, sprinklers and the like. Conventional arrangements, for example, dedicate a full grid module space to a single utility and, consequently, are more visually prominent than what is needed to ordinarily house a particular utility. The subject narrow channel systems, besides reducing the visibility of necessary utilities, can add to the attractiveness of a ceiling.
It is known to construct narrow utility channels by aligning a pair of conventional main runners or tees in close parallel relation. A number of inverted U-shaped yokes, spaced along the length of these main tees can be used to hold these main tees in parallel channel-forming relation at the ceiling plane. The yokes are located above the zone of the channel to provide space for utility hardware. This type of construction presents a need for a manner of trimming the ends of the hardware located in the channel such as panels, lights, grilles or the like. Use of short cross runners or tees with conventional end connectors for this purpose has proven to be difficult if not impractical.
The invention provides a cross member for narrow suspended ceiling channels useful for trimming the ends of typical components assembled in the channels. The inventive cross members can be used in different modes depending, inter alia, on whether a cross runner slot of a main runner forming a side of the narrow channel is occupied.
Cross runner slots of main runners or tees forming a narrow channel can be occupied by a yoke that holds the tees in channel forming relation, by an end connector of an intersecting grid cross runner or tee, or can be unoccupied. The disclosed cross member can be field modified to be connected to a tee supporting yoke at a cross tee slot, or can be mated directly with an end connector of an intersecting grid tee at a cross tee slot, or can be installed and locked in an otherwise unoccupied cross tee slot.
The disclosed cross member is conveniently produced from grid tee stock ordinarily used in the manufacture of standard tees. Consequently, no special tooling or manufacturing procedures need be used to produce the tee stock for the inventive cross members. Lengths of the tee stock are cut into short pieces with a stamping die. The stamping die simultaneously cuts a shaped second or trailing end of one cross member as that piece is being completed and a shaped first or leading end of a next succeeding cross member piece to be formed. The shaped ends serve as integral end connectors.
The cross member integral end connectors, which are identical, have several features that can facilitate installation and connection with various elements. The integral end connectors can clip onto opposed standard end connectors of intersecting cross tees. Alternatively, the integral end connectors are easily trimmed to avoid interference with a web of a main tee when connected to a yoke. The integral end connectors, additionally, have an aperture located to facilitate a connection with a yoke or, alternatively, enable the end to be temporarily bent to facilitate assembly into a narrow channel. The integral end connectors are double plies of malleable sheet metal; the plies can be separated and folded tightly against the web of a main tee to lock an end connector in an otherwise unoccupied cross tee slot.
The channel 11 is formed by a pair of closely spaced parallel main runners or tees 12 of conventional construction used in a suspended ceiling grid. A center-to-center spacing of 4 inches or 6 inches (with metric equivalents of 100 mm. and 150 mm.) of the channel forming main tees 12 is standard in the industry. Channels 11 are normally arranged to extend transversely from wall-to-wall. Space inside the channel 11 is used to house utility components such as light fixtures, air diffusers, air returns, sprinkler heads and the like. These devices are ordinarily of a length less than the length of a channel and, therefore, require a trim member across the width of a channel 11 to give the utility component a finished appearance at the ceiling plane. The cross member 10 can be used to conceal or trim the longitudinal ends of utility components and any filler panels interposed between such components. It is desirable that the cross members have the same appearance as the elements forming the surrounding ceiling grid and are aligned with such elements. Use of special short length grid tees with conventional separately formed end connectors for channel cross members has been found to be prohibitively expensive and such tees are difficult if not impossible to install without damage after a channel 11 has been erected in a grid system.
The cross member 10 of the invention is preferably cut from a length of the grid stock ordinarily used to produce 2 or 4 foot (or metric equivalent) cross tees. The stock is roll formed sheet metal. A main body of the tee stock comprises an upper hollow reinforcing bulb 16, a double ply web 17, and lower opposed flange elements 18 all formed from a single metal strip. A flange cap 19 covering the opposed flange elements 18 is formed of a separate sheet metal strip. The strips are held in assembled relation by longitudinal hems 21 of the flange cap 19 folded over longitudinal edges of the flange elements 18. The flange elements 18 and flange cap 19 form a lower flange 22 of the tee stock. The cross member 10 departs from current industry cross tee construction using separate end connectors. The ends of the inventive cross member 10 are die cut with integral end connectors or tongues 26 formed from areas of the double ply web 17.
Each longitudinal end edge 27 of the flange 22 of a cross member 10 lies in the plane of the flange. The integral end connector 26 has a profile with upper and lower edges 28, 29 configured to be received in a standard cross tee slot 31 of a main tee 12 with the flange 22 of the cross member 10 coplanar with a main tee flange 32 and the flange end edge 27 abutting the longitudinal edge of the main tee flange.
Referring in particular to
The main tees or runners 12 forming the channel 11 have their cross tee slots 31 in alignment. In the present embodiment, the cross tee slot 31 is of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,517,796 and 5,761,868. As will be discussed, the cross members 10 can be assembled in a pair of opposed slots 31 either or both being empty or occupied by an end connector of an intersecting cross tee 45.
The cross member 10 can be located at a cross tee slot 31 in which an end connector 40 of an intersecting cross tee 45 is received. Visually, this produces an uninterrupted line across the channel 11 when the suspended ceiling grid is viewed from below.
The integral end connector 26 is arranged to mate with the type of cross tee end connector 40 disclosed, for example, in the aforementioned U.S. Patents. A vertical strap 41 exists between a lead edge 42 of the integral end connector 26 and the lance edge 36. The strap 41 is arranged to fit between a pair of opposed projections 43, 44 of the end connector 40 of an intersecting cross tee 45 (
Normally the channel 11 is constructed before the cross members 10 are installed. Consequently, the center-to-center distance between the main runners 12 of the channel 11 is fixed. The inventive cross member 10 facilitates its assembly into an established channel 11. With reference to
When a cross member 10 is assembled in a cross tee slot 31 that is otherwise unoccupied, the two plies of the integral end connector 26 can be manually pried apart with a flat blade screwdriver or like tool. The plies, thereafter, can be bent flat against the main tee web with a suitable tool, such as a small hammer or mallet. This situation is illustrated in
It should be evident that this disclosure is by way of example and that various changes may be made by adding, modifying or eliminating details without departing from the fair scope of the teaching contained in this disclosure. The invention is therefore not limited to particular details of this disclosure except to the extent that the following claims are necessarily so limited.
