Suspended Ceiling System and Foldable Runner Therefore
Each one of the runners of the suspended ceiling system has a base with two laterally opposite flanges for supporting ceiling tiles. A web can be hingedly connected to the base between the flanges. The runners can be suspended from above using cable fasteners which lockingly engage with apertures provided in the runners.
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This specification is a continuation of pending application Ser. No. 13/638,012, filed Sep. 28, 2012, which was a national phase entry of international application no. PCT/CA2011/050163 filed 29 Mar. 2011 under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference, which claimed priority of Canadian application no. 2,698,081 filed 30 Mar. 2010.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to suspended ceilings in general. Typical suspended ceilings consist of a framework or grid of brackets referred to as runners and typically having a rigid inversed-T shape cross-section, which are suspended from a structure above, and which are used in supporting an array of ceiling tiles. Typically, runners oriented in a given longitudinal orientation are manufactured in a length substantially longer than runners oriented in a transversal orientation, the latter being often referred to as cross-tees and being engaged with two adjacent longitudinal runners at each end.
2. Description of the Background Art
Presently, such suspended ceilings were satisfactory to a certain degree, the rigid inversed-T shape of the runners made them particularly difficult to arrange for shipping, and any resulting shipping configuration typically resulted in a relatively high amount of lost volume. This drawback is considerable considering that shipping costs are an important factor in the overall costs of runners and cross-tees. In another aspect, the runners were manufactured in given standard lengths, which often required longitudinally assembling two or more runners end to end. Also, runners were traditionally suspended using wire, which was time-consuming. Accordingly, there remained room for improvement
The runner can be manufactured in traditional given lengths for example, in which case the folded runners can be stacked into an efficient configuration. The runners can be made of somewhat flexible or rigid materials. If sufficiently flexible, folded runners having a much longer length than those traditionally made available can be coiled. A runner coil can be installed by affixing one end to a first wall, unrolling a length of runner corresponding to the distance between the first wall and a second opposite wall, cutting the runner at that length, unfolding the web and suspending it and affixing the cut end to the second wall. This can reduce the inconveniences which were related to joining runners end to end, for instance.
In accordance with another aspect, there is thus provided a runner for suspended ceiling provided in the form of a coil.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a runner for suspended ceilings, the runner being elongated in shape, having a base with two laterally opposite flanges for supporting ceiling tiles and a web hingedly connected to the base between the flanges so as to be foldable between a flat configuration with the web folded against one of the flanges, and an inversed-T configuration with the web normal to the base for suspension and use.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a suspended ceiling system having a plurality of runners, each one of the runners having a base with two laterally opposite flanges for supporting ceiling tiles and a web hingedly connected to the base between the flanges.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a method of installing a suspended ceiling comprising unfolding a runner having a web hingedly mounted to a base from a folded configuration where the web is folded against the base, to an unfolded configuration where the web is normal to the base.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a runner for suspended ceiling having an inversed-T shape during use, with a web connected along the length of a base, between two laterally opposite flanges of the base, the runner being characterized in that the web is hingedly connected to the base so as to be foldable between a flat shape with the web folded against one of the flanges, and the inversed-T shape with the web normal to the base.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a method of suspending runners of a suspended ceiling system with cable fasteners, each cable fastener being elongated, having a proximal end and a distal end, and having at least one hook at the proximal end, the runners each having a plurality of apertures interspaced along its length, each one of the apertures having a catch matching the hook of the cable fasteners for snapping locking engagement, the method comprising inserting the proximal end of a cable fastener in a selected one of the apertures thereby lockingly engaging the hook with the selected aperture, and affixing the distal end of the cable fastener to a building structure.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a suspended ceiling system comprising in combination runners and cable fasteners, each cable fastener being elongated, having a proximal end and a distal end, and having at least one hook at the proximal end, the runners each having a plurality of apertures interspaced along its length, each one of the apertures having a catch matching the hook of the cable fasteners for snapping locking engagement therewith when the proximal is inserted into a selected one of the apertures.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an improvement which overcomes the aforementioned inadequacies of the prior art devices and provides an improvement which is a significant contribution to the advancement of the suspended ceiling art.
The foregoing has outlined some of the pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONFor the purpose of summarizing this invention, this invention comprises a suspended ceiling system and runner therefore.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the more pertinent and important features of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood so that the present contribution to the art can be more fully appreciated. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and the specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:
Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTAs it will appear from the description provided herein, there are various ways of making a runner having the afore-mentioned characteristics. Henceforth, it will be understood that the thorough description of the example shown in
In the example shown in
If the material of the base structural layer 22 and the web structural layer 24 is sufficiently flexible, the runner 10, with the web 12 folded in the flat configuration shown in
Many plastic materials can have sufficient flexibility for providing the runner 10 in a coil. Alternately, it was found that some wood materials can be made sufficiently flexible by adhering a flexible sheet layer, sometimes referred to as a support layer, to the particular wood material. The particular example illustrated in
In the embodiment illustrated in
A configuration such as described above can be manufactured on-line, with different layers and adhesive applied onto one another via rolls and a rotary punch can be used to create the regularly spaced apertures, for instance. Alternately, such a configuration can also be manufactured off-line.
