Self-centering ceiling panel
AssigneeHunter Douglas Inc.
InventorsDavid Bailey, Ko Kuperus, Richard Mayer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A panel for a drop ceiling is made of a semi-rigid but resilient material such as spring steel and includes corner clips adapted to cooperate with the inverted T-shaped stringers of a drop ceiling support system so that the panel is self-centering between opposing stringers and is spring biased into a clamped relationship with horizontal flanges of the inverted T-shape stringers to prevent the panel from moving up and down. The corner clips are also designed to transfer any horizontal compressive shear force in the mounting system to vertical edges of the panel so as not to undesirably bow the flat base of the panel.
Claims20
A drop ceiling system comprising:
- a suspended support system of inverted T-shaped support members interconnected to define enclosed openings therebetween, each support member having horizontal shoulders, and
- a plurality of panels supported on said support members, each panel of said plurality of panels positioned in one of said openings, each panel of said plurality of panels having a flat, substantially horizontal base, a peripheral side wall, horizontal flanges and vertical flanges along said side wall, and a plurality of semi-rigid resilient clips connected to said vertical flanges, said plurality of clips including fingers yieldingly engaging said shoulders on opposite sides of each panel of said plurality of panels to establish a reactionary force on each panel of said plurality of panels which is transferred by said plurality of clips to said vertical flanges of the said plurality of panels, wherein said plurality of panels are quadrangular and said plurality of clips are generally L-shaped so as to be positioned in the corners of said plurality of panels, wherein said plurality of clips include two legs which, are perpendicular to each other with one leg being to a first, vertical flange along one side of said plurality of panels and the other leg extending along a second vertical flange adjacent and perpendicular to said first vertical flange, said other leg having said finger as an element thereof with said other leg being resilient to resist inward movement of said finger relative to the second vertical flange.
A drop ceiling system comprising:
- a suspended support system of inverted T-shaped support members interconnected to define enclosed openings therebetween, each support member having a substantially horizontal shoulder, and
- a plurality of panels supported on said support members, each panel of said plurality of panels positioned in one of said openings and including:
- first and second peripheral sides extending substantially perpendicular to one another, and
- at least one clip having:
- an upwardly biased spring positioned along said first peripheral side and engaging an underside of said shoulder of one of said support members to bias a respective panel downwardly to resist upward movement of the respective panel, and
- an outwardly biased finger positioned along said second peripheral side and engaging said shoulder of another of said support members to bias the respective panel horizontally within said one of said openings.
A drop ceiling system comprising:
- inverted T-shaped support members interconnected to one another to define an enclosed opening therebetween;
- a panel supported on said support members and positioned in said opening, said panel having a first substantially vertical flange associated with a first side of said panel and a second substantially vertical flange associated with a second side of said panel, said first and second flanges extending substantially perpendicular to one another;
- and
- a resilient clip including a first leg and a second leg, said first leg extending along and attached to said first flange of said panel, said second leg extending away from said first leg along said second flange of said panel, a portion of said second leg resiliently engaging a substantially vertical wall of one of said support members.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.