Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Stone for forming a pavement.
This invention relates to a stone for forming a pavement.
By "pavement", herein each ground covering by means of
stones is intended, whether public works are concerned
for forming, for example, streets and places, or
applications in the private sector, for example, for
constructing driveways, terraces or the like. Also, it is
not excluded to apply such pavement in roofed rooms.
In first instance, the invention relates to concrete
stones, either poured concrete stones, or vibrated
concrete stones, however, more in general it may also be
applied with stones made of other basic materials.
It is known that such pavement can be realized with
natural stones, such as cobblestones. Due to the
irregular shape of such cobblestones, they show the
disadvantage that they are more difficult to lay than
stones with a regular shape, and that consequently the
persons who have to perform the paving, must have good
skills in order to lay such cobblestones in good order.
It is also known that such pavements can be made of
classic concrete stones, more particularly clinkers,
which, as known, show a regular shape. An advantage of
such clinkers consists in that herewith, a pavement can
easily be realized, simply by placing them onto a prepa-
red sublayer, for example, a flat sand bed, next to each
other and in contact with each other. A disadvantage,
however, consists in that with such clinkers no pavement
having a natural appearance can be realized.
According to a first aspect, the invention aims at a
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stone which, on one hand, may show an irregularly or
particularly formed appearance at the upper side, for
example, has an irregular shape which is an imitation of
natural stone, and, on the other hand, can be laid as
easily as regularly shaped clinkers, such that, to this
end, no experienced and specialized person skilled in the
art is necessary.
To this aim, the invention relates to a stone for forming
a pavement, with as a characteristic that, on one hand,
it has an irregularly or particularly formed upper
portion and, on the other hand, is provided with means
for laying such stone, together with other similar
stones, in a regular manner. The laying of the stones
then is determined by means of said means and not by the
irregularly or particularly formed upper portion, such
that, due to an appropriate design of these means, the
stones still can be laid orderly against each other in a
simple manner.
Preferably, said means consist of contact portions
situated at the side of the stone, lower than the upper
side of the stone, which portions determine a regular
contour. Thereby, the stones, during laying, simply can
be provided with these contact portions adjacent to each
other, as a result of which always an exact mutual
positioning of the stones can be realized, without any
particular skill being required.
Practically, seen in top view, the contour of said
irregularly shaped upper portion will be situated within
said regular contour. In this manner, the stones always
can be laid with their lowermost, regularly shaped
portions against each other in an orderly manner, without
thereby being hampered by the irregular design at the
upper portions.
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In the most preferred form of embodiment, said means
consist of a regularly shaped portion which is situated
beneath said irregularly shaped upper portion and, more
particularly, is realized in the shape of a base.
As a consequence of the abovesaid, the stone preferably
also has an upper portion, more particularly said
irregularly shaped portion, which recedes laterally in
respect to the portion situated therebeneath, in such a
manner that, when laying this stone against similar
stones, a joint is created next to the upper portions of
these stones which is suitable for being filled by a
filling agent, such as sand or another filling mortar. As
a result, the regularly shaped lower portion is hidden
from view by the filled joints. Also, the impression is
created that the stones are lying loose from each other,
whereas in reality they still are fixedly positioned
against each other; as a result of which a mutual
shifting is excluded.
The receding portion preferably has an undercut, with as
an advantage that the filling agent provided in said
joint will be better retained.
More particularly, it is preferred that the undercut is
realized such that, when laying such stone together with
similar stones, so to speak, a reversed wedge-shaped
joint opening is created, as a result of which a filling
agent, for example, sand, or even a hardening filling
mortar, provided therein is retained particularly well in
this joint opening.
In a particular form of embodiment, the stone is provided
at its side with portions which, when several of such
stones are laid against each other laterally, guarantee
for a passage for water, which portions, seen from the
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top downwards, start below the irregularly shaped portion
and/or from the lower edge of the receding part. As this
portion only starts at a distance below the upper surface
of the stones and the portion thereabove is intended for
being filled with sand or such, the portions which have
to guarantee the passage for water always are hidden from
view, with as an adavantage that these portions do not
form a disturbing factor in the appearance of the
obtained pavement surface, which indeed would be the case
if such portions specifically should extend up to into
the visible upper surface of the stone.
