STRADDLING STACKABLE STUD

TRADUCTION NON-DISPONIBLE

English Abstract

STRADDLING STACKABLE STUD
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
An elongate sheet metal stud having a cross-
section including a central web and two oppositely
directed flanges on the two sides of the stud extending
perpendicularly from the web, and having the ends of
the flanges detached from the web and free to straddle
the floor and ceiling tracks, permits ease of stacking
a plurality of studs and provides firmness while
screwing board to the flanges.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive
property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
1. The method of erecting a wall comprising
the steps of mounting a formed sheet metal stud vertically
with respective ends mounted on a floor runner and a
ceiling runner, said stud having an elongate flat central
web and two elongate flat flanges, said two flanges
extending from the two elongate edges of said web, said
two flanges extending in opposite directions from said
web and forming an angle of from about 85° to 95° with
said web, said flanges having a short extent at each end
which is separated from said web by a short slot extending
inward from the end of the stud at each junction of the
web and a flange at each end of the stud, with said
flanges being free to straddle said floor and ceiling
runners, disposing said floor and ceiling runners each
having a pair of vertical flanges extending toward said
stud and with said flanges of each said runner extending
toward the other runner, disposing said stud flange
bottom ends against respective outer sides of opposed
vertical flanges on said floor runner and disposing said
stud flange top ends against respective outer sides of
opposed vertical flanges on said ceiling runner by disposing
runner flanges within said slots, disposing wallboard
against the outer face of one of said stud flanges, and
forcing a metal fastening means through said wallboard and
said stud flange while said stud flange remains held
firmly against the wallboard inner face, said stud flange
being held firmly against said wallboard inner face solely
by the stud flange ends being disposed against the outer
faces of runner flanges.

2. The method of claim 1 in which said slots
are each tapered to progressively narrower width
progressively inward of said slot from a width wider than
the thickness of said runner flanges to a width narrower
than said thickness of said runner flanges, further
comprising the step of firmly engaging said slots at the
stud bottom onto said floor runner flanges.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein said angle
formed by said stud web and flanges is 90°.

Description

43~.9
This invention relates to a sheet metal stud
for erecting wallboard and particularly to a double L-
shaped stud with recesses in the web on each end for
engaging floor and ceiling tracks.
The most common sheet metal studs, used for
screw attachment of wallboards, are of a C-shaped cross-
section. These C-shaped studs are mounted with a bottom
end disposed between upstanding flanges on a floor runner,
and with a top end disposed between downwardly extending
flanges of a ceiling runner. One problem with the C-shaped
sheet metal studs is that a group of them cannot be stored
or shipped all closely nested and, thus, in storage and
shipping, they must consequently take up a large volume
of space.
~; The present invention is directed to an improved
stud in which one of the C-shaped stud flanges is directed
in the opposite direction from the central web, forming a
double L-shaped stud. The ends of the double L-shaped stud
have recessed portions which permit the studs to straddle
-~ 20 the floor runners and ceiling runners, to give stabilit~
to the stud when wallboard is being screw-attached to the
two flanges. A prior patent, 3,606,~18, discloses double
L-shaped structural members, but for a different structural
use and lacking the recessed end portions or anything
comparable.
It is an object of the present invention to pro-
vide a novel metal stud for screw attachment of wallboard
thereto.
It is a further object to provide a novel wall
structure embodying the improved stud.
It is a still further object to provide a novel
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3~ 9
method of erecting a wall embodying the improved stud.
These and other objects of the invention will be
more readily apparent when considered in relation to the
preferred embodiments as set forth in the specification and
shown in the drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a wall
constructed in accordance with the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the wall
of Fig. 1 taken on line 2-2 thereof.
Fig. 3 is an isometric view of a section of the
wall of Fig. 1 at the bottom thereof.
Referring to Figs 1-3, there is shown a wall 10,
consisting essentially of studs 12, floor runner 14, ceiling
runner 16 and wallboard 18, with screws 20 affixing the
wallboard 18 to the stud 12, floorrunner 14 and ceiling
. .
runner 16.
The elongate, formed sheet metal stud 12 has an
elongate central web 22 disposed perpendicular to the wall-
board 18 which is on each side ~ the stud 12. The stud 12
also has two flanges 24, 2~, one on each edge of web 22,
with each flange extending perpendicular to the web. The
two flanges 24, 24 extend in opposite directions from web
22, forming a cross-section of a double L-shape or a
modified Z-shape, modified in that the two angles are each
of about 90. A narrow hem 26 of sheet metal is folded
back on itself along each edge of the two flanges 24, 24.
The stud may be of any thickness from about 16
gauge down to about 26 gauge galvanized steel, but for
typical screw application of gypsum wallboard it will be
preferably of from 20 to 25 gauge.
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At each end of stud 12, there is a short extent
of each flange 24 which is not adjoined to web 22, formed
preferably by a slot 28 which extends inward from the end
of the stud 12 at the junction of the web 22 and each
flange 24. The slot 28 extends about 30 mm inward from
the end of the stud and is tapered in width from about 2 mm
at the stud end to zero to 1 mm at the slot inner end.
The two slots 28, 28 at the bottom of stud 12
engage the two upwardly extending flanges 30, 30 of floor
runner 14, which extend upward about 25 mm. The two slots
28, 28 at the top of stud 12 engage the two downwardly
extending flanges 32, 32 of ceiling runner 16, which extend
downward about 25 mm. The floor and ceiling runners will
preferably be of the same gauge as the studs used therewith.
The wallboard 18 on each side of wall 10 is
preferably gypsum wallboard. The wallboard is screw attached
to the stud 12. Screws 20 extend through the wallboard and
into the stud flanges 24, 24.
Screwing of the wallboard 18 to the flanges 24,
24 is made possible by the novel positioning of the ends of
the flanges 24, 24 against the outer side of the flanges 30, 30
of the floor runner 14 and the outer side of the flanges 329
` 32 of the ceiling runner~
The width of slots 28 can be considerably greater
than 2 mm and the flange ends will still be supported for
screw attachment of wallboard to the studs. The slots can
have a width er.tirely across the web 22.
The preferred tapered 2 mm width can provide
some transverse stab~ity during erection, by the fact the
slots will grasp the flanges 30 and 32 of the floor and
ceiling runners.

1 lfJ~ 33 9
The angle between the stud flanges 24, 24 and
the stud web 22 may vary slightly from 90, in accordance
with the invention, however a variation of more than about
5 creates an increase in the web width, for a given wall
thickness, which defeats the advantages provided of the
most economical form of stud provided by the invention.
Having completed a detailed disclosure of the
preferred embodiments of my invention so that those skilled
in the art may practice the same, I contemplate that
variations may be made without departing from the essence
of the invention.
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