Demountable Wall Structure

Abstract

A series of channel-member or "H" studs is disposed vertically between the floor and ceiling or other upper support in a planar alignment and the studs are spaced from each other to support wall or partition facing. Each channel or "H" member is orificed at a plurality of areas on its side or sides against which the facing is to be supported, either with or without flanges to constitute receptacles. The back side of each wall or partition facing, such as a sheet of gypsum board, has affixed to it a series of spring-type projections spaced from each other to register with the orifices in the channel-member studs. The wall is formed by placing the backside of the facing sheet against the channel-member studs and pushing the spring-type projection into the receptacles. Preferably each receptacle includes locking tabs which require the projections, and hence the facing sheet upon the back of which they are mounted, to be moved slightly upwardly in order to effect disengagement of the projections from the receptacles.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to building construction and particularly to partitioning structures for dividing up into rooms or other separated areas the inside space defined by the outer walls constituting a building structure.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Partitioning the insides of building enclosures has long been sought to be accomplished by builders in various ways. Conventionally, for perhaps the last century, 2.times.4 studs have been erected as vertical support members and secured between the ceiling and the floor, with 2.times.4 cross supports. Then some type of facing, such as lathe and plaster, wall board, or plywood is secured by nails or screws against the 2.times.4 studs. Such conventional partitions are fairly permanent in nature and it is quite expensive to relocate them, or even to obtain access to them in order to provide for rewiring or repairing of electrical switches, connectors and conduits, or modification or relocating of air ducts, heaters, etc.

More recently, efforts have been made to devise partitions which could be demounted temporarily and replaced without having to destroy and rebuild them. An example of such demountable partitions is disclosed in the U. S. Pat. No. 3,550,338 issued to Architectural Partitions as assignee of David M. Sadkin et al., on Dec. 29, 1970. As may be seen from the disclosure of this patent, metal channel stud members are provided with camming slots into which hooking elements, secured to the backside of wallboard, are inserted. The wallboard with its hooks is then dropped down so that the hooking elements become engaged in the camming slots.

While the Sadkin wall structure offers many advantages over the permanent conventional partitioning, if employed with large sheets of gypsum board, it ordinarily requires two men to lift it into position so that all board hooks are disposed in registry with the camming slots, whereupon the entire board may then be lowered and held by the hooks in the V-shaped camming slots. Moreover, unless the hooks are perfectly aligned with the apexes of the V-slots, the edge of one board, when installed, may tend to overlap the edge of an already installed board, thereby making it difficult to force the hooks into the camming slots of the stud member nearest the overlapping board edges. Such accurate alignment requirements may also result in slight gaps between adjacent boards, which gaps must be filled or covered by tape. Also, since each board is only held by its own weight pressing down on the hooks, the wall structure can vibrate loosely, and if subjected to any substantial P-waves of an earthquake, could be jarred to the point of having one or more of the boards fall away from the studs. Were this to occur in collaboration with any fire, the latter might spread to areas which would otherwise be insulated by the gypsum board partitions.

Thus, while the idea of utilizing metal studs to which wallboard may be demountably attached offers certain advantages over the conventional 2.times.4 stud and lathe and plaster wall structures, the demountable wall structures of the prior art present certain problems which should be solved.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the limitations and disadvantages inherent in the prior art demountable wall structures, while retaining the advantages which they offer over the old conventional permanent partition 2.times.4 stud-type structure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the partition wall structure of the present invention, metallic channel-type vertical studs are disposed as wall support members. Each of these channel members is provided with a series of orifices on its side or sides against which wall facing, such as gypsum board, is to be held. Each orifice constitutes a receptacle, particularly if the orifice is in part defined by the portion or portions of the channel-member wall which are punched in to provided the orifice itself.

On the backside of each wall board may be secured a vertically extending plate having a bent back edge into which may be placed a series of spring-type elements, each of which projects substantially normally away from the board. These elements are so disposed in the plate that they will be in registry with the metal stud orifices when the board is pushed against the studs. The spring-like elements snap into the receptacles, thereby holding the board against the studs under spring tension.

