CA1102087A - Joist hanger - Google Patents

Abstract

JOIST HANGER

Abstract of the Disclosure A joist hanger has a shroud with a rear wall and side walls with aligned openings for receiving the legs of a U-shaped pin. A jack screw, straddled by the legs, or a simple support plate rests on the pin to support a joist end.
An L angle piece is welded or hinged to the rear wall.
The level of the joist can be changed by the jack screw, and/or by turning a threaded hinge bolt, permitting the shroud to ride up or down on the bolt.

Description

, 2 3 The present invention relates to a supporting device, particularly to a position and elevation adjustable joist hanger or bracket.
6 Joist hangers are provided usually in pairs, in that 7 they are individually dependent from beams~and a joist is 8 held in position between the beams by the two hangers. For g this, each hanger is constructed as a shroud with an angle piece at the rear wall of the shroud, for suspending it from 11 the beam. Adjustable support means are provided in between 12 side walls of the shroud for adjusting the level of the 13 joist. The known constructions, however, do not permit in 14 all respects a satisfactorily simple operation as far as placement of the joist positioning device in the shroud is 16 concerned. Particularly, a release of a joist from the 17 known brackets is often a cumbersome procedure. It may be 18 desirable to just drop the joist out of the hanger without 19 requiring extensive manipulation. Other types of hangers ~in use are shown, for example, in U. S. Letters Patents 21 2,985,937, and 3,782,676. These hangers, however, do not 22 use shrouds and are of a more complicated construction 23 Moreover, they do not permit receiving a joist without 24 requiring a bore to be drilled through the joist end.

; 30 ll~ZQl~7 DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved joist hanger in which the joist positioning device permits improved and facilitated release for purposes of releasing the joist.
It is a particular object of the present invention to provide a new and improved joist hanging and positioning device or bracket which exhibits improved characteristics and features as far as assembling and disassembling is concerned so that in particular a hung joist can be released without requiring lifting.
In accordance with one embodiment, the invention is a joist hanger for being dependent from a beam having a shroud, the shroud being comprised of an integral structure of a rear wall and of two parallel side walls, extending from the rear wall but having no integral bottom to permit dropout of the beam from a position between the side walls, the hanger further having an L-shaped angle element connected to the rear wall of the shroud and adapted for depending the hanger from the beam, the improvement comprising in combination: said side walls each having two bores, said bores being substantially horizontally aligned in pairs across an interior space of the shroud; release pin means having two spaced apart, parallelly extending legs for insertion into said bores to establish a horizontal support plane in the space in between the side walls of the shroud; joist support plate means disposed on said legs and being permitted to drop out of the shroud in down direction without requiring lifting, upon removal of said release pin means; and means for obtaining level changes in vertical direction between the angle element and the joist support plate means as disposed on said legs.

11~ 2~87 In accordance Witil a second embodimen-t, the invention is a joist hanger for being depended from a beam, having a shroud being comprised of an integral structure of a rear wall and two parallel side walls, but having no integral bottom to permit dropout of the beam from a position between the side walls, and further having an L-shaped angle element connected to the rear wall of the shroud and adapted for depending the hanger from the beam, the improvement comprising in combination: a rectangular opening in the rear wall; two bores in each of said side walls and being aligned in pairs, and having their respective upper portion in approximate horizontal alignment with the lower horizontal ledge of said opening of said rear wall; means for obtaining level changes in vertical direction between the angle element and the joist support plate means as disposed on said legs, said means being a jack screw assembly, including a plate with a centrally positioned threaded bore and having a threaded bolt threadily received by the bore; a release pin means having two parallel but spaced apart legs for insertion into said bores in said sidewalls to establish a horizontal support plane in between the side walls of said shroud and for positioning said plate upon the two legs of the pin means as an end of said plate is inserted into said opening while the threaded bolt traverses the space in between the two legs of the release pin means; and a joist support plate means disposed on said legs and being permitted to drop out of the shroud in down direction without requiring lifting, upon removal of said release pin means, for positioning a joist in the shroud at one end of the jack screw bolt, said support plate means being journaled on said bolt for being held without rotation in the shroud upon turning the jack screw.