In a practical form of embodiment, the portions forming a
passage for the water will consist of one or more grooves
which are formed in one or more sides of said base.
It is noted that the application of a receding portion,
such that a joint is created which can be filled with
sand or another filling mortar, also can be advantageous
in combination with embodiments of stones, the upper
portion of which not necessarily, as aforementioned, has
an irregular or special shape.
According to a second aspect of the invention, the
invention thus also relates to a stone for forming a
pavement, with as a characteristic that it comprises an
upper portion with such a contour that along the side of
the upper portion, in respect to the contour formed by
the portion situated therebeneath, a receding portion is
formed, such that, when laying this stone against similar
stones, a joint is created next to the upper portions of
these stones which is suitable for being filled with a
filling agent. Hereby, the upper portion thus also may
have a regular design.
This has as an advantage that, on one hand, the stones
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still can be laid against each other, whereas, on the
other hand, a joint which can be filled with sand or
another filling agent can be created at the visible upper
surface. Another advantage consists in that it becomes
5 possible to still create joints between stones which are
laid adjacent to each other, at least at the upper
surface, which joints can be filled with a hardening
mortar, for example, on the basis of cement, as a result
of which an entirely tight surface of the pavement can be
realized. This is particularly useful when constructing a
terrace, as thereby the emergence of sand from in between
the stones, which often is the case when concrete stones
are laid loosely next to each other, is entirely
prevented. Also, this is useful in applications where the
seeping-in of water must be limited or be avoided and/or
where it is desired that the risk of weeds growing
between the stones is minimized.
It is clear that also in this case, the receding portion
preferably is realized such that, when laying this stone
together with similar stones, so to speak, reversed
wedge-shaped joint openings are created.
It is noted that the application of portions enhancing
the passage of water between the respective stones, which
portions only start at a lower level, such that they
always are hidden from view in respect to the pavement,
also can be advantageous in combination with embodiments
of stones of which the upper portion not necessarily, as
aforementioned, has an irregular or particular shape.
According to a third aspect of the invention, it thus
relates to a stone for forming a pavement, with as a
characteristic that it comprises an upper portion with
such a contour that around this upper portion, in respect
to a contour formed by the portion situated therebeneath,
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a receding portion is formed, and that this stone is
provided at its side with portions which, when several of
such stones are laid next to each other, form a passage
for water, which portions, seen from the top downward,
start below said upper portion in order to extend up to
the bottom of the stone.
In general, it is preferred that said irregularly shaped
portion and/or said receding portion 'extends over a
height, depth, respectively, of at least 0,5 cm and still
better at least 1 cm, such that a joint filling can be
safely guaranteed, even if it consists of loose sand.
From the preceding, it is clear that the invention is
particularly useful in the case of concrete stones.
With the intention of better showing the characteristics
of the invention, hereafter, as an example without any
limitative character, several preferred forms of embodi-
ment are described, with reference to the accompanying
drawings, wherein:
figure 1 in perspective represents a stone according
to the invention:
figures 2 and 3 represent the stone from figure 1 in
side view, top view, respectively:
figure 4 represents a portion of the pavement, formed
of stones, such as represented in figures 1 to 3:
figure 5 represents a cross-section according to line
V-V in figure 4;
figures 6 to 8 represent views analogous to those of
figures 1 to 3, for a variant;
figures 9 to 11 represent still another variant;
figures 12-13 and 14-15 represent another two
variants;
figure 16 represents a particular form of embodiment.
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As represented in figures 1 to 5, the invention relates
to a stone 1 for forming a pavement 2, which, on one
hand, comprises an irregularly or particularly shaped
upper portion 3 and, on the other hand, is provided with
means 4 which allow to lay such stone 1, together with
other similar stones 1, in a regular manner.
The means 4 consist of contact parts 5 which are situated
at the sides 6 of the stone 1, lower than the upper side
7 of the stone 1, whereby these contact parts 5 determine
a regular contour 8, which in figure 3 is indicated in
dashed line. These contact parts 5 consist of the side
walls of a regularly shaped lower portion 9 which is
situated beneath said upper portion 3 and which is
realized in the shape of a base.
