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AssigneeUSG Interiors, Inc.
InventorsLee M. Tedesco, James J. Lehane, JR., Abraham M. Underkofler, Mark R. Paulsen
Estimating the term…
The invention provides a bracket and method of its use for adapting standard wall angle trim for use in sloped ceiling construction. The disclosed bracket arrangement can be used for the top edge or bottom edge of a sloped ceiling and be adjusted to match the angle of any practical ceiling slope. In disclosed embodiments, the bracket has the form of a rectangular flat steel sheet. The sheet has a hinge or bend line running lengthwise in its mid-area. The bend line is made by cutting the sheet intermittently along its length and thereby dividing the sheet into two sections. The cuts may be made, for example, by punching elongated slots along the bend line in a blank being formed into the bracket. Also punched into the bracket blank are a plurality of holes distributed lengthwise on marginal areas of the two sections of the blank.
A sheet metal bracket for attaching standard suspended ceiling wall angle to a wall at an angle corresponding to the slope of the desired ceiling, the bracket being stamped with a generally rectangular profile and a generally flat configuration, the bracket including a bend line along its longitudinal direction in a mid-zone of the profile that divides the bracket into major and minor sections, the bend line being formed by a weakened area in the sheet metal forming the bracket, and a plurality of screw receiving holes in each section for attaching the bracket to a wall angle or a wall.
A method of facilitating the mounting of a wall angle for a sloped suspended ceiling comprising the steps of stamping a sheet metal bracket with a rectangular profile, forming a bend line extending lengthwise through a mid-portion of the profile of the bracket by weakening the sheet metal along the line, providing the bracket with one section on one side of the bend line at least as wide as the height of a conventional grid tee and another section, on a side of the bend line opposite said one section, with a width of about the width of a leg of a standard wall angle, and punching holes in both said one and said second section to receive screw fasteners for attaching the bracket to a leg of the wall angle and to a wall, and distributing the bracket to the construction industry in a planar condition to enable an installer to field bend the bracket on site to conform it to support the wall angle with a lower leg disposed at the slope angle of the ceiling.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.