Patent ID: 7329022

Claim:
A hanger system for suspending linear fluorescent lighting elements below a grid ceiling system wherein said linear fluorescent lighting elements have spacially separated end portions holding at least one pair of opposed lamp sockets for holding at least one fluorescent lamp, said hanger system comprising: an elongated ballast box adapted to be mounted above a grid ceiling system and having a length that at least substantially spans the spacial separation between the end portions of the linear lighting elements suspending by the hanger system, and at least two hanger assemblies, each of said hanger assemblies being comprised of: a vertical support stem having a top and a bottom and first and second pairs of side-by-side wire holes running therethrough which exit the top and bottom thereof, the top of said support stem being adapted for securement to said ballast box so as to depend downwardly therefrom and so as to provide a spacial separation between hanger assemblies compatible with the spacial separation of the end portions of the linear lighting elements suspending by the hanger system, a transverse hanger crossbar having a mid-portion and first and second hanger ends which extend in opposite directions from said mid-portion for connecting to the linear lighting elements suspended by the hanger system near the lamp sockets held therein, said crossbar further having at least one pair of side-by-side wire holes running from the mid-portion thereof to the first of said hanger ends thereof, and at least one pair of side-by-side wire holes running from the mid-portion thereof to the second of said hanger ends, each of said at least one pair of wire holes in said crossbar exiting the mid-portion of the crossbar and the respective hanger ends of the crossbar, each wire hole of each of the pairs of wire holes in said support stem and crossbar being sized to slidably receive a pair of insulated wires pulled therethough, and the bottom of said support stem being connectable to the mid-portion of said crossbar such that the first and second pairs of wire holes running through said support stem communicate with the pairs of wire holes in said crossbar, whereby continuous wires can be pulled through the support stem and crossbar, and whereby the crossbar can be connected to the bottom of the support stem for wiring a ballast in said ballast box to the lamp sockets in the end portions of the linear lighting elements suspended by said hanger assemblies.