STUD ASSEMBLY
An implementation of a stud assembly disclosed herein includes an external stud and an internal stud inserted longitudinally into the external stud, wherein the internal stud has cross-sectional dimensions that are smaller than the cross-sectional dimensions of the external stud. Each of the internal stud and the external stud may include a web, two flanges connected to the web, and two lips connected to the two flanges. Furthermore, each of the internal stud and the external stud may be created from a cold-rolled steel.
This application is a Non-Provisional patent application of and claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/739,383 entitled “Stud Assembly,” and filed on Dec. 19, 2012, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
TECHNICAL FIELDThis application relates to building construction components and, more particularly, to stud components used in commercial and residential structures.
SUMMARYThis Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Other features, details, utilities, and advantages of the claimed subject matter will be apparent from the following more particular written Detailed Description of various implementations and implementations as further illustrated in the accompanying drawings and defined in the appended claims.
An implementation of a stud assembly disclosed herein includes an external stud and an internal stud inserted longitudinally into the external stud, wherein the internal stud has cross-sectional dimensions that are smaller than the cross-sectional dimensions of the external stud. Each of the internal stud and the external stud may include a web, two flanges connected to the web, and two lips connected to the two flanges. Furthermore, each of the internal stud and the external stud may be created from a cold-rolled steel.
Studs are commonly used in the construction industry to provide a support for a wall surface and further support a roof, a floor or the like. Studs can be comprised of a variety of materials including wood and metal. Metal studs are commonly used in a variety of construction styles as they can be manufactured economically and are light, strong and durable. Metal studs are commonly fashioned from a piece of sheet metal that is cold formed to desired specifications. Cold forming involves working a material below its recrystallization temperature.
Light gauge cold-formed metal studs (measured in gauge or thickness) have limited structural capacity to withstand vertical forces acting on buildings in the form of live and dead loads. Additionally, they have limited capacity to withstand lateral loads acting on buildings such as seismic (ground motion) or wind. To increase the structural capacity of light gauge material it is typical to increase the gauge or thickness of the material. Additionally, commonly used stud assemblies incorporate multiple studs flange-to-flange or web-to-web.
An implementation of a stud assembly disclosed herein provides a nested stud assembly wherein an internal stud is nested in an external stud. The nested stud assembly disclosed herein provides lateral and vertical force resistance without the cost and difficulty of assembly when incorporated in a light gauge building framing system. The nested stud assembly disclosed herein has structural capacities and performance similar to that of a column. It is significantly stronger than stacked studs in its capacity to resist vertical and lateral forces. Furthermore, under vertical loading one stud in the assembly is in compression while the other is in tension. As a result, the disclosed nested stud assembly has much greater capacity than a single stud or stacked studs to withstand torsional forces as well.
The indented arc 210 makes the external stud 200 flexible such that the external stud 200 may be assembled with an internal stud to form a stud assembly. For example, the flanges 204 of the external stud 200 with the indented arc 210 may be bent out as represented by the dotted lines 212. Furthermore, each of the flanges 204 may also be slightly curved so as to allow flexion thereof. For example, the flanges 204 may be configured such that the width of the external stud 200 at the top (near the lips 206) is smaller than the width of the external stud 200 at the bottom (near the web 202).
For example, the internal stud 300 may be created by shrinking the profile of an external stud by a roll forming machine. As illustrated in
Furthermore, the internal stud 300 may also include an arcular indentation 310 in the web 302, wherein the arcular indentation 310 makes the internal stud 300 more flexible. For example, the arcular indentation 310 allows bending of the flanges 304 towards each other to further reduce the cross-sectional area of the internal stud 300. Therefore, the internal stud 300 may be inserted telescopically into an external stud, such as the external stud 200 disclosed in
The external stud 410 of the example nested stud assembly 400 has a web with a flat surface whereas the internal stud 408 of the example nested stud assembly 400 has a web with an arcular surface. However, in an alternative implementation, both the internal stud 408 and the external stud 410 may have arcular indentation, or none of the internal stud 408 and the external stud 410 may have arcular indentation.
The width of the internal stud 900 is smaller than the width of the external stud 800 disclosed in
The example stud assembly 1000 is illustrated to have a small space between a web 1012 of the internal stud 1002 and a lip 1010 of the external stud 1004, in an alternative implementation, the web 1012 of the internal stud 1002 and the lip 1010 of the external stud 1004 may be in contact with each other. Similarly, while the example stud assembly 1000 is illustrated to have the flanges 1014 of the internal stud 1002 in contact with the flanges 1016 of the external stud 1004, in an alternative implementation, the flanges 1014 of the internal stud 1002 in contact with the flanges 1016 of the external stud 1004 may not be in contact at all. For example, in such an implementation, the internal stud 1002 is secured within the external stud 1004 via contact between the web 1012 of the internal stud 1002 with the lip of the external stud 1004 or via contact between a lip of the internal stud 1002 and the web of the external stud 1004.