Desirably each receptacle includes locking means which prevents the spring-element of the board from being withdrawn outwardly from the stud unless the board and its spring-elements are lifted vertically a short distance, e.g., a quarter of an inch.

A demountable wall structure constructed in accordance with the present invention will be found quite easy to erect. Each wall board may be mounted by a single workman since it is not necessary for him to lift the board in order accurately to align the spring projections with the orifices. He simply places the board in front of the studs so that the projecting spring-elements register with the stud orifices, and pushes the board against the studs until the spring-element projections snap into the receptacles, whereupon the board will be held under tension against the studs. So held, the board may not be shaken or rattled against the studs, and may only be removed by prying it upwardly the quarter inch or so until the projections are elevated above the locking tabs. The board may then be pulled away from the studs -- preferably by the use of a suction-cupped handle.

Since each board is held to the stud by the spring projections, it may be moved slightly to either side to fit in close abutment with the edges of the adjacent boards, thereby avoiding any overlapping of, or gaps between, the edges of the boards to which it may be adjacent.

Because the non-combustible gypsum boards are held under spring tension and effectively locked, although removably, against the metal studs, the wall structures of the present invention become quite fire resistant.

Since the metal channel-members may be roll-formed and the orifices and receptacles punched by dies; the plates with their bent over edges may be readily formed; the spring elements inserted easily into such plates; and the plates secured, as by cement, to the back sides of the gypsum boards at a building site; the cost of both materials and labor which are required to erect a wall partition in accordance with the present invention is quite low compared with erecting the conventional 2.times.4 stud-type partition.

As will be readily appreciated, a demountable wall structure of the present invention offers many advantages over both such conventional 2.times.4 stud partitions as well as over prior art demountable wall structures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the accompanying drawings,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wall structure partially assembled in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged detail in perspective of the upper end of a stud member and the corners of two wallboard panels with spring means for securing the panels to the stud.

FIG. 3 is a section on the line 3--3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a section similar to FIG. 3, but showing a different type of spring element and stud receptacle therefor.

FIG. 5 is also a section similar to FIGS. 3 and 4 but showing a still further type of spring element and receptacle.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the spring element of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the spring element and angle receptacle therefor shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is another section similar to those of FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, but showing a still further variant of a spring element-receptacle combination which may be utilized.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the spring element of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 illustrates a type of stud which may be employed for a wall structure intended to cover an outer wall, such as one of cinderblock.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a demountable wall structure assembled in accordance with the present invention, comprises a plurality of vertical studs 10 which may be spaced from each other by 24 or 30 inches, center-to-center, or by any other desired distance, and may be secured in alignment to extend between the ceiling 12 and floor 14 by transverse channel members 16 and 18 respectively, preferably by friction fits.

Each stud 10 may be formed of a pair of side walls 20, 22 (FIG. 2), spaced from each other and connected along similar edges 20a, 22a by a bottom wall 24, thereby forming a U-shaped cross-section. To provide additional rigidity to the side walls 20, 22, their respective edges 20b, 22b may be angled back as shown in FIG. 2. The side walls 20, 22 of the studs 10 are orificed in a plurality of areas 26, extending most of the length of the studs and commencing near the top thereof. These orificed areas 26 are spaced from each other at pre-determined intervals as, for example, every 2 feet. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 2, each orifice comprises a narrower bottom area 28 and a wider upper area 30, the functions of which will hereinafter be explained. The studs 10 are further disposed in alignment such that those intended to support a particular wall partition have all of their respective sides 20 and 22 in common planes. The wall structures are completed by mounting on the studs 10 a series of panels 32, which may be sheets of gypsum board, plywood or other rectangular facing sheets.

The mounting of the panels 32 upon the studs 10 may be accomplished by providing on the back side of each panel a spring clip mounting plate 34. This plate preferably extends from the top to the bottom of each panel 32 along each side edge thereof. The plate 34 may include a bent back edge 36 which is slotted along a series of segments 38. Each of these slotted segments 38 is adapted to receive and retain the footing portion 40 of a spring clip element 42. The actual spring portion of the element 42 may be grooved in the configuration shown in FIG. 2 at 44. Tabs 46 may be provided at the distal ends of the footing 40 to retain the clip element 42 in the slotted segments 38 of the clip mounting plate 34. The slotted segments 38 are provided in the plate 34 at such locations as to permit the clip elements 42 to be placed in registry with the narrower bottom areas 28 of the orificed areas 26 in the studs 10.