11~2(~87 DF,.SCRlPTIt~N OF TEII~ I)RE~JIN(~1 3 While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject . 5 matter which is regarded as the invention, it is believed ;~ 6 that the invention, the objects and features of the invention 7 and further ob~ects, features and advantages thereof will be 8 better understood from the following description taken in g connection with the accompan~ing drawings in which:

ll Figure 1 is a perspective view from one side, from 12 the front and from ahove of a joist hanger constructed in 13 accordance with the preferred e~hodiment of the invention;
14 Figure 2 is a perspective view of the same hanger, but now from helow, the same side hut the rear, as compared 16 with Figure l;
17 Figure 3 is a cross section taken at lines 3-3 in 18 Figure l;
l9 Figure 5, 6, and 7 show a joist hanging operation;
' Figure 8 and 9 show a joist release operation;
21 Figure lO is a side view of a hinged joist hanger 22 in accordance with the preferred embodiment;
23 Figure ll is a top view of the hanger shown in 24 Figure lO;
Figure 12 is a side view of the hanger shown in 26 Figure lO, but with a modified joist support structure;
27 Figure 13 is a front view of the hanger shown in 28 Figure 12; and 29 Figures 14 and 15 and 16 are perspective views of joist hangers with a different stand-off device affixed , .
31 thereto.

ll~Z087 1 Proceeding now to the detailed description of the i 2 drawing, the figures show a joist hanger which is comprised 3 of the following basic elements: a shroud 10 is constructed 4 from two parallel sidewalls 11 and 12 joined by a rear wall 13. In cross section, the shroud has a U-shaped profile ; , 6 whereby the legs of the U are longer nearer the bottom lOa 7 of the shroud as compared with the profile at the top.

9 A support angle 15 having a long leg 16 and a short, tapered leg 17 is welded to the rear wall 13 of the shroud, 11 particularly by pressure welding the long leg 16 to the 12 outside surface of rear wall 13 and in such a manner that 13 the short leg 17 has a somewhat elevated position as com-14 pared with the top of the shroud. The ~oist hanger will be depended from a cross bar on beam A (Figure 4) or from 16 other supporting structures such as a concrete wall, by means 17 of the tapered leg 17.

19 The space in the shroud, i.e. between the side walls 20 '11, 12 is sufficiently wide to receive a joist, for example, 21 from above; and without further measures no obstruction is 22 present so that, in fact, the joist can be removed through 23 the bottom portion lQa of the shroud. In order to position 24 a joist within the shroud, the following provisions are made:

26 First of all, the rear wall 13 of the shroud 10 has 27 a longitudinal, rectangular opening 18 located somewhat 28 above the bottom plane or portion lOa of the shrolld. This ~l~ZQ87 1 particular opening may receive one small end of a first

2 rectangular plate 20 having a threaded opening or bore in

3 its center. This threaded bore receives a threaded bolt

4 22 being the adjustable element of a jack screw type assembly 21 and having at its end a welded-on, adjusting ; 6 handle 23 for ease of turning the bolt 22 in the threaded 7 bore of plate 20.

9 This plate 20 can be inserted in between the side-walls 11 and 12; the short dimension of rectangular plate 11 20 is just slightly shorter than the width of the space 12 between the side walls 11, 12. Also, the dimensions of 13 the opening 18 have been chosen, so that the plate 20 can be 14 inserted in the slot 18. It is important to realize that such a positioning of the plate 20 within the shroud, as 16 well as its removal, requires exclusively a horizontal dis-17 placement; lifting is not required. Also, once the plate 18 20 has been removed laterally from an inserted position in 19 opening 18, the entire jack screw assembly 21 can be dropped 20 'and removed through the bottom lOa of the shroud. Of course, 21 it is apparent also that placing the front end 24 of plate 22 20 into the opening 18 is per se not sufficlent to position 23 the plate 20 within the shroud. Accordingly, the following 24 additional provisions are made.

26 The wall 11 has a pair of openings 25 and the shroud 27 wall 12 has a pair of openings 26. The openings of these 28 pairs are, in turn, aligned in that one bore or opening of llU2~)~7 1 the pair 25 is aligned with one bore or opening of the 2 pair 26 and the respective two other bores of the two pairs 3 are aligned accordingly. These hores are adapted to receive 4 a U-shaped support and release pin 30. The alignment of the bores, as stated, is particularly chosen so that the ; 6 release pin upon having its legs 30a and 30b inserted into 7 the respectively aligned bores assumes a horizontal position.

g Near the end of one or both of the legs 30a, b of the release pin, an opening such as 31 is provided for 11 receivin~ a hitch clip 32 which prevents in a simple manner 12 unwanted and accidental removal of the release pin 30 from 13 the apertures 25, 26.

