Studs

Claim 1

An improved stud having a bearing flange, a mounting flange and a web joining the mounting flange to the bearing flange, said stud for use in a wall made up of a line of substantially identical studs and wall panels on opposite sides of the wall, with the studs alternated in reversed arrangement so that on each side of the wall the mounting flanges alternate with the bearing flanges; each pair of adjacent wall panels on each side of the wall having their adjacent panel edges fastened to a mounting flange and with each panel on each side of the wall having its central part bearing against a bearing flange; the improvement comprising: each bearing flange and each mounting flange and its juncture with the web being so formed that the entire bearing flange will deflect a greater amount, from the web-flange juncture to the free end of the flange, than the deflection of the mounting flange from its web-flange juncture to its free end under the same loading at the same distance from the respective webflange junctures; said mounting flange providing a stiffer, less resilient mounting for the adjacent edges of a pair of panels so that when the panels are fastened to a mounting flange the panels are retained firmly and snugly against the mounting flange in a manner to avoid deflection inwardly or outwardly from the plane of such panels; said bearing flange providing a more resilient bearing for the center of a panel having its edges fastened to a pair of mounting flanges, so that the center of the panel and the bearing flange flex inwardly resiliently for sound attenuation, but with the center of the panel being free of outward bias from the bearing flange, which bearing flange is formed to be free of a tendency to deflect outwardly, though it is resilient enough to be flexed inwardly by outward sound waves impinging against the panel.