Stab-in connector
View Patent ↗A stab-in connector that locks with an opposing identical connector, through a slot in the main beam of a suspended ceiling grid. The connector has a straight locking latch that is cantilevered from a bend at a base of the connector. The bend is in the form of an arc. The bend forms a pivot for the latch. Contact between the cantilevered straight locking latch and the side of the slot is delayed as the connector is being stabbed into the slot. During the delay, the connectors are positioned within the slot, and relative to each other, so that substantially less force is needed than the force that was necessary to engage prior art stab-in connectors into locking position.
1. In a suspended ceiling grid connection, a connector-to-connector lock between opposing first and second identical connectors, each on the end of a cross beam, that extend through a slot in a main beam from opposite directions, with a cantilevered locking latch extending from a base in each such first and second identical connectors capable of forcing the connectors into locking contact with each other within the slot;
the improvement comprising:
a cantilevered locking latch extending in a curve before extending in straight line fashion,
wherein the curve is capable of delaying forced contact of a second identical connector being stabbed through the slot with an opposing first identical connector already in the slot,
whereby the second identical connector is capable of being adjusted vertically without being forced against the first identical connector already in the slot by the locking latch in contact with a side of the slot.