The invention relates to suspended ceiling systems and, in particular, to an improved wall molding for use in such systems.
Where a suspended ceiling meets a wall, it is customary to provide a sheet metal wall angle. This wall angle serves to support the edges of ceiling panels or tiles and the ends of grid runners and to conceal normal gaps between these edges and ends and the wall. Walls conventionally constructed of drywall are often not flat because of the presence of corner bead, taped joints, and other disturbances. These irregularities can be especially pronounced where a space is being remodeled and walls are reconfigured. Standard metal wall angles, while ordinarily made of light gauge steel, are relatively stiff owing to the right angle geometry. As a result, ordinary wall angle often does not closely follow the irregularities in a wall and unsightly gaps between the wall angle and the wall can exist. While it is customary to conceal such gaps with caulk, this technique is undesirable as a solution to the problem of unsightly gaps. Efforts to force the wall angle into full contact with an irregular wall surface can cause the wall angle to permanently buckle and present an even more unsightly condition.
The invention provides a wall molding for suspended ceiling systems that is capable of conforming to ordinary deviations from a flat plane in the surface of a wall against which it is mounted. The inventive wall angle, in various embodiments, has a visible wall engaging area that, in a free state, projects from an upright component of the molding toward the wall. When the upright component of the molding is drawn against the wall surface, the visible wall engaging area retracts towards a plane of the upright component. Where the upright component is not locally drawn against or close to the wall surface because adjacent wall areas bulge or recede from a flat plane, the retractable visible wall engaging area remains extended towards the wall. Consequently, unsightly gaps between the visible wall engaging area of the molding and the wall are avoided. Advantageously, the molding can be roll-formed of a single metal strip sufficiently hard or springy to allow the strip to resiliently flex and allow retraction of the visible wall engaging area or, if adjustment is needed, allow return of this area to its free state. In a first disclosed embodiment, a metal strip forming the molding body is folded in a manner such that the visible wall engaging area is formed along an edge of the strip that is opposite the edge on a side of the strip that projects to support ceiling panel edges and grid runner ends. When the upright component is drawn towards a wall during installation of the molding, the visible wall engaging area telescopes or slides under adjacent areas of the projecting component.
In a second disclosed embodiment, a metal strip forming the molding body is folded in a manner such that the visible wall engaging area is at an edge of the side of the strip that forms the projecting component. The visible wall engaging area is enabled to retract by resilient, generally imperceptible distortion of large portions of the cross-section of the molding.
Referring now to
Where drywall sheets 14 are joined, particularly where their ends are abutted and taped or where they intersect at an outside corner and are capped with a corner bead and joint compound, the wall will have localized bulges meaning that the wall surface deviates from a flat plane. A first embodiment of a wall molding 16 constructed in accordance with the invention is illustrated in
The wall molding 16 comprises a generally upright component 18 and a projecting component 19. The wall molding 16, preferably, is a single sheet of metal, typically steel sufficiently hard to exhibit a springiness or resilience as discussed below. The wall molding 16 while it can be brake-formed, is preferably roll-formed using conventional roll-forming techniques known in the industry. The upright component 18 comprises two layers 25, 26. The outer layer 26 can be flat, as shown, or can be convex on the side facing the wall 13. In the latter case, the plane of the upright component layer 26 can be taken as an imaginary plane, vertical or nearly vertical, that passes through its upper and lower extremities indicated at 21, 22, respectively.
The projecting component 19 of the molding 16 comprises first and second parts 23, 24. The wall molding 16 has a constant cross-section extending along its length. The length of the wall molding typically is 10′ or 12′ or metric equivalent. The first part 23 of the projecting component 19 is a relatively narrow horizontal flange carried at the bottom of the layer 25 made by folding the molding body on itself at the upper extremity 21 of the upright component. In the illustrated form of the wall molding 16, the layer 25 is concave on its side facing the wall 13. The first part 23 of the projecting component 19 exists along a side of the strip from which the wall molding 16 is made that is remote from the side of the strip forming the second part 24 of the projecting component 19. The free edge of the projecting component first part 23 is hemmed at 27 by folding the sheet material back on itself, the hem being on an upper side of this first part.
The projecting component second part 24, in the embodiment version of
The upright component 18 and the second part 24 of the projecting component 19 are relatively stiff in vertical and horizontal planes owing to their right angle character. This means that the upright component 18 and horizontal segment 28 will not readily follow the contour of the wall 13 where it deviates from a flat plane even when the fasteners 17 are forcibly urging the upright component towards the wall 13.
The forefront of
Referring now to
The projecting component 43 comprises a C-shaped channel 47 comprising an upper horizontal segment 48, a generally vertical segment 49, and a lower generally horizontal segment 51.
The lower segment 51 is somewhat longer than the upper horizontal segment 48. The result of this geometry, as depicted in
Referring now to
Common among the various disclosed embodiments of the wall molding is that the visible wall engaging part, in the free state and proper orientation, extends inwardly in the direction of the wall beyond the plane of at least one layer of an upright component.
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.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20120137614 A1 | Jun 2012 | US |