VERTICAL POST ASSEMBLY

ASSEMBLAGE VERTICAL DE POTEAUX

English Abstract

A hollow shaft wall with horizontal studs
held between corner posts and an intermediate
vertical wall support post, which intermediate post
has a central reinforcement channel, the reinforce-
ment channel has a bottom and two side walls, the
channel is filled with strips of gypsum board, and
the two side walls have metal channels affixed
thereto providing oppositely opening grooves for
receiving and supporting the ends of said horizontal
studs.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an
exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined
as follows:
I claim:
1. A vertical wall support post comprising
a central, elongate, metal channel having a bottom
and two side walls, said central channel being
substantially filled with rigid, nonflammable
material, said post further comprising a pair of
oppositely opening channels, opening outwardly in a
direction away from said central channel side walls,
suitable for the reception and support of vertical
wall members.
2. A vertical wall support post as defined
in claim 1, wherein said rigid, nonflammable material
is gypsum.
3. A vertical wall support post as defined
in claim 1, wherein said rigid, nonflammable material
is narrow strips of gypsum core board.
4. A vertical wall support post as defined
in claim 1, wherein said oppositely opening channels
are formed by a pair of elongate, metal J-runners
affixed to said central, elongate, metal channel side
walls.
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5. A vertical wall support post as defined
in claim 4, wherein said rigid, nonflammable material
is narrow strips of gypsum core board.
6. A vertical wall support post as defined
in claim 5, wherein said J-runners are affixed to
said side walls by screws which extend into said
narrow strips of gypsum core board.
7. A vertical wall support post as defined
in claim 1, wherein said central, elongate, metal
channel has a pair of outwardly extending flanges.
8. A vertical wall support post as defined
in claim 7, wherein said oppositely opening channels
are formed by a pair of metal channel-shaped runners
affixed to said central, elongate, metal channel side
walls and abutting said outwardly extending flanges.
9. A vertical wall support post as defined
in claim 1, wherein said central, elongate, metal
channel has a depth substantially greater than the
width of the pair of channels extending outwardly
from said central, elongate, metal channel side
walls.
10. A vertical wall support post as defined
in claim 9, wherein said central, elongate, metal
channel depth is about five inches.
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11. A hollow wall, extending vertically
upwardly from a floor, readily assembleable from a
first outer side and suitable for construction where
the second inner side is relatively inaccessible,
comprising:
(a) two fixed vertical posts each
extending upwardly from said floor at each
end of said hollow wall and each having a
vertically extending channel with a channel
opening directed toward the opposite of said
vertical posts;
(b) at least one fixed vertical
intermediate post located between said ends
of said hollow wall having a pair of verti-
cally extending, oppositely directed
channels with channel openings directed
toward said ends of said hollow wall and
a reinforcement channel between said
oppositely directed channels, said rein-
forcement channel having a channel filled
with rigid, nonflammable material and a
channel opening directed perpendicular to
said wall;
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(c) at least one horizontally
disposed, elongate, formed sheet metal stud,
said stud being formed from a single sheet
of sheet metal and having an inner flange,
a central web and an outer flange;
(d) a plurality of core boards, each
said board having an upper edge and a lower
edge, each said board having a length
substantially equal to the length of said
horizontal stud, said lower edge of at least
one of said core boards being supported on a
central web of said stud immediately there-
below and said upper edge of a second said
core board being disposed against and
supporting said central web of said stud
immediately thereabove, means on said stud
holding said core board edges spaced
inwardly from said outer flange of said
stud;
said horizontal stud and said core
boards having opposed ends extending into
said channels of said vertical posts; and
(e) wallboard affixed to an outer face
of said outer flange of said horizontal
stud.
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12. A hollow wall as defined in claim 11,
wherein said hollow wall is greater than 10 feet in
length and is divided into a plurality of substan-
tially equal sections by said intermediate posts.
13. A hollow wall as defined in claim 11,
wherein said relatively inaccessible second inner
side is adjacent a floor opening.
14. A hollow wall as defined in claim 13,
wherein said floor opening is an elevator shaft.
15. A hollow wall as defined in claim 14,
wherein said elevator shaft is a multiple elevator
shaft, and said intermediate post divides a back wall
into sections corresponding to said multiple shafts.
16. A vertical wall having a plurality of
coplanar sections, said wall sections being rein-
forced and supported by an intermediate vertical wall
support post located between a pair of sections, said
intermediate post having a central reinforcement
channel filled with nonflammable, rigid material and
a pair of oppositely opening grooves, said wall
sections extending into said grooves.
17. A vertical wall as defined in claim 16,
wherein said nonflammable, rigid material is gypsum.
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18. A vertical wall as defined in claim 17,
wherein said gypsum is strips of gypsum board.
19. A vertical wall as defined in claim 16,
wherein said oppositely opening grooves are provided
by metal channels screwed to side walls of said
reinforcement channel.
20. A vertical wall as defined in claim 19,
wherein said reinforcement channel has an opening
filled with strips of gypsum board and is about two
inches wide and five inches deep.
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Description