The bores 25 and 2fi have, in addition, a very specific 16 position. The top portions of the several bores 25 and 26 17 are horizontally aligned with each other but in a slightly 18 higher level than the lower ledge of the opening 18. Thus, 19 one can speak of an approximate horizontal alignment of the 'opening 18 and of the top portions of the several bores 25 21 and 26. The plate 20 may he placed in between the side walls 22 11 and 12, and as soon as pin 30 is inserted, plate 20 rests 23 on the two legs 30a and 30b of the pin. The plate 20 may 24 be shifted deeper into the shroud so that front end 24 pro-jects into opening 18 but plate 20 clears the opening. Plate 26 end 2~ when inserted may pro~ect slightly out of opening 18, 27 beyond the rear surface of back wall 13, whenever holt 22 28 has a position so that the two legs 30a and 30b of the release ., .

11(~20~7 1 pin 30 straddle the bolt. Conversely, when the pin 30 is 2 inserted, plate 20 cannot be slid out of opening 18, 3 because bolt 22 is held between the two legs 30a and 30b.
4 Moreover, the plate 20 seated on the pin means 30 is also ~ 5 held against pivoting as follows:
;! 6 7 Tilting of plate 20 in clockwise direction about a , 8 fulcrum point on leg 30a of pin 30 is impeded by abutment of g plate 20 against the upper ledge of window 18. Tilting in counter-clockwlse direction about a fulcrum point on leg 30b 11 is impeded by abutment of plate 20 adjacent the lower ledge 12 of window 18. Pivoting about a fulcrum on the lower ledge 13 of opening 18 is impeded by abutment of bolt 22 against 14 leg 30b and, finally, pivoting of plate 20 about a fulcrum on the upper ledge of opening 18 is impeded by the legs 30a 16 and 30b because plate 20 rests on them. Therefore, once 17 plate 20 has been inserted and the release pin 30 placed 18 in position, plate 20 cannot be removed in any fashion 19 without first removing the release pin. There is, of ~ course, some play provided in between the two legs of pin 21 30 and bolt 22 but that play is smaller than the length 22 of end portion 24 of plate 20 as inserted in the window 18 23 so that even if the plate 20 is slightly displaced back 24 and forth in the direction of insertion, the end 24 of the plate 20 will still remain in the opening 18.

27 The top end of the bolt 22 has been cut to provide 28 a pin like portion 27 and a shoulder between the pin and 29 the main shank portion of the bolt. A second plate 35 has ; 30 an unthreaded bore into which the pin has been stuck but 31 with clearance. Upon staking the pin end one obtains ~ zns7 1 a flared bevel like journal. Plate 35 is rotatable upon 2 the pin and is seated on the shoulder between the pin and 3 the threaded bolt shank. Plate 35 serves as support plate 4 or platform for the joist. The figure 4 shows in addition a cover shield 37 having downwardly extending flanges 38 6 and a bent up shield plate 39. ~leld 37 is slipped onto the 7 tapered leg 17. The purpose of the shield is to cover 8 any opening that may exist in the structure above the beam g A on account of the posltioning of the hanger. If the joist hanger is used in conjunction with a concrete 11 form, the shield 37 prevents concrete from pouring onto 12 the hanger and into the shroud.

14 The joist hanger will be assembled by a sequence of steps most easily derivable from Figure 4. The jack screw 16 assembly with the plates 20 and 35 is placed between the 17 side walls of the shroud and plate 20 is inserted into 18 opening 18. The plate 35 will serve actually as a stop so 19 that the bolt 22 has approximately the right position , between the aligned bores of the pairs 25, 26. Next, the 21 pin 30 is pushed all the way until opening 31 projects 22 beyond wall 12, whereupon clip 32 is inserted. It will 23 be appreciated that the shroud structure is symetrical;
24 therefore, pin 30 can be inserted from the other side wall as well.

