United States Gypsum Company

Joseph Swinea

Gary Miller

James M Ullett

Frank Pospisil

Naveen Punati

An attachment system is provided for attaching furring strips to joists, each such joist having a bottom surface, an upper surface and a sidewall. The attachment system for each furring strip including a fastener having a shaft and a head, the fastener secured to the sidewall of the joist in a position vertically displaced from the bottom surface. At least one length of wire is provided with a mid-portion and two free ends, the mid-portion being looped around the fastener. The free ends are wrapped around the furring strip and fastened to each other to securely hold the furring strip to the floor joist.

Attachment of furring strips to floor joists

A combined wooden frame support and ceiling system is provided, each support including upper and lower wooden chords and a wooden structure connecting the lower chord to the upper chord for weight bearing purposes. A gypsum wallboard batten strip is attached to the lower chord, and defining a ledge extending from each side of the lower chord. A single thickness of gypsum wallboard panels is used to create a ceiling attached to the support, each panel used to create the ceiling is made from a slurry composition including less than 5% by weight of Grade 4 vermiculite. Upon the support being assembled in the ceiling system, with a plurality of the supports, and having lengths of insulation supported by the ledges of the adjacent supports, the ceiling system resists charring by fire for at least one hour.

Growing community of inventors

Mundelein, IL, United States of America

Joseph Swinea