Yet alternatively, the internal stud 1002 may be secured within the external stud 1004 using a support structure 1030 as illustrated by the dotted lines.
The above specification, examples, and data provide a complete description of the structure and use of exemplary embodiments of the invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended. Furthermore, structural features of the different embodiments may be combined in yet another embodiment without departing from the recited claims. Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the scope of the invention. The implementations described above and other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.
Claims
1. A stud assembly, comprising:
- an external stud; and
- an internal stud inserted longitudinally into the external stud, wherein the internal stud has cross-sectional dimensions that are smaller than the cross-sectional dimensions of the external stud.
2. The stud assembly of claim 1, wherein each of the external stud and the internal stud includes a web, two flanges, and two lips.
3. The stud assembly of claim 2, wherein the cross-sectional width of the web of the internal stud is smaller than the cross-sectional width of the web of the external stud.
4. The stud assembly of claim 2, wherein the cross-sectional heights of the flanges of the internal stud are smaller than the cross-sectional heights of the flanges of the external stud.
5. The stud assembly of claim 2, wherein the internal stud is created by shrinking another external stud using a roll-forming machine.
6. The stud assembly of claim 2, wherein the web of the external stud comprises an indentation substantially near the center of the external stud and towards the lips of the external stud.
7. The stud assembly of claim 6, wherein the indentation is in the shape of an arc.
8. The stud assembly of claim 2, wherein the web of the internal stud comprises an indentation substantially near the center of the internal stud and towards the lips of the internal stud.
9. The stud assembly of claim 8, wherein the indentation is in the shape of an arc.
10. The stud assembly of claim 2, wherein the lips of the internal stud are curved such that the ends of the lips away from the flanges of the internal stud are closer to the web of the internal stud than the ends of the lips closer to the flanges of the internal stud.
11. The stud assembly of claim 2, wherein the flanges of the internal stud are curved such that the ends of the flanges closer to the lips of the internal stud are closer to each other compared to the ends of the flanges closer to the web of the internal stud.
12. The stud assembly of claim 2 further comprising support mechanisms attached to the internal surfaces of each of the flanges of the external stud.
13. A device comprising:
- an external stud comprising an external stud web, two external stud flanges attached to each of two web ends of the two external stud flanges, and two external stud lips attached to each of two lip ends of the external stud flanges; and
- an internal stud comprising an internal stud web, two internal stud flanges attached to each of two web ends of the two internal stud flanges, and two internal stud lips attached to each of two lip ends of the internal stud flanges,
- wherein the width of the external stud web is larger than the width of the internal stud web and the height of the external stud flanges is larger than the height of the internal stud flanges.
14. The device of claim 13, wherein the internal stud is positioned inside the external stud.
15. The device of claim 14, wherein the internal stud is positioned inside the external stud such that the internal stud lips are in proximity of the external stud web and the internal stud web is in proximity of to the external stud lips.
16. The device of claim 14, wherein each of the external stud and the internal stud are created from cold rolled steel using a roll-forming machine.
17. The device of claim 14, wherein the external stud further comprising support mechanisms attached to inside surfaces of each of the external stud flanges.
18. A method, comprising:
- forming an external stud comprising an external stud web, two external stud flanges attached to each of two web ends of the two external stud flanges, and two external stud lips attached to each of two lip ends of the external stud flanges;
- forming an internal stud comprising an internal stud web, two internal stud flanges attached to each of two web ends of the two internal stud flanges, and two internal stud lips attached to each of two lip ends of the internal stud flanges;
- shrinking the internal stud such that cross-sectional dimensions of the internal stud along the length of the internal stud are smaller than cross-sectional dimensions of the external stud; and
- inserting the internal stud into the external stud longitudinally.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein forming an external stud further comprising forming an external stud from cold-rolled steel.
20. The method of claim 18, wherein inserting the internal stud into the external stud further comprising inserting the internal stud into the external stud such that at least two or more of the external side surfaces of the internal stud are in contact with the internal side surfaces of the external stud.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 19, 2013
Publication Date: Jun 19, 2014
Inventors: John Louis Vanker (Lac du Flambeau, WI), Michael J. Lastowski (Centennial, CO)
Application Number: 14/134,267
International Classification: E04C 3/07 (20060101);