Turning to
There are many ways to join runners at the intersections, and the particular way chosen in a particular installation will likely depend of the material(s) of which the runners are made of and of their lengths. Traditionally, it was known to use cross-tees having a length corresponding to the distance between two longitudinal runners, and having ends configured to attach thereto, as transverse runners. This latter way is still possible, along with other variants.
For illustrative purposes, in the particular example given in
Referring back to
It will be understood that the grid configuration shown in
There are different ways to join runners end-to-end if desired. One way to do so is illustrated in
Along the walls, moldings (not shown) can be provided and affixed to the walls to support the edges of the tiles which are adjacent to the walls. Further, wall brackets can be used above the moldings to secure ends of the runners against the wall.
An example of such a wall bracket 60 is shown in
Referring now to
Generally, the runner 110 illustrated in
If desired, a runner 110 such as shown in
An example of a connector 190 is shown in
Now turning to
It will be understood that the dimensions of the crenate racks 194c and 196c, and of ratchet pawl hooks 170 can vary depending on the elasticity of the material used, for instance.
Turning now to
The use of a cable fastener such as described above can dramatically increase the speed of installing runners as compared to former methods using wire. Wire needs to be cut to length, and twisted, which is time consuming. Using a combination of a cable fastener with a runner which has a specifically designed aperture to catch with the cable fastener can be significantly faster. Suspending a runner can be as simple as inserting a proximal end of the cable fastener into the aperture, thereby engaging a hook of the cable fastener with a catch in the aperture. Afterwards, the cable fastener is prevented from being retracted by the hook. The distal end of the cable fastener can be attached to a building structure. The distal end of the cable fastener can be attached before or after having inserted the proximal end through the aperture. If using a cable fastener having a plurality of hooks in a gear rack configuration, the distal end of the cable fastener can be attached to the building structure first, for instance, and the proximal end can be moved through the aperture up to a selected one of the successive hooks conveniently corresponding to a given suspension height.
It will be understood that a cable fastener as described above can be used to suspend runners such as described above, but can also be used to suspend rigid runners, for instance.
It is repeated here that the embodiments described above are provided only as examples and are not intended to restrict the scope of this specification. For instance the suspension apertures are optional, their configuration can be different, and they can have different shapes; the runners can be suspended in any suitable manner, including with wire for instance; the hinged connection can be continuous or discontinuous; the structural layers of the web and/or the base can have more than one layers laminated atop one another, optionally with different materials; the web and the base can have any suitable different relative dimensions, etc. The scope is indicated by the appended claims.
The present disclosure includes that contained in the appended claims, as well as that of the foregoing description. Although this invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Now that the invention has been described,
Claims
1. A runner for suspended ceilings, the runner being elongated in shape, having a base with two laterally opposite flanges for supporting ceiling tiles and a web hingedly connected to the base between the flanges so as to be foldable between a flat configuration with the web folded against one of the flanges, and an inversed-T configuration with the web normal to the base for suspension and use; wherein the web and the base are formed of a single, integral component made of a plastic material and having a flexible portion at the base of the web providing the hinged connection between the web and the base.
2. The runner of claim 1 wherein the flexible portion has a smaller thickness than the remainder of the web.
3. The runner of claim 1 wherein the flexible portion has a W-shaped notch defined therein.
4. The runner of claim 1 wherein a material constituting the flexible portion is more flexible than a material constituting the remainder of the web.
5. The runner of claim 1 wherein the web has a plurality of regularly longitudinally interspaced apertures on a side thereof away from the base.
6. The runner of claim 5 wherein the apertures are rectangular and flat in the longitudinal direction.
7. The runner of claim 1 wherein both flanges have the same width.
8. A suspended ceiling system having a plurality of runners, each one of the runners having a base with two laterally opposite flanges for supporting ceiling tiles and a web hingedly connected to the base between the flanges.
9. The suspended ceiling system of claim 8 wherein the runners are suspended to a building structure in a grid configuration, with a plurality of parallel and equally interspaced longitudinal runners and a plurality of parallel and equally interspaced transverse runners and an array of intersections therebetween.
10. A method of installing a suspended ceiling comprising unfolding a runner having a web hingedly mounted to a base from a folded configuration where the web is folded against the base, to an unfolded configuration where the web is normal to the base.
11. The method of claim 10, further comprising prior to said unfolding, unrolling the runner from a coiled configuration.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 12, 2013
Publication Date: Mar 13, 2014
Applicant: Corruven Canada Inc. (Kedgwick)
Inventor: Alain Belanger (Kedgwick)
Application Number: 14/078,221
International Classification: E04B 9/12 (20060101);