Patent ID: 8893449

Claim:
A suspended ceiling grid assembly including parallel spaced main runners and pairs of cross runners on opposite sides of the main runners, the main and cross runners each having an upper hollow reinforcing bulb, a web below the reinforcing bulb and a lower flange below the web, the main runner webs having vertical slots spaced along the length of a main runner, the cross runners having end connectors mutually inter-engaged in a common main runner slot, a brace stabilizing a pair of inter-engaged cross runners against relative hinge action in a vertical plane, the brace being a thin metal body having a cross section complimentary to a cross section of the cross runners formed by the reinforcing bulbs and webs, a lower wall portion of the brace abutting webs of the cross runners and being rigidly attached thereto, the lower wall portion of the brace closely fitting vertically between the reinforcing bulb and a lower flange of each of the pair of inter-engaged cross runners, the brace having a cut out at its mid-length to avoid interference with said end connectors and enable abutment of the brace lower wall portion to the cross runner webs adjacent the end connectors, the brace having a vertical height greater than two times a height of a cross runner over the cut out and over length portions of the associated pair of cross runners greater in dimension than the vertical height.