Grid runner cap anchoring lance
View Patent ↗An elongated grid runner, and its manufacture, comprising a pair of overlying metal strips roll-formed together into a shape suitable for use in a rectangular grid to support ceiling panels, one of said strips serving as a visible cap for concealing the other strip forming the main body of the grid runner when the grid member is employed in a completed ceiling, the strips being lanced at each end of the grid runner to lock the cap strip on the main body strip whereby when the overlying strips are simultaneously cut to a finish length prior to finish roll-forming, the ends of the strip are maintained in substantially overlying end-to-end registration where the cap is visible in a finished ceiling.
1. An elongated grid runner comprising a pair of overlying metal strips roll-formed together into a shape suitable for use in a rectangular grid to support ceiling panels, a first one of said strips serving as a visible cap overlapping and concealing a second one of said strips forming a main body of the grid runner when the grid member is employed in a completed ceiling, the strips being lanced together at each end of the grid runner to lock the cap strip on the main body strip whereby when the overlying strips are simultaneously cut to a finish length prior to finish roll-forming, the ends of the strip are maintained in substantially overlying end-to-end registration where the cap is visible in a finished ceiling.
2. An elongated grid member as set forth in claim 1 , wherein a lance has a single shear plane.
3. A grid runner as set forth in claim 2 , wherein the shear plane of the lance is transverse to the longitudinal direction of the grid runner.
4. A grid runner as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the strips are lanced inwardly from respective planes with increasing displacement from such planes at increasing distance from the adjacent end of the grid member.