Panel attachment system
AssigneeCommercial and Architectural Products, Inc.
InventorKevin Krieger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wall system comprising a plurality of rectangular rigid prefinished panels mounted on a wall support structure with main runners and cross runners. The main runners serve to lock the panels onto the support structure and with the cross runners serve to prevent the panels from warping due to adverse moisture conditions. The main runners are configured to space the panels from the wall support structure to encourage uniform humidity conditions at the front and rear of the panels. Clips that secure the panels to the main runners are fixed adjacent the top and bottom panel edges at different set-offs to obtain an advantageous nesting of panels for reduced packaging volume.
Claims28
A finished wall construction comprising a plurality of rectangular generally planar panels arranged in a vertical plane with their edges lying in vertical and horizontal orientations and runners adjacent the edges of the panels, the panels having a front face and a rear face and being constructed of a material selected from wood material and material which is susceptible to warping because of ambient humidity conditions, the runners being formed of a material selected from metal and relatively stiff structural material that is substantially free of a tendency to warp due to ambient humidity conditions, the runners being attached adjacent each of the four edges of the panels, each panel having outwardly opening horizontal grooves adjacent their horizontal edges formed by clips secured to rear faces of the panels and extending along substantially the full horizontal length of their panels, each panel having a pair of said runners on opposite edges attached to a supporting wall in a manner that permits such runners to hold the panel in place relative to the supporting structure with adjacent horizontal panel edges vertically spaced apart and in a manner that prevents removal of a panel while another panel is installed above it.
A kit for constructing a prefinished wall comprising a plurality of rectangular panels, a plurality of relatively rigid main runners having lengths greater than that of horizontal edges of the panels, and a plurality of relatively rigid cross runners having lengths generally equal to the length of the vertical edges of the panels, the vertical panel edges having outwardly opening grooves formed therein and the horizontal edges having associated clips attached to the adjacent margins of the rear panel face forming outwardly opening horizontal grooves therewith, the main runners having a lower flange area adapted to be received in the horizontal grooves adjacent the upper panel edges and an upper flange adapted to be received in the horizontal grooves adjacent the lower panel edges, the cross runners each being adapted to be received in the opposed vertical grooves of an adjacent pair of panels, the main runners being adapted to be secured to a wall structure to thereby hold the panels in a rectangular array in a vertical plane parallel to the wall structure, the cross runners being arranged to avoid interference with the main runners when the main and cross runners are installed in their respective grooves, and whereby the main and cross runners when installed in the respective horizontal and vertical grooves serve to stabilize the associated panels against warpage.
A method of assembling a prefinished wall comprising the steps of assembling a row of rectangular panels alongside a wall structure, each of said panels having a front face, a rear face and upper and lower edges, securing a clip to the rear face of each panel of a first row to form an upper groove adjacent an upper edge of each panel of the first row, securing the upper edge area of the panels of the first row to the wall structure with a horizontally disposed runner that has a length greater than the individual panels, the runner having a portion that is received in said upper groove formed on the panel adjacent its upper edge and a portion that overlies said upper edge, securing the runner with mechanical fasteners after it is received in said upper grooves, assembling successive rows of panels above a preceding row of panels by engaging a lower groove on each panel of the successive row adjacent its lower edge over a portion of the runner of the preceding row of panels whereby the overlying portions of the runners are adapted to space adjacent panels vertically from one another.
A finished wall construction comprising a plurality of rectangular generally planar panels arranged in rows and columns in a vertical plane with their edges lying in vertical and horizontal orientations and runners adjacent the edges of the panels, the panels having a front face and a rear face and being constructed of material selected from wood material and material which is susceptible to warping because of ambient humidity conditions, the runners being formed of a material selected from metal and relatively stiff structural material that is substantially free of a tendency to warp due to ambient humidity conditions, the panels each having grooves along substantially the full length of each of its edges, the runners being received in the grooves of the four edges of the panels, along substantially the full length of the respective grooves, each panel having clips mounted to its rear face adjacent the upper and lower edges to form the groove adjacent the upper panel edge and the groove adjacent the lower panel edge, each panel having a pair of said runners on opposite edges attached to a supporting wall in a manner that permits such runners to hold the panel in place relative to the supporting structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.