Panel arrangement

A space-dividing upright wall panel disposed in a load-bearing relation with a floor, comprising:

• a pair of laterally spaced apart vertical uprights defining opposite ends of said wall panel, each said upright having outward facing side surfaces on opposite sides thereof which define a width of said uprights;
• at least one box-like cross beam which extends laterally between said uprights and has opposite ends thereof rigidly connected to said uprights, said cross beam having a vertically enlarged height defined by upper and lower beam walls thereof which is a substantial portion of a vertical height of said uprights, and a width defined by vertically enlarged side faces on opposite sides thereof which face outwardly and extend vertically between said upper and lower walls, said side faces being spaced outwardly from said respective side surfaces of said uprights such that said width of said cross beam is greater than said width of said uprights;
• at least a first cross member connected between said uprights a vertically spaced distance from said cross beam, a horizontal first raceway being defined by an open interior of said wall panel which is formed vertically between said first cross member and said cross beam and extends laterally between said uprights, a frame of said wall panel being defined by said uprights, cross beam and first cross member;
• and
• at least one cover panel which covers said horizontal raceway on one side thereof, said cover panel being connected to said frame by mounting means for mounting said cover panel in an outwardly spaced relation from said side surfaces of said uprights to define passages, each said passage being defined respectively between said upright side surface and an opposing inward facing surface of said cover panel, said passages opening laterally from said opposite end of said wall panel such that said first raceway opens laterally from said opposite ends of said wall panel through said respective passages.

A wall panel assembly for carrying cabling and supporting loads of a workstation comprising:

• a generally upright rectangular panel frame which is disposed in a load-bearing relation with a floor and has connector means at opposite ends of said frame to connect additional serially-adjacent wall panels thereto, and a plurality of vertically enlarged cover panels which extend laterally between said opposite ends and are removably positioned on opposite sides of said frame;
• said frame comprising elongate vertical elements which are laterally spaced one from the other proximate the opposite ends of the frame, and a plurality of horizontally elongate horizontal elements extending laterally between said vertical elements, said horizontal elements being vertically spaced one from the other so as to define at least one open interior defined vertically between a vertically adjacent pair of said horizontal elements and laterally between said vertical elements disposed proximate said opposite ends;
• at least one of said horizontal elements including channel means for defining at least one horizontally elongate first channel extending laterally between said opposite ends of said frame and disposed in non-interfering relation with said vertical elements, said channel being generally enclosed on a front side by a channel wall and opening upwardly from a top surface of said horizontal element, said first channel having opposite open ends which open laterally from said respective opposite ends of said frame, each said channel being in communication with a laterally adjacent channel of a laterally adjacent frame;
• and
• said cover panels including mounting means for mounting said cover panels to said frame in outwardly spaced relation from said vertical elements so that an end passage is defined respectively between each outward facing side surface of said vertical element and an opposing inward facing surface of said cover panel, each said end passage opening laterally from said opposite ends of said wall panel and being in communication with said hollow interior.

In a space-dividing wall panel system for use in defining a vertically enlarged wall extending upwardly from a support surface, said wall panel system including a wall panel defined by vertically spaced upper and lower edges and laterally spaced opposite panel ends which extend vertically between said upper and lower edges, comprising the improvement wherein said wall panel includes a plurality of horizontally elongate channels which extend between said opposite panel ends and have opposite open ends which open laterally through said opposite panel ends, said channels each having a horizontally elongate open side which opens outwardly away from said wall panel and extends between said opposite open ends to permit access to said channel from an exterior of said wall panel along an entire length of said channel, each said channel being defined on an outer side thereof by an outer channel wall which extends horizontally along the length of said channel and defines a horizontal edge of said open side, said channels being vertically spaced apart wherein at least one of said channels is disposed vertically between said upper and lower edges of said wall panel, said channel wall of at least one of said channels being joined to a bottom wall of said channel so as to extend upwardly therefrom, the wall panel system further including a connector assembly supported on an exterior of said wall panels, said connector assembly including a downwardly-extending first connector part engaged with one of said channels such that said connector assembly is vertically supported solely by said upwardly-extending channel wall of said one of said channels, said first connector part being slidable laterally along said respective track defined by said one of said channels wherein said respective track permits continuous uninterrupted sliding of said connector assembly along the entire length of said track.