Tier drop grid system

A cross tee comprising

• a web portion,
• an upper bulb extending along the top of the web portion,
• a pair of flanges extending outwardly from the bottom of the web portion for supporting ceiling tiles,
• each flange including a top leg portion and a bottom leg portion,
• the bottom leg portion including a single, U-shaped lower bulb extending downwardly,
• the lower bulb being centrally disposed with respect to the web portion and the upper bulb,
• whereby the lower bulb provides greater strength to the suspended ceiling grid member and also enhances the appearance thereof and provides different types of ceiling tile with different appearances including a bold look, or a shadowy look, or a semi-concealed look,
• a connecting tongue extending from an end of the web,
• the tongue being offset from the center of the web by approximately one-half the thickness of the web,
• locking means formed in the tongue for locking said cross tee to a slot provided in a main beam to which the cross tee is connected in the ceiling grid,
• an interlocking means formed in the tongue for interlocking the cross tee with interlocking means of a similarly constructed but oppositely disposed cross tee when the cross tees are inserted into the slot from opposite directions,
• and an interlock release means formed in the tongue for disengaging the tongues of two similarly constructed but oppositely disposed interlocked cross tees from the interlocked relationship.

A cross tee comprising

• a web portion,
• an upper bulb extending along the top of the web portion,
• a pair of flanges extending outwardly from the bottom of the web portion for supporting ceiling tiles,
• each flange including a top leg portion and a bottom leg portion,
• the bottom leg portion including a single, U-shaped lower bulb extending downwardly,
• the lower bulb being centrally disposed with respect to the web portion and the upper bulb,
• whereby the lower bulb provides greater strength to the suspended ceiling grid member and also enhances the appearance thereof and provides different types of ceiling tiles with different appearances including a bold look, or a shadowy look, or a semi-concealed look,
• a connecting tongue extending from an end of the web,
• the tongue being offset from the center of the web by approximately one-half the thickness of the web,
• locking means formed in the tongue for locking said cross tee to a slot provided in a main beam to which the cross tee is connected in the ceiling grid,
• an interlocking means formed in the tongue for interlocking the cross tee with interlocking means of a similarly constructed but oppositely disposed cross tee when the cross tees are inserted into the slot from opposite directions,
• and an interlock release means for disengaging the tongues of two similarly constructed but oppositely disposed interlocked cross tees from the interlocked relationship,
• wherein the interlock release means comprises an interlock release pocket formed in the bottom portion of the fingernail locking edge by a laterally outward flare of the bottom portion,
• the flare being approximately the thickness of the interlocking fingernail, and
• whereby the tongue of the cross tee and the tongue of a similarly constructed but oppositely disposed interlocked cross tee may be disengaged from the interlocked relationship by moving the interlocked cross tees relative to one another so that an interlocking fingernail passes through the interlock release pocket of the opposite cross tee.

A cross tee comprising

• a web portion
• an upper bulb extending along the top of the web portion,
• a pair of flanges extending outwardly from the bottom of the web portion for supporting ceiling tiles,
• each flange including a top leg portion and a bottom leg portion,
• the bottom leg portion including a single, U-shaped lower bulb extending downwardly,
• the lower bulb being centrally disposed with respect to the web portion and the upper bulb,
• whereby the lower bulb provides greater strength to the suspended ceiling grid member and also enhances the appearance thereof and provides different types of ceiling tiles with different appearances including a bold look, or a shadowy look, or a semi-concealed look,
• a connecting tongue extending from an end of the web,
• the tongue being offset from the center of the web by approximately one-half the thickness of the web,
• locking means formed in the tongue for locking said cross tee to a slot provided in a main beam to which the cross tee is connected in the ceiling grid,
• an interlocking means formed in the tongue for interlocking the cross tee with interlocking means of a similarly constructed but oppositely disposed cross tee when the cross tees are inserted into the slot from opposite directions,
• and an interlock release means for disengaging the tongues of two similarly constructed but oppositely disposed interlocked cross tees from the interlocked relationship,
• wherein the locking means includes a locking tab formed in and extending laterally outwardly from the tongue thereby creating a locking surface facing away from the end of said tongue,
• and an opening positioned in the tongue at the end of the locking tab,
• wherein the interlocking means comprises an interlocking fingernail formed from and extending laterally outwardly from the tongue in a direction opposite to the projection of the locking tab thereby creating an interlocking surface facing away from the end of the tongue,
• and a fingernail locking pocket formed in and extending laterally outwardly from the cross tee web in the same direction as the interlocking fingernail thereby creating a fingernail locking edge,
• wherein the interlock release means comprises an interlock release pocket formed in the bottom portion of the fingernail locking edge by a laterally outward flare of the bottom portion,
• the flare being approximately the thickness of the interlocking fingernail,
• whereby the tongue of the cross tee and the tongue of a similarly constructed but oppositely disposed interlocked cross tee may be disengaged from the interlocked relationship by moving the interlocked cross tees relative to one another so that an interlocking fingernail passes through the interlock release pocket of the opposite cross tee.

A roll formed suspended ceiling grid member, comprising

• a web which is roll formed from a sheet of metal,
• a hollow rolled metal sheet top bulb extending along the top of the web,
• first and second metal sheet flanges extending oppositely and outwardly from the bottom of the web for supporting ceiling tiles,
• a single hollow closed bottom bulb extending downwardly below the flanges,
• the bottom bulb being centrally disposed with respect to the web and with respect to the top bulb with both flanges extending outwardly from the bottom bulb so that the bottom bulb does not prevent the flanges from being fully inserted into a slot in the side of a ceiling tile to support the ceiling tile,
• the bottom bulb providing greater strength to the suspended ceiling grid member and also enhancing the appearance of the ceiling by providing different ceiling appearances including a bold look, a shadowy look, or a semi-concealed look with the lower bulb and flanges being interchangeable with ceiling tiles having a square edge portion for the bold look, or a recessed bottom edge for the shadowy look, or an edge portion with a slot that receives the flanges for the semi-concealed look,
• said ceiling grid member being made of a single sheet of metal with a first edge and a second edge,
• a top leg portion of the first flange extending inwardly from the first edge with the sheet then bending upwardly to form a first web sidewall, then bending from the top of the first web sidewall to the top of the second form a second web sidewall which abuts the first web sidewall, then bending outwardly to form a top leg portion of the second flange and bending inwardly to form a bottom leg portion of the second flange, then bending downwardly and horizontally and upwardly to form the single hollow closed bottom bulb, then bending outwardly to form a bottom leg portion of the first flange, and then bending inwardly to form a sheet portion which overlaps the first edge of the metal sheet and the top leg portion of the first flange.