Dry wall installation clips
Overhead installation clips for sheet goods, such as dry wall material. The clips support the sheets at one end, allowing one man to install this material without additional help. The clips need not be recovered after installation as they are designed to have their exposed portions broken off and discarded. The portion of the clips that remains are normally located in the seams between the sheets where they will be covered by the tape and spackle.
1. Field
The present invention relates to the installation of sheet goods used in construction and more particularly to clips used to support dry wall sheets while they are being installed on overhead beams.
2. Prior Art
The use of clips in the prior art is illustrated in the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,459 illustrates an overhead sheet-installation support tool which incorporates a forward screw and rearward extending handle structure. However, it fails to have clips which can be easily inserted on existing sheet rock and broken away once the board has been installed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,446 illustrates an overhead sheet installation support tool which incorporates a screw and a base with a ledge to support the sheet material. However, it fails to have disposable clips that do not need to be screwed into the overhead beams.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,405 illustrates a drywall device which is driven into an overhead beam and an orthogonally positioned supporting tongue to support the sheet rock. However, it fails to have a means for easy removal or disposal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,994 illustrates a drywall support device which is screwed into an overhead beam and has a rotating support ledge that can be moved to a first support position for the sheet rock and a second release position. However, it fails to have a means of easily removing the support from the ceiling and the manufacturing cost of the device is high.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,826 illustrates a support “T” with a slide out shelf for supporting sheet rock. However, it fails to have a low cost disposable means of supporting sheet rock.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,131,361 illustrates clips that are nailed through holes in the clips into overhead beams. The clips which support sheet rock can be removed and re-used by sliding them along to wide openings to free the nail heads. However, this device fails to have nicked or serrated edges which would allow the clips to be broken off and discarded.
The prior art has many reusable clips which usually require time consuming installation and retrieval. In some instances, the retrieval is impractical because part of the clip is trapped under the sheet rock and nails through the clip are under the sheet rock and must be loosened before the clip can be removed. What is needed is a low cost, disposable clip that takes little time to install and can easily be disposed of in order to minimize installation time and maximize the efficiency of the installer. Such clips are provided by the present invention which is shown and described below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet rock installation clip which can be broken away and discarded after a single use.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet rock installation clip that can be installed by merely inserting it between an already mounted panel of sheet rock and an over beam without the need for a fastener.
It is an object of the present invention to provide sheet rock installation clips which do no significant damage to installed sheet rock during their mounting and removal.
It is an object of the present invention to provide sheet rock installation clips that speed the installation process both during mounting and removal of the clips.
The present invention provides overhead installation clips for sheet goods, such as dry wall material, usually referred to as wall board or sheet rock. The clips, which support the sheets at one end, allow a single installer to install this material without additional help. The clips need not be recovered after installation as they are designed to have their exposed portions broken away. The portion of the clips that remains are normally located in the seam of the dry wall sheets where they will be covered by tape and spackle.
In the installation of sheet rock, there is difficulty in holding a panel of sheet rock at one end up against overhead beams while the installer secures the opposite end of the sheet rock to the beams. The present invention accomplishes the holding of the sheet rock at one end, eliminating the need for a jack, table, or a second installer. The present invention provides two types of clips. The first one, referred to as the end clip, is used for the first sheet of sheet rock which is started against a vertical wall. The second type of clip, referred to as the middle clip, is used when a new panel of sheet rock is being installed against an already installed panel of sheet rock.
The first type of clip is secured to a beam while the second type slips under the existing sheet rock. Both have a portion of the clip which can be seen extending below the sheet rock after installation, but it is designed to be broken off by hand. This is accomplished by placing nicks at the edges of the clips where it is desired to break away the clip. The clips have spikes, serrated edges or teeth used to grip the beam or the sheet rock to which they are attached to prevent movement or rotating of the clip while the clip is being used to support a sheet of sheet rock.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In using the clip 1, it is first installed by placing a fastener through the hole 1D into an overhead beam as shown in
When the above procedure is followed using the present invention, there is no need to retrieve the clip, which was necessary in prior art systems, and often resulted in damaging the sheet rock as well as causing the expenditure of unreasonable amounts of the installer's time. The clips of the present invention are usually made of a steel that is less than a sixteenth inch thick, making it possible for them to be broken away and disposed of without concern for the cost of the clips. This is a significant improvement over prior art clips which are costly to purchase and time consuming to use because they must be installed and then retrieved. The time and expense of these extra steps in the prior art far exceeds that required for the low cost “throw away” clips of the present invention.
Claims
1. A first clip for supporting a dry wall panel from a beam, having a generally “C” shaped and comprising an upper lief, a lower leaf and a connecting leaf, said upper, lower and connecting leafs being formed of flat sheet material and said upper and lower leaf being positioned horizontally with the upper leaf located directly above the lower leaf, the upper and lower leafs each having a first and a second end with the first ends of the upper leaf being located directly above the first end of said lower leaf and said connecting leaf being connected between said upper and lower leafs at their first ends.
2. A first clip as claimed in claim 1 wherein said upper lief includes a first hole to pass a fastener through to hold said clip to said beam.
3. A first clip as claimed in claim 2 wherein said lower lief includes a second hole located generally below said first hole to provide access to a fastener passing through said first hole to secure said fastener and clip to a beam.
4. A first clip as claimed in claim 1 wherein the separation between said upper and lower liefs exceed the thickness of a sheet of dry wall material sufficiently to permit said dry wall material to pass between said upper and lower liefs.
5. A first clip as claimed in claim 1 having a sharp vertical projection on its upper surface about its second end to grip the beam and prevent rotation of said first clip.
6. A first clip as claimed in claim 1 further comprising at least one notch in said lower leaf about its first end to facilitate the breaking off of the lower leaf after said dry wall panel is secured to the beam.
7. A first clip as claimed in claim 6 comprising two notches, one on either side of said lower leaf immediately adjacent said connecting leaf.
8. A first clip as claimed in claim 1 wherein second ends of said upper and lower leafs have the corner edges removed to facilitate inserting a dry wall panel between said upper and lower leafs.
9. A second clip for supporting a dry wall panel from a beam having a generally Z shape and having an upper, a lower and a connecting leaf, said upper, lower and connecting leafs being formed of flat sheet material and said upper and lower leafs being positioned horizontally with the upper leaf being located above and to one side of the bottom leaf, the upper and lower leafs each having a first and a second end with the second end of the upper leaf being positioned directly above the first end of the lower leaf and said connecting leaf being connected between said upper and lower leaf and said connected between said upper and lower leafs at their opposite ends to produce the “Z’ shape of said second clip.
10. A second clip as claimed in claim 9 comprising at least one notch in the side of the lower leaf about its first end to facilitate the breaking off of the lower leaf after said dry wall panel is secured to the beam.
11. A second clip as claimed in claim 10 comprising two notches, one on either side of said lower leaf immediately adjacent to said connecting leaf.
12. A second clip as claimed in claim 9 wherein the first end of the upper leaf and the second end of the bottom have their corner edges removed to facilitate inserting the upper leaf over a second dry wall panel and accepting a third dry wall panel over said lower leaf.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 5, 2005
Publication Date: Aug 24, 2006
Inventor: Herbert Jaffe (Jupiter, FL)
Application Number: 11/051,583
International Classification: E04B 1/00 (20060101); E04D 1/00 (20060101);