Patent ID: 8505264

Claim:
A tool for connecting an upright stud in place to a horizontal track having a track web extending along a longitudinal direction and track flanges extending away from the track web in a metal stud wall system installation, comprising: a tool head having a base, a pair of mutually parallel, generally planar, guide walls fixedly supported on the base and spaced apart to bound an upright slot in which one of the track flanges is received during use of the tool, and a pair of mutually parallel bores extending generally perpendicularly through one of the guide walls to the upright slot along a transverse direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction; a pair of movable rams each mounted on the tool head for linear movement along the transverse direction through the bores, the rams being spaced apart along the longitudinal direction and straddling opposite sides of the upright stud, the rams having leading tips with cutting edges; and an actuator for moving the rams through the bores into cutting engagement with the one track flange in the upright slot to cut hinged tabs in the one track flange, and to bend the hinged tabs into frictional sliding engagement with the opposite sides of the upright stud to permit relative sliding movement between the upright stud and the track.