Strut apparatus for holding drywall panels and building materials in position

A strut assembly for wedgingly engaging the bottom surface of a generally planar building panel spaced at a predetermined distance above a floor to temporarily hold such panel in place for securement and comprising:

• a transversely extending support bracket formed with an upper support face for engaging said bottom surface;
• an elongated tube projecting downwardly from said bracket to form open top and bottom ends;
• a leg telescopically received at its upper extremity into said open bottom end and threadably mounting at its lower end a screw jack having a floor gripping cleat for wedgingly engaging said floor at an oblique angle relative to a vertical plane, said leg and cleat cooperating with said tube to form a strut device, said leg being configured to be telescoped from said tube for a coarse adjustment and said cleat rotated to rotate said jack for a fine adjustment to set said strut device to space said support face a distance greater than said predetermined distance from said cleat;
• an adjustment device engageable between said tube and said leg for releasably locking the position of said leg relative to said tube;
• and
• a pivot joint for connecting said support bracket to said tube for rotation of said strut device relative to said support bracket from a release position to a support position disposed at said oblique angle, said pivot including a stem projecting downwardly from said bracket and telescoped into said top end of said tube, a pivot pin projecting transversely through said tube and stem to provide for limited pivoting of said tube relative to said stem whereby a workman may adjust said adjustment device to establish a course pre-adjustment of said leg relative to said tube and adjust said screw jack for fine adjustment to form an overall length from said cleat to said support face greater than said predetermined distance so such workman may rotate said strut device about said pivot to said release position and then engage said face of said support bracket against said bottom surface of said building panel and rotate said strut device to said support position to wedgingly engage said cleat with said floor to position said strut device at said oblique angle to positively support said building panel on said strut assembly.