Light Weight Metal Framing Member

Abstract

The present invention provides for a lightweight metal framing member having a plurality of depressions and a plurality of reinforcing ribs on the surface thereof, the depressions and ribs both being inwardly oriented and cooperating to aid in stiffening of the metal stud. The present invention also provides a method of manufacturing a metal framing member having a plurality of depressions and a plurality of reinforcing ribs on the surface thereof, the depressions and ribs both being inwardly oriented and cooperating to aid in stiffening of the metal stud. The method utilizes a cold roll forming apparatus having a first roller with a plurality of projections on its surface and a second roller having a surface provided with holes aligned with the projections on the surface of the first roller to form the depressions in the surface of the material having clearly defined edges generally aligned with the plane of the metal sheet. A second roll forming apparatus is used having a first roller with projections on its surface to form the reinforcing ribs in the surface of the sheet material and a second roller to allow for a softer transition between the surface of the sheet material and the edges of the reinforcing ribs and so as not to unduly deform the depressions formed in the first roll forming step. A third roll forming apparatus is used having rollers to form the metal stud or track.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A lightweight metal framing member formed from a sheet of metal having a plurality of depressions and a plurality of reinforcing ribs extending across on the surface thereof, the depressions and ribs both being inwardly oriented and cooperating to aid in stiffening of the metal framing member. 
     
     
         2 . A lightweight metal framing member according to  claim 1 , wherein the metal framing member is a metal stud having a generally rectangular C shaped cross section with two parallel spaced apart side walls and a central web bridging the side walls, said side walls terminating in inturned ledges. 
     
     
         3 . A lightweight metal stud according to  claim 2 , wherein each of the depressions has a depth about 2 to 4 times the thickness of the metal from which the stud is formed. 
     
     
         4 . A lightweight metal stud according to  claim 3 , wherein each of the depressions is round or knurled and has a diameter of about 0.10 inches. 
     
     
         5 . A lightweight metal stud according to  claim 4 , wherein the depressions are provided as a series of rows across the surface of the metal sheet from which the stud was formed. 
     
     
         6 . A lightweight metal stud according to  claim 5 , wherein the rows of depressions are offset from each other so that the depressions form a diamond pattern on the surface of the sheet material from which the stud was formed and may be located closer together. 
     
     
         7 . A lightweight metal stud according to  claim 6 , wherein the spacing between the rows of depressions is about 0.10 inches and the spacing between the depressions in each row is about 0.20 inches. 
     
     
         8 . A lightweight metal stud according to  claim 7 , wherein the ribs are arranged diagonally across at least one half of the width of the metal sheet from which the stud was formed. 
     
     
         9 . A lightweight metal stud according to  claim 8 , wherein the ribs have a width of about 0.20 to 0.3 inches wide, and a depth of about 0.05 to 0.15 inches deep. 
     
     
         10 . A method of manufacturing a metal framing member having a plurality of depressions and a plurality of reinforcing ribs on the surface thereof, the depressions and ribs both being inwardly oriented and cooperating to aid in stiffening of the metal framing member, the method comprises
 a) passing a suitably dimensioned metal sheet material through a cold roll forming apparatus having a first roller with a plurality of projections on its surface and a second roller having a surface provided with holes aligned with the projections on the surface of the first roller to form the depressions in the surface of the material having clearly defined edges generally aligned with the plane of the metal sheet,   b) passing the sheet material through a second roll forming apparatus having a first roller with projections on its surface to form the reinforcing ribs in the surface of the sheet material and a second roller to allow for a softer transition between the surface of the sheet material and the edges of the reinforcing ribs and not unduly deform or flatten any of the depressions formed in the first roll forming apparatus, and   c) passing the sheet material through a third roll forming apparatus having rollers to form the metal framing member.   
     
     
         11 . A method of manufacturing a metal framing member according to  claim 10  wherein the reinforcing ribs extend diagonally across at least one half of the surface of the sheet material and the first roll forming apparatus and second roll forming apparatus are aligned such that a row of depressions is formed at the apex of each of the reinforcing ribs. 
     
     
         12 . A lightweight metal stud formed from a sheet of metal having rows of depressions and rows of reinforcing ribs extending across the surface thereof, the depressions and ribs being inwardly oriented and cooperating to stiffen said sheet, said metal stud formed from said sheet having a generally rectangular C cross-section having a central web between spaced side walls, said side walls terminating in inturned ledges. 
     
     
         13 . A lightweight metal stud as claimed in  claim 12  in which said central web comprises a main central section bordered by channel shaped ribs extending longitudinally of said stud, said longitudinal channel shaped ribs projecting beyond said main central web section in a direction opposite to the inwardly oriented rows of reinforcing ribs and projections. 
     
