Patent ID: 6047511
Filing Date: 2000-04-11
Classification: E04B,Y10T

Abstract:
A grid tee for a suspended ceiling comprising sheet metal folded to form a longitudinally extending body with a cross section having a vertically extending double web and a pair of diverging flanges integral with the web, the web having two elements each formed by a layer of the sheet metal, the layers being side by side and together forming the plane of a web, the flanges each being attached to an associated one of the web elements, the web elements being locked together in abutting contact by stitches integrally formed therein, the stitches being spaced from one another along substantially the full length of the tee, the stitches each being formed by a slug lanced out of both of the web elements and displaced out of the plane of the web to one side of the web in a manner that leaves a hole corresponding to the slug, the size of the hole being generally the same in both web elements, the material of the tee being plastically displaced so that the size of the lanced portion of each web element forming the slug is larger than the hole it originally left in the web, thereby preventing the slug from passing back through the hole, and the slug being plastically flattened back into the plane of the web to fill substantially the majority of the volume of the hole in both of the web elements whereby the thickness of the web at the stitch is not substantially greater than the nominal thickness of the web formed by abutting flat parts of the web elements and the material of the slug and web surrounding the hole is significantly plastically deformed.