27 The plate 20 as positioned within the shroud 10 28 is held by operation of the opening 18 as well as the 29 release pin, and the bolt 22 can be turned manually by means of the adjusting handle 23 whereby the bolt 22 is 31 threaded up or down in plate 20 and support plate 35 is 32 lowered and raised accordingly.

l~Z~87 1 Please note that plate 20 cannot be pushed up when-2 ever the operator turns bolt 22 and exerts also an upward 3 thrust upon the bolt, but plate 20 is held by opening 18, 4 and upward tiltinc3 of plate 20 about the upper ledge of opening 18 is additionally impeded upon abutment of plate 6 35 against rear wall 13. The joist when inserted in the 7 shroud will rest firmly and securely upon that plate 35, , 8 in any position or level thereof in the shroud.

The bolt 22 was originally a straight rod and 11 the threading has resulted from helical cold rolling. This 12 way a thread-like groove was worked into the material, and 13 the helical ridge has resulted from radial outward flow of 14 the material . The threading in the bolt, therefore, is established by a smooth, rolled, groove, and the counter 16 threading in plate 20 has primarily its ridge co-operating 17 with the groove of bolt 22. The ridge portion of bolt 22 18 is, therefore, not very sensitive with regard to small 19 deformations which may result from engagement or abutment ~ of the bolt against the pin legs 30a, b.

22 In operation, the joist hanger is used as follows 23 (Figure S, 6 and 7): At first the joist hanger is hung in 24 position on a cross beam, such as A. Next, the joist is placed in between the shroud whereby, for example, the 26 joist shown in Figure 5 has a tapered end, and the short 27 edge of the joist will be in an up position. The taper 28 may have resulted from cutting a triangular edge Al from 29 the joist. Next, the joist is adjusted to proper elevation ; 30 by operation of the screw jack (Figure 6). The wedge Al 31 is placed between the tapered top part of the joist A and ll'U~0~7 1 the rear wall 13 of the hanger, and is driven in between the 2 joist and wall 13 (see Figure 7).

4 I~ for any reason removal is desired, the adjusting handle of the hanger is loosened whereby one will rely ;l 6 for temporary support primarily by the wedging action of 7 the previously inserted wedge Al. This removes to some 8 extent the load of the joist upon the release pin, and the g release pin 30 can now be removed rather easily (Figure 8), whereupon the entire jack screw is just slid down without 1 requiring any lifting. Any lifting would have to take place 12 against the wedge Al. The joist can be expected to stay 13 in position until tapped to loosen the wedging action, 14 and now the lower end of the joist will come out of the bottom lOa of the shroud (Figure 9).

17 Proceeding now to the description of Figures 10, 18 11, and 12, the joist hanger which is shown here, is also 19 comprised of a shroud 10 having the two parallel side ' walls 11 and 12 joined by the rear wall 13. The jack screw 21 assembly 21 is likewise provided for positioning an inserted 22 joist and for adjusting its level. However, the level 23 adjustment as provided here is a second stage adjustment.
24 The first stage adjustment results from a combintation of shroud hinging and leveling to be described next.

27 The joist hanger has also an angle piece, support 28 angle or L-shaped element 40, having a long leg 41 and a 29 short, tapered leg 42. This L-shaped element 40 will also be hung from a beam from which the joist hanger is to llJJ;~17 1 be dependent, just as angle piece 15 (Figure 1) is hung 2 as afore described. I-lowever, long leg 41 is not welded 3 to the shroud wall 13 but is hinged thereto. Accordlngly, 4 long leg 41 of support angle 40 has two lug elements 43 and 44 which are in effect small L-shaped pieces having one 6 flat portion fastened to the leg 41, while the short 7 portions of each of these elements 43 and 44 establish two 8 lugs proper, 45 and 46. Each of these two lugs 45 and 46 9 has an unthreaded bore or opening, and these two openings are aligned in vertical direction. These openings receive 11 the near-end portions of a bolt 50.

13 The bolt 50 is a cold-worked, i.e. cold rolled 14 bar for establishing a helical contour thread. The upper end of the bar 50 is kept by a bolt head 51 being actually 16 welded or otherwise affixed to that end of the bolt. Bolt 17 50 is received in the openings of the two lugs 45 and 46 18 to permit free turning. A nut 52 is threaded on the other 19 end of the bolt 50, simply to retain the bolt through the 'two lugs. Actually, bolt 50 is suspended on lug 43 by 21 the bolt head of 51.