The panels 32 may, therefore, be readily mounted on the studs 10 by bringing the edges of the panels 32 upon which spring clip elements have been mounted to plate 34, closely adjacent to the stud faces 20, 22, and with the clip elements 42, thereby placed in registry with the areas 28. The panels then are pushed against the studs, thereby forcing the spring clip elements through the areas narrower bottom areas 28 to be received therein.

Desirably, each curved portion 44 of the clip element 42 includes a punched out tab 48, which serves to prevent said curved portion from being withdrawn through the narrower bottom area 28, once the clip element 42 is snapped therein. Withdrawal of the panel 32 from the stud 10 may only be accomplished by raising the panel slightly to the point where the tabs 48 are moved into the wider upper area 30 of the orificed areas 26, whereupon the tabs 48 will no longer be held by the portions 50 of the stud side walls 20, 22, which define the narrower bottom areas 28. When the tabs 48 are thus elevated into the wider upper areas 30 of the orificed areas 26, the panel upon which the spring clip elements 42 are mounted may be pulled away from the stud 10 for demounting. Desirably, therefore, some type of prying tool (not shown) should be utilized under the bottom edge 32a of the panel 32 in order to effect its demounting from the studs 10. Also, it would facilitate pulling the panel 32 away from the studs 10 by employing some type of suction cup handle 33. No tool, however, is required in order to effect mounting of the panels 32 against the studs 10. The plates 34 are preferably secured to the backsides of the panels 32 by an adhesive 52.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the panels 32 may be mounted on the studs 10 by a number of different spring clip arrangements. FIGS. 4 through 9 disclose several of the many possible variants which may be substituted for the clip elements illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. In the alternative embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the stud 10' may be configured somewhat differently from the stud 10 of the FIGS. 2 and 3 embodiment. Thus, the side walls 20' and 22' may be formed with channels 54, both to provide added rigidity to such side walls, as well as to enable spring clip elements 56 to be received therein. These elements 56 may have their spring portions 58 in an S configuration so as to mate against one side of the wall 60, which defines the channel 54. When two panels 32' and 32", having spring clips of the FIG. 4 type are brought together in abutment, they will be held against removal from the stud 10' by the opposing S spring portions 58 of the spring clip elements 56. Demounting is accomplished by shifting one of the two panels 32', 32", to the left or the right, whereupon the spring clip portion 56 attached to the trailing panel will release itself from the wall 60.

In the FIGS. 5, 7, embodiments, the S shaped spring clip portions 62 are passed into orifices 64, where they are similarly retained by turnback flanges 66 and the pressure exerted by the abutment of the panels 32'" and 32"".

The embodiment of FIGS. 8 and 9 more nearly resembles in its construction and method of utilization the embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3. The mounting plates 68 have their edges 70 turned back on both sides, so that the spring clip may be pinched, slipped in, and moved down to where the footing ears 72 may pass into and be retained by slots 74 in the bent edges 70 of the mounting plate 68. The spring clip portion 76 is bulbed in cross-section so that when it is passed through the slotting 78 it will be retained within the studs 10'" until the plate 68 is pried away from the stud.

In the FIG. 10 embodiment, the invention is adapted for use in covering a cinderblock or other type of wall 80 which one may desire to cover. In this case the stud 82 itself may be in the form of a bracket mounted by a case-hardened fastener 84 driven into the wall 80. The bracket 82 may be orificed at 86 to permit pipes or conduits 88 to be passed thereunder and behind the facing panel 90. In this embodiment a bulb-type spring element 92, similar to that of the FIGS. 8, 9 embodiments, is shown to be employed, although obviously any other types of stud and spring element combinations disclosed in the drawings and hereinabove described may be equally utilized.

