Support beam for wall or ceiling panels

A beam for supporting elongated wall or ceiling panels from an underlying structure comprising said beam having a generally U-shaped cross-section, each leg of said beam being bent to provide an outwardly extending flange on each side of said beam, each of said flanges extending along the length of the beam, a plurality of connecter lugs on each flange, said lugs having been cut and bent from the material of said flanges to form lugs having an ear portion on each end thereof, said lugs extending outwardly of said flanges in a direction generally opposite to the direction in which said legs extend from said flanges, each of said lugs lying in a plane extending generally parallel to the length of the beam, the openings produced upon cutting and bending said lugs being arranged substantially mid-way of the width of the flanges, and said openings and said lugs having a width no more than half the width of the flange from which said lugs are bent.