23 The shroud 10 is hinged to the bolt 50 in the 24 following manner: Two coi~-like configurations 55 and 56 are welded to the rear wall 30 of shroud 10. The helical 26 loops of the coils establish internally threading-like 27 ridges and grooves. The helices of these coils 55 and 28 56 are chosen so that they match the threading of the 29 bolt 50. Upon turning of the bolt, these coils 55 and 56 ride up or down carrying the shroud with them. Coils 55 , . .
31 and 56 can be deemed nut fasteners in the general sense, 32 and as such they are hinge elements.

l~Z~7 1 It can be seen further that, due to hinging, 2 the shroud can be pivoted over a rather wide angular 3 range being about 90 (Figure ll). If the bolt is not 4 held during hinging it will pivot with the shroud. Thus ~ 5 any elevational change will not take place on account of ; 6 the pivoting. On the other hand if the bolt is held when 7 the shroud is pivoted, the shroud will undergo a slight 8 up or down movement upon being turned as stated, but 9 that displacement is only a fraction of the helical threading and pitch length. On the other hand, upon 11 turning of the bolt 50 the shroud 10 is lowered and 12 raised. Therefore, any up and down displacement of the 13 shroud persuant to hinging can readily be compensa~ed 14 by turning the bolt 50 over the same angle and in the same direction.

17 A joist can be received with its end between 18 the side walls of the shroud. The joist will rest on 19 the support plate 35 as shown in Figure 10 and in the ' manner described earlier. The level of the joist can 21 now be adjusted in a two-fold manner. The joist together 22 with shroud 10 can be lowered or lifted by turning the 23 bolt 50 using a suitable wrench, a key or the like which 24 fits over the bolt head 51. This way one will be able to turn the bolt 50, whereupon shroud 10 rides up or down 26 depending upon the direction of turning. In addition, 27 the jack screw 21 can be operated for changing the 28 position level of the joist within the shroud.

llrJ,~Q~7 1 The level adjustment as afore described covers a wide ' ~ 2 range, whereby the adjustment range of the jack screw 3 assembly is added as a secondary range onto the primary range of shroud displacement resulting from turning of the bolt 50. That prinary range is essentially given by the spacing of the lower end of coil 56 from lug 46 while 7 the upper edge of coil 55 abuts lug 45.
8 Figure 12 shows how the joist hanger can be employed 9 without the jack screw assembly. One will rely only on the height adjustment of the shroud by means of the bolt-11 coils combination 50 - 55, 56 for purposes of adjusting 12 the level of the joist. Accordingly, Figure 12 shows a 13 load bearing plate 60 being placed upon the release-pin 14 30 which has been inserted in a manner as described. The plate 60 resembles, for example, the plate 20 mentioned 16 earlier and particularly the end of that plate may be 17 inserted into the opening 18 in the rear wall of the shroud.
18 However, that particular plate 60 does not have to have 19 a central opening because it is not used as a bearing element for a jack screw. The joist is just placed on top of plate 60.
21 The load bearing plate 60 is, in addition, provided with 22 two bearing pieces or key elements 61 and 62 having openings 23 or bores which are suitably spaced so that respectively 24 the two legs 30a and 30b of the release pin can be inserted.
This way, bearing plate 60 is positively positioned between 26 the side walls of the shroud and constitutes a releasable 27 bottom or support plate for the joist. One such key element 28 61 or 62 may suffice, but the double lock is advisible;

`, 30 11~2~)~37 1 also, one may not need to insert the plate 20 into an 2 opening 18 for purposes of avoiding tilting. In other 3 words, the rear wall 13 does not have to have an opening 4 18 in this instance.