The present invention, thus, may be seen to have many applications in the erection of walls and partitions.

Claims

We claim:

1. For use in erecting a demountable wall structure adapted to partition into rooms or other separated areas at least part of the inside space of a building having a floor and walls defining such space, said wall structure comprising a plurality of elongated rigid stud members, each of said stud members presenting in a common plane openings defined by a pair of opposed vertically disposed rigid elements spaced from each other laterally and fixedly held in such spacing; means to secure said stud members to extend vertically in relation to said building floor, in alignment with each other and at predetermined intervals whereby the said openings presented by said stud members are disposed in said common vertical plane; and at least one wallboard facing sheet, said sheet having a front face and a back side, a predetermined height and a width extending at least from the center of one of said stud members to the center of the next adjacent stud member; the improved means for mounting said wallboard facing sheet to and against said stud members for demountable support thereby, which means comprises:

A. a plurality of mounting strips, each said strip including a first flat portion disposed and adhered to a wallboard facing sheet and extending parallel to and in the vicinity of an edge of said sheet, said strip having a second portion rolled back parallel to said first portion and spaced slightly therefrom, said second portion being slotted along the edge presented by the said rolled back portion to permit the insertion of a flat element into said slot and into the spacing between said first and second portions of said strip;

B. a spring clip member, said spring clip member including a flat element footing one end of which footing is insertable into a slot in said rolled back portion of one of said strips, and the second end of said footing having a spring element extending outwardly therefrom and catchingly but removably receivable in one of the openings presented by one of said stud members,

whereby, when the flat element footings of said clip members are inserted into the slots in the rolled back portions of said mounting strips adhered to said wallboard facing sheets, the latter may be demountably mounted against said stud members by pressing the extending spring elements into the openings presented by said stud members.

2. The means as described in claim 1 wherein the flat element footing of each stud member is provided with tabs to prevent it being withdrawn from the slot after insertion therein.

3. A demountable wall structure adapted to partition into rooms or other separated areas at least part of the inside space of a building having a floor and walls defining such space, said wall structure comprising:

A. a plurality of rigid elongated stud members, each of said members comprising at least one side wall and a supporting element extending behind said wall, said wall having a plurality of openings at predetermined locations spaced vertically from each other, each said opening having a wider upper entrance portion and a lower narrower portion;

B. means to secure said stud members to extend vertically in relation to said building floor, in alignment with each other and at predetermined intervals whereby the orificed walls of said stud members are disposed in a common vertical plane;

C. at least one wallboard facing sheet, said sheet having

i. a front face and a back side, a predetermined height and a width extending at least from the center of the orificed wall of one of said stud members to the center of the orificed wall of the next adjacent stud member;

ii. a plurality of mounting strips, each of said strips including a first flat portion disposed and adhered to one side of said wallboard facing sheet and extending parallel and proximate to one edge of said sheet, said strip having a second portion rolled back along its side parallel to said first portion and spaced slightly therefrom, said second portion being slotted at predetermined locations along the edge presented by the said rolled back portion, to permit the insertion of a flat element into each slot and into the space between said first and second portion of said strip; and

iii. a plurality of spring clip members, each of said spring clip members including a flat element footing, one end of which footing is insertable into one of said slots in said rolled back portion of one of said strips, and the second end of said footing having a spring element extending outwardly therefrom and catchably, but removably, receivable in one of the openings presented by one of said stud members, each of said spring elements including projecting means to prevent outward removal of said elements from the lower narrower part of said opening, but permitting outward removal from the upper wider part thereof;

whereby when the flat element footings of said clip members are inserted into the slots in the rolled back portions of said mounting strips adhered to each said wallboard facing sheet, the latter may be demountably mounted against said stud members by pressing the extending spring elements into the wider upper portions of said openings and lowering said wallboard facing sheet slightly to dispose said spring elements in the lower narrower portions of the said openings from which they may not be outwardly removed, removal therefrom being possible only by raising said wallboard facing sheets slightly to dispose said spring elements into wider upper portions of said openings, from which upper wider portions of said spring elements may be outwardly withdrawn.