CA 02109677 2002-06-17
VERTICAL POST ASSEMBLY
FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to a vertical
post assembly for supporting and adjoining a pair
of co-planar horizontal stud walls.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A novel wall construction, particularly
advantageous for surrounding elevator shafts and
the like, is known in the prior art, and involves
a wall constructed of alternating horizontal metal
studs and horizontally extending gypsum core
boards. These walls are preferably limited to
ten-foot-long sections, which may be combined to
form an extra-long wall. This extra-long wall
includes an intermediate vertical post which
divides the wall into lengths of 10 feet or less.
This prior vertical post was formed of
two oppositely opening channels, affixed together,
back-to-back. Core boards and horizontal studs
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extend from within corner posts to within a vertical
post. Wide wallboards are affixed to the outer
flanges of the horizontal studs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In the present invention, an improved
vertical post is employed. The improved vertical
post includes two J-runners and a reinforcement
channel. The reinforcement channel has a hat-shaped
cross-section. The J-runners are screw attached to
the two sides of the reinforcement channel, providing
oppositely directed channels for receiving the ends
of horizontal studs and horizontally extending core
boards.
Preferably the reinforcement channel has
narrow, elongate pieces of core board affixed
between the two sides of the reinforcement channel,
completely filling the space therebetween with
relatively fire-resistant stiffening material.
It is an object of the present invention to
provide an improved vertical post for receiving and
holding the ends of horizontal studs and elongated
horizontal core boards at intermediate locations in
walls of greater than ten feet in length.
It is a further object to provide an
improved horizontal stud wall consisting of the
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CA 02109677 2002-06-17
improved vertical post and the horizontal studs and
horizontal core boards.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THEM DRAWINGS
These and other objects and advantages 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 an isometric view of a portion of
three perpendicular walls of an elevator shaft
enclosure, constructed in accordance with the inven-
tion.
Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional end view of the
left side wall of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional plan view of
the back wall at the intermediate vertical post.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The present invention relates to an
improvement in the construction of walls of over
ten-foot length.
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Referring to Fig. 1, there is shown part of
two side walls 10, 10 and an extra-long back wall
192, of a hollow shaft wall structure 19, surrounding
an elevator shaft 16. Elevator shaft 16 extends
vertically through a plurality of floor-ceiling
platforms, including the lower platform 18 and the
upper platform 20 of Fig. 2. The shaft wall struc-
ture 19 extends vertically from the lower platform 18
to the upper platform 20 along the edges 22 of these
floor ceiling platforms which surround and form the
elevator shaft 16.
Side wall 10 consists of standard upwardly
opening, channel-shaped floor track 24, having a
horizontal web 26 and two vertical flanges 28, 30, a
dawnwardly opening, channel shaped, ceiling track 32,
having a horizontal web 34 and two vertical flanges
36, 38. Floor track 24 is mechanically affixed to
the top of lower platform 18 and ceiling track 32 is
mechanically affixed to the bottom of upper platform
20, each adjacent the edges 22 of these floor-ceiling
platforms.
At the corner of each side wall 10 and back
wall 142, as seen in Fig. 1, a vertical corner post
40 is mounted with a bottom end 42 disposed in a
floor track 24 and a top end (not shown) disposed in
a ceiling track 32, where the two floor tracks 24 and
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210967
the two ceiling tracks 32 meet to form a 90o corner
46 between side wall 10 and back wall 142. The
corner posts 40, which could be made by affixing two
channels together back-to-side, are preferably each a
single, elongate, roll-formed sheet of metal having
two outwardly opening channels 48, 50 formed of a
single piece of 0.020-inch-thick steel, with the two
channels 48 and 50 opening outwardly in directions at
a 90o angle to one another and being directed toward,
respectively, the side walls 10 and the back wall
142.
Considering the side walls 10, Fig. 2 shows
the arrangement of core boards 52, horizontal studs
54, and outwardly disposed gypsum wide wallboards 56,
58, which combine to form the side walls 10.
Typically the core boards 52 are paper-
covered gypsum boards which axe, in cross section,
2 feet by 1 inch, and will normally have a length
equal to the extent of the wall 10.
The first core board 52 to be installed in
constructing wall 10 has a flat portion 72 resting on
web 26 of floor track 29 and face 70 is held against
flange 30 by a plurality of screws 74. The two ends
76 (one shown in Fig. 1) of core board 52 extend into
corner posts 90 (one shown) but are not affixed
thereto. On top of the first core board 52 to be
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installed is the first horizontal stud 59 to be
installed, and progressively, in constructing wall
10, additional core boards 52 and horizontal studs 54
alternately are put into place, each extending at
each end thereof into the channel 48 of corner posts
40 (one shown) but, preferably, neither core boards
52 nor studs 54 are affixed thereto.
The horizontal studs 54, shown in Figs. 1
and 2, are each a single, elongate, roll-formed sheet
of metal, preferably 0.020-inch-thick steel, and
include, essentially a Z-shaped cross section which
includes an inner flange 78, a web 80 extending
outwardly from inner flange 78 with an inwardly
facing surface 84 which forms an angle of 60o with
inner flange 78, an outer flange 82 which is parallel
to and preferably about 2-1/2 inches from inner
flange 78 and a tab 86 for holding a core board edge
62 against outwardly facing surface 88 of web 80.
The stud 54 will be seen to form two opposed pockets
for receiving the edges of two adjacent core boards
52.
In the embodiment shown in Fig. 2, all the
horizontal studs 54 are disposed with the inner
flange 78 extending primarily upwardly from web 80
and the outer flange 82 and tabs 86 extending down-
wardly from web 80. It will be readily understood
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2109677
how gravity assists in the installation of the upper
core board engaged in each stud 54. Two layers of
gypsum wide wallboard 56, 58, preferably 4-foot wide
and 1/2-inch or 5/8-inch thick, are screw attached to
the outer flange 82 of each horizontal stud 54 and to
corner posts 40.
Extra-long wall 142, in Fig. 1, is con-
structed particularly in accordance with the present
invention. For walls having an overall length
greater than 10 feet, an intermediate vertical post
194 is positioned at spacings of 10 feet or less.
A novel intermediate vertical post 144 is shown, in
Fig. 3, formed of two channel-shaped J-runners 146, a
hat-shaped, elongate, metal reinforcement channel
198 and elongate, narrow strips 150 of core board.
The intermediate post 144 is made by
filling the reinforcement channel 148 with nonflam-
mable gypsum core board strips 150 and screwing an
elongate, metal channel or runner 146 to each side
wall 152 of the reinforcement channel 148. As a
result, a highly stiffened post 144 is formed with a
pair of grooves 154 opening outwardly from each side.
The hat-shaped reinforcement channel 148
preferably includes, in addition to side walls 152, a
bottom 156 and outwardly extending flanges 158, and
is about two inches wide and five inches deep.