;~ 6 The hitch clip 32 is used in the same manner, for 7 locking the release pin. Removal of the load bearing plate 8 is quite simple, one merely takes out the hitch clip and 9 removes the release pin whereupon plate 60 will fall out and the joist can be removed in the manner described.
11 Decisive is that plate 60 does not have to lifted under 12 load. If the opening 18 is in fact provided in wall 13, 13 plate 60 may rest on the lower ledge and one may use one 14 pin only. Figures 14, 15, and 16 show several stand-off devices which can be used in any of the hangers as de-16 scribed before. Their primary function is to level the 17 position of the hanger in the vertical if, for example, 18 the hanger is dependent from a rather narrow flange of 19 an I beam such as B. Figure 14 shows specifcally a 'joist hanger with a shroud 10, a jackscrew assembly and 21 the L angle member as afore described. Now in addition, 22 the figure shows a stand-off structure 70 which is com-23 prised of a pair of stand-off plates 71, 72 and a bottom 24 plate 73 which, however, does not join the lower edges of the plates 71 and 72 entirely. In fact, the edge 74 of 26 the bottom will rest against the rear wall 13 of the shroud 27 while portions of the plates 71, 72 extend respectively 28 along the side walls 11 and 12 of the shroud.

1 Each of the plates 71 and 72 has two bores which 2 register with the bores 25 and 26 in the sidewalls of the 3 shroud so that, as is illustrated in Figure 14, the pin 30 can also penetrate these bores. This way the stand-off support 70 will be affixed to the shroud.

! 6 7 The bottom 73 together with portions of the , 8 sidewall 71 and 72 form a cradle in which is received a g suitably cut piece of wood or beam stud 75. The sidewalls 71 and 72 have small openings so that wooden beam stud 11 75 can be nailed to the stand-off support 70. The stud 12 75 is preferrably inserted in the cradle so that its rear 13 end abutts the rear wall 13 of the shroud. In addition, 14 the length of the stud 75 is cut so that the front end can abutt, for example, the web part of the I beam B as 16 shown in Figure 14. If the joist hanger is of the hinged 17 type as shown in Figures 10 through 13, stud 75 has its 18 front end cut at an oblique angle to ensure surface to 19 surface abutment with the web.
' 21 Figure 15 shows a modified stand-off support 80.

22 Again there are provided two sidewalls 81 and 82 joined 23 by a bottom 83 to establish a cradle. The plates 81 and 24 82 have rearwardly extending arms 81a and 82 which are curled back to form hooks. The device 80 will be slipped 26 onto and over the shroud, from above, until the edge 84 of 27 the bottom 83 abutts against the rear wall 13 of the shroud 28 whereupon the hook portions are prevented from sliding 29 down further on the oblique front edges lla and 12a of the sidewalls 11, 12 of the shroud. The wooden stud 75 is 31 inserted in the cradle and held by means of nails just as 32 is shown in Figure 14.

ll~Z:Q~7 1 Figure 16 shows a stand-off support 90 which has 2 again sidewalls 91 and 92 and rearwardly extending arms 3 91a, 92a having openings which are aligned in the width 4 dimension of the assembly. The particular stand-off support has also a bottom 93. Sidewwalls 91, 92 and 6 bottom plate 93 define a cradle for receiving a wooden 7 stud as a principal stand-off member just as described.
8 The particular arms 91a and 92a are hinged to the side-g walls of the shroud in that dowel pins 11, 12 and welded both sidewalls of the shroud to be received by the 11 openings respectively in arms 91a, 92a. Alternatively, 12 the pins could be welded to arms 91a, 92a and openings 13 receiving such hinge pins could be provided in the walls 14 11 and 12. The stand-off support is thus snapped onto the shrou~. As can be seen from the figure, the stand-off 16 support can be folded up for transport or the like but 1~ will be folded down to the position as illustrated in 18 Figure 16, whereby the rear edge 94 of the bottom 93 19 rests against the lower portion of the rear wall 13 of 'the shroud.

22 The invention is not limited to the embodiments 23 described above but all changes and modifications thereof 24 not constituting departures from the spirit and scope of the invention are intended to be included.

Claims (20)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A joist hanger for being depended from a beam, having a shroud being comprised of an integral structure of a rear wall and two parallel side walls but having no integral bottom to permit dropout of the beam from a position between the side walls, and further having an L-shaped angle element connected to the rear wall of the shroud and adapted for depending the hanger from the beam, the improvement comprising in combination: a rectangular opening in the rear wall;
two bores in each of said side walls and being aligned in pairs, and having their respective upper portion in approximate horizontal alignment with the lower horizontal ledge of said opening of said rear wall;
means for obtaining level changes in vertical direction between the angle element and the joist support plate means as disposed on said legs, said means being a jack screw assembly, including a plate with a centrally positioned threaded bore and having a threaded bolt threadily received by the bore;
a release pin means having two parallel but spaced apart legs for insertion into said bores in said side walls to establish a horizontal support plane in between the side walls of said shroud and for positioning said plate upon the two legs of the pin means as an end of said plate is inserted into said opening while the threaded bolt traverses the space in between the two legs of the release pin means; and a joist support plate means disposed on said legs and being permitted to drop out of the shroud in down direction without requiring lifting, upon removal of said release pin means, for positioning a joist in the shroud at one end of the jack screw bolt, said support plate means being journaled on said bolt for being held without rotation in the shroud upon turning the jack screw.