Seen in top view, the contour of the upper portion 3 is
situated within said contour 8, as becomes clear from
figure 3 .
In this manner, the upper portion 3 has a portion 10
receding in respect to the lower portion 9.
As becomes clear from figures 1 and 2, as well as figure
5, the receding portion 10 preferably is realized as an
undercut, which is formed by a side 11 narrowing
downward, such that when laying such stone 1 together
with similar stones 1, so to speak, a wedge-shaped joint
opening 12 is created, as can be seen in figure 5.
Further, the stone 1, at its side, more particularly at
one or more sides, preferably is provided with. portions
13 which, when several of such stones 1 are laid
laterally against each other, guarantee a passage 14 for
water, such as indicated in figure 5, which portions 13
start in downward direction beneath the irregularly
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shaped upper portion 3 and/or from the underside 15 of
the receding portion 10.
In this case, the portions 13 are formed by vertical
grooves which are provided in the respective lateral
faces 6.
The height H over which the upper portion 3 and/or the
receding portion 10 extend, which also can be denominated
as the depth of the joint opening 12, preferably is at
least 0,5 cm and still better at least 1 cm.
The application of the stones 1, more particularly, the
manner in which a pavement 2 can be formed therewith, can
simply be deduced from the above description, as well as
from figures 4 and 5; however, for clarity's sake, it
will be explained hereafter in short.
As represented in figure 5, the stones 1 are provided on
a, for example, flat sand bed 16, as this traditionally
also is performed with classical clinkers. Hereby, they
are simply positioned with their contact portions 5
against each other.
In that the upper portions 3 always are situated within
the contour 8 of the lower portion 9, the irregular
design of the upper portions 3 does not form an obstacle
for laying the stones 1 in a regular manner.
Hereby, relatively deep joint openings 12 are created,
which, as aforementioned, preferably have a reversed
wedge shape, or, defined more exactly, show a dovetail
shape. As a result of the relatively deep joint openings
12, it is obtained that, after they have been filled up
with sand 17 or such, this sand 17 hardly can leave the
joint openings 12, such that the lower portion 9 in a
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guaranteed manner remains hidden from view. Due to the
wedge shape, the sand 17 moreover is retained better in
the joint openings 12.
As the aforementioned portions 13 also start at a
relatively large distance, to wit a distance which
coincides with the height H, under the upper side 7 of
the stone 1, also always sand 17 or such will be present
thereabove, as a result of which it is obtained that it
is impossible for the portions 13 to disturb the
appearance at the upper surface, when the joint openings
12 are filled in a normal manner.
It is clear that the invention is not restricted to a
certain stone design. As examples, in figures 6 to 16 a
number of variants of such a stone 1 is represented.
Figures 6 to 8 hereby show a stone 1 which is bent and
wedge-shaped.
Figures 9 to 11 show a variant whereby the lower portion
9 has a relatively small height and whereby the receding
portion 10 is realized as a hollow part extending around
the circumference.
Figures 12 and 13 represent a variant whereby the
irregularly shaped upper portion 3 at the top has a
straight side, however, somewhat more downward has an
inclined side 11 which then forms an actual undercut.
In figures 14 and 15, another variant is represented,
whereby the upper portion 3 at its base connects to the
lower portion 9, this contrary to the embodiments from
figures 1 to 13, whereby the transition between the upper
portion 3 and the lower portion 9 is step-shaped.
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Figure 16 shows that the contact parts 5 not necessarily
have to consist of a massive base, but may also be
realized as locally present elements, in this case, at
the lower corners of the stone 1.
5
Finally, it is noted again that the use of a receding
portion 10 and/or the use of portions 13 starting only at
a lower level, also is possible in combination with
stones 1, the upper portion of which does not show an
10 irregular design, but, for example, is made regularly,
either with straight sides, or with sides showing a
regularly shaped profile.
The present invention is in no way limited to the forms
of embodiment described as an example and represented in
the figures; on the contrary may such stone be realized
in different forms and dimensions, without leaving the
scope of the invention.