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Outwardly extending flanges 158 are each one-inch
wide.
Intermediate post 149 extends vertically
from a floor track 24 to a ceiling track 32, and is
affixed thereto. Horizontally extending core boards
52 and horizontal studs 54 extend into the grooves
159 on each side of the post 144, and are vertically
supported the:eby.
Generally, intermediate post 194 will be
used when a plurality of elevator shafts are located
side by side, requiring a plurality of ten-foot
sections in the back wall 142 of a shaft wall struc-
ture 14. By limiting the length of all horizontal
studs 54 in the back wall 142 to no more than ten
feet, a single, light gauge, relatively short hori-
zontal stud 54 will be all that is required for all
shaft sizes.
The J-runners 146 can be identical to the
door-frame posts which are employed at elevator
doorways in a shaft wall structure 14, or they can
take the form of any suitable metal channel. The
core board strips 150 can be made from scraps which
result from cutting core boards 52 to smaller sizes
for adjusting wall sizes, when necessary.
The use of a reinforcement channel 148
filled with core board strips 150 provides adequate
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21096'7°7
structural strength to permit heights of shaft wall
structure walls in excess of thirteen feet without
additional support. This back wall 142 with post 149
has been successful in fire endurance tests exceeding
two hours.
Having completed a detailed description 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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Representative Drawing