2. A joist hanger as in Claim 1, said release pin means being a U-shaped pin.

3. A joist hanger as in Claim 1, said threaded bolt being a helically cold rolled pin.

4. A joist hanger for being dependent from a beam having a shroud, the shroud being comprised of an integral structure of a rear wall and of two parallel side walls, extending from the rear wall but having no integral bottom to permit dropout of the beam from a position between the side walls, the hanger further having an L-shaped angle element connected to the rear wall of the shroud and adapted for depending the hanger from the beam, the improvement comprising in combination: said side walls each having two bores, said bores being substantially horizontally aligned in pairs across an interior space of the shroud;
release pin means having two spaced apart, parallelly extending legs for insertion into said bores to establish a horizontal support plane in the space in between the side walls of the shroud;
joist support plate means disposed on said legs and being permitted to drop out of the shroud in down direction without requiring lifting, upon removal of said release pin means; and means for obtaining level changes in vertical direction between the angle element and the joist support plate means as disposed on said legs.

5. A joist hanger as in Claim 4, wherein said joist support plate means include the first plate disposed on said

6. A joist hanger as in Claim 4 and including a stand-off device including a pair of stand-off plates respectively connected to the side walls of the shroud, further having a stand-off member secured to the stand-off plates and abutting with one end against said rear wall, the member provided for engaging the beam with an end of the member located opposite the one end.

7. A joist hanger as in Claim 6, said stand-off plates being hinged to said sidewalls.

8. A joist hanger as in Claim 6, the stand-off plates having bores registering with said bores in said sidewalls, said release pin means traversing also the bores of the stand-off plates to thereby connect the devise of the shroud.

9. A joist hanger as in Claim 6, said sidewalls having downwardly inclined front edges, said stand-off plates being joined by a bottom and having arms with hook means engaging said rear edges as an edge of the bottom abutts said rear wall.

10. A joist hanger as in Claim 1, at least one of said legs of the pin means having a bore near its end, the combi-nation further including a clip inserted in the bore to prevent accidental pull-out of the pin means.

11. A joist hanger as in Claim 1, said plate of the jack screw assembly being laterally insertible in the slot and being flat so that neither lifting nor tilting is required for inserting.

12. A joist hanger as in Claim 1, further including a pair of side wall plates connected to the side walls of the shroud and extending rearwardly therefrom and without obstructing any drop-out of said jack screw assembly; and a stand-off member inserted in-between the side wall plates and affixed thereto, the member having one end abutting the rear wall of the shroud, while abutting said beam with an end opposite said one end.

13. A joist hanger as in Claim 12, said side wall plates being joined by a bottom in which the member rests in cradle-like fashion.

14. A joist hanger as in Claim 12, said side wall plates having arm-like portions of lesser height where extending adjacent to the side walls of the shroud to clear said bores in the side walls of the shroud, said arm-like portions being con-nected to the side walls of the shroud.

15. A joist hanger as in Claim 14, said arms being hooked to inclined edges of the side walls of the shroud.

16. A joist hanger as in Claim 14, said arms being hinged by means of pins to the side walls of the shroud.

17. A joist hanger as in Claim 12, said side wall elements each have two bores to be aligned with the bores of a respective adjacent one of the side walls of the shroud so that said pin means connect the side wall plates to the shroud.

18. A joist hanger as in Claim 4, said rear wall having a slot, the joist support plage being inserted in the slot.

19. A joist hanger as in Claim 1, the pin means having a bore at one of its end, there being a clip inserted in the bore to prevent accidental pull-out of the pin means.

20. A joist hanger as in Claim 4, and including a wedge driven between a joist when on the support plate and the rear wall of the shroud.--