     
         14 . A lightweight metal stud as claimed in  claim 13  wherein each of said depressions has a depth of about 2 to 4 times the thickness of the metal from which the stud is formed. 
     
     
         15 . A lightweight metal stud according to  claim 14  wherein each of the depressions is round and has a diameter of about 0.10 inches. 
     
     
         16 . A lightweight metal stud according to  claim 15  wherein the rows of depressions are offset from each other so that the depressions are closer together and form a diamond pattern on the surface of the sheet material from which the stud was formed. 
     
     
         17 . A lightweight metal stud according to  claim 13  wherein the spacing between the rows of depressions is about 0.10 inches and the spacing between the depressions in each row is about 0.20 inches. 
     
     
         18 . A lightweight metal stud according to  claim 17  wherein the ribs are arranged diagonally across at least one half of the width of the metal sheet from which the stud was formed. 
     
     
         19 . A lightweight metal stud according to  claim 18  wherein the ribs at a width of about 0.20 to 0.3 inches, and a depth of about 0.05 to 0.15 inches. 
     
     
         20 . A method as claimed in  claim 10  in which said first roller in step (a) forms said depressions in a diamond shaped arrangement. 
     
     
         21 . A method as claimed in  claim 20  in which said first roller in step (b) forms said reinforcing ribs so that they are at an angle to a line drawn transversely of the width of said metal sheet. 
     
     
         22 . A method as claimed in  claim 20  in which said first roller in step (b) forms said reinforcing ribs so that they have a herringbone or quilted pattern. 
     
     
         23 . A lightweight metal framing member according to  claim 1 , wherein the metal framing member is a metal track having a generally rectangular U shaped cross section with two parallel spaced apart side walls and a central web bridging the side walls. 
     
     
         24 . A lightweight metal track according to  claim 23 , wherein each of the depressions has a depth about 2 to 4 times the thickness of the metal from which the stud is formed. 
     
     
         25 . A lightweight metal track according to  claim 24 , wherein each of the depressions is round or knurled and has a diameter of about 0.10 inches. 
     
     
         26 . A lightweight metal track according to  claim 25 , wherein the depressions are provided as a series of rows across the surface of the metal sheet from which the track was formed. 
     
     
         27 . A lightweight metal track according to  claim 26 , wherein the rows of depressions are offset from each other so that the depressions are closer together and form a diamond pattern on the surface of the sheet material from which the track was formed. 
     
     
         28 . A lightweight metal track according to  claim 27 , wherein the spacing between the rows of depressions is about 0.10 inches and the spacing between the depressions in each row is about 0.20 inches. 
     
     
         29 . A lightweight metal track according to  claim 28 , wherein the ribs are arranged horizontally across a portion of the width of the metal sheet from which central web of the track was formed. 
     
     
         30 . A lightweight metal track according to  claim 29 , wherein the ribs have a width of about 0.20 to 0.3 inches wide, and a depth of about 0.05 to 0.15 inches deep. 
     
     
         31 . A lightweight metal track according to  claim 30 , wherein the ribs are evenly spaced along the length of the web of the track to provide an indexing of the length of the track. 
     
     
         32 . A lightweight metal framing member formed from a sheet of metal having a plurality of depressions on the surface thereof, the depressions being inwardly oriented to aid in stiffening of the metal framing member and having clearly defined edges to enhance screw tip capture of a screw entering the depression irrespective of the angle of entry into the depression of the screw tip. 
     
     
         33 . A lightweight metal framing member according to  claim 32 , wherein each of the depressions has a depth about 2 to 4 times the thickness of the metal from which the framing member is formed. 
     
     
         34 . A lightweight metal framing member according to  claim 33 , wherein each of the depressions is round or knurled and has a diameter of about 0.10 inches. 
     
     
         35 . A lightweight metal framing member according to  claim 34 , wherein the depressions are provided as a series of rows across the surface of the metal sheet from which the stud was formed. 
     
     
         36 . A lightweight metal framing member according to  claim 35 , wherein the rows of depressions are offset from each other so that the depressions form a diamond pattern on the surface of the sheet material from which the framing member was formed and may be located closer together. 
     
     
         37 . A lightweight metal framing member according to  claim 36 , wherein the spacing between the rows of depressions is about 0.10 inches and the spacing between the depressions in each row is about 0.20 inches. 
     
     
         38 . A method according to  claim 10  wherein said second roller of step (b) has a compressible surface. 
     
     
         39 . A method according to  claim 38  wherein said second roller of step (b) is a polyurethane roller. 
     
     
         40 . A method according to  claim 10  wherein said second roller of step (b) is provided with openings larger than the projections on the surface of the first roller of step (b) to allow for air bending of the ribs.