CONCRETE BLOCK

BLOC DE BETON

English Abstract

A concrete block for construction, the block having a front wall and a rear wall. The front and rear walls are spaced apart by a pair of transverse webs. Each of the front and rear walls comprises a middle portion and a pair of end portions, wherein the end portions have a uniform thickness that is greater than the thickness of the middle portion.

French Abstract

L'invention concerne un bloc de béton destiné à la construction, qui a une paroi avant et une paroi arrière. Les parois avant et arrière sont séparées par une paire de cloisons transversales. Chacune des parois avant et arrière comprend une partie intermédiaire et une paire de parties d'extrémité, lesdites parties d'extrémité ayant une épaisseur uniforme supérieure à celle de la partie intermédiaire.

Claims

WE CLAIM:
1. A concrete block for construction, said block having a front wall and a
rear wall, said front and
rear walls being spaced apart by a pair of transverse webs, each of said front
and rear walls comprising
a middle portion and a pair of end portions, said end portions having a
uniform thickness that is
greater than the thickness of said middle portion, wherein each said end
terminates in a flat surface
perpendicular to said front and rear walls, and wherein each said flat surface
on each end of a said
front and rear wall is provided with a vertically extending, integrally formed
bead or groove, each said
groove being dimensioned to fit with a said bead.
2. The concrete block as claimed in claim 1, wherein said middle portions have
a thickness about the
same as said webs, thereby defining, with said webs, a vertically extending
box channel.
3. The concrete block as claimed in claim 1, wherein said flat surfaces on
each respective end of said
front and rear walls is coplanar.
4. The concrete block as claimed in claim 1, wherein there is a bead and a
groove at each end of a said
block, and a bead and a groove at each end of a said wall.
5. The concrete block as claimed in claim 1, wherein said block is provided
with an end wall at one
end thereof.
6. The concrete block as claimed in claim 5, wherein said front and rear walls
are provided
on their outer facing surfaces, with grooves alignable with said beads.
7. The concrete block as claimed in claim 6, wherein said end wall is provided
on its outer surface
with grooves alignable with said beads.
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Description

CA 02664371 2011-01-05
CONCRETE BLOCK
The present invention relates to the field of concrete building products, and
in particular, provides an
improved concrete building block that can be used in dry stack, i.e.,
mortarless building environments.
There are numerous building blocks available on the market, and one of
particular relevance to the
present invention is described in relation to Figures 44 to 50 of Applicant's
pending U.S. Patent
Application No. 11 /224,170. The block shown in those figures is of a
rectangular design, with
substantially parallel front and rear walls that are provided with deep
grooves or projecting tongues
at their ends, so as to permit consecutive blocks in a course of blocks be
interlocked, to form a straight
and level course of blocks. The front and rear walls are spaced apart by
transversely extending webs.
The walls increase gradually in thickness from the web to the ends thereof.
The block of the present invention is, essentially, a modified and improved
version of the aforesaid
block shown in Applicant's pending U.S. application. The specific improvements
made in the design
of the block of the present invention include thickening the front and rear
walls of the block, from the
transverse webs to the ends of the block, and utilizing vertical beads that
project outwardly from the
ends of the wall panels for block to block alignment, instead of tongue and
groove, or overlapping
joints for end to end connection.
The upper and lower surfaces of the block of the present invention may be
substantially flat or may
be profiled.
In a broad aspect, then, the present invention relates to a concrete block for
construction, said block
having a front wall and a rear wall, said front and rear walls being spaced
apart by a pair of transverse
webs, each of said front and rear walls comprising a middle portion and a pair
of end portions, said
end portions having a uniform thickness that is greater than the thickness of
said middle portion,
wherein each said end terminates in a flat surface perpendicular to said front
and rear walls, and
wherein each said flat surface on each end of a said front and rear wall is
provided with a vertically
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CA 02664371 2011-01-05
extending, integrally formed bead or groove, each said groove being
dimensioned to fit with a said
bead.
In drawings that illustrate the present invention by way of example:
Figure 1 is a top view of a stretcher block of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a cross sectional view through line A-A in Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a cross sectional view through line B-B in Figure l or Figure 6.
Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view, including a detail view of a corner,
though line C-C in
Figure 1.
Figure 5 is a perspective view of the block of Figure 1.
Figure 6 is a top view of a corner block of the present invention.
Figure 7 is a cross sectional view through line D-D.
Figure 8 is a perspective view of the block of Figure 6.
Figure 9 is a top view of a half size block according to the present
invention.
Figure 10 is a cross sectional view through line E-E in Figure 9.
Figure 11 is a cross sectional view through line F-F in Figure 9, with a
detail;
Figure 12 is a perspective view of the half size block of Figure 9.
Referring now to the drawings, the present invention provides a building
system that uses three
specially designed blocks:
1. a stretcher block 1
2. a corner block 2
3. a half length block 3.
Each stretcher block I and corner block 2 is twice as long from end to end as
it is wide, from front
surface to rear surface. This permits blocks to be placed in staggered courses
and to form corners.
Detailed dimensional views of a preferred embodiment of a stretcher block
according to the present
invention are shown in Figures 2-5.
Each stretcher block I has a front wall 11, a rear wall 12 parallel thereto,
and webs 13
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transversely extending between the front and rear walls 11, 12. The front and
rear walls 11, 12
end in vertically extending front and rear end wall surfaces 14, 15. At each
end of the block, end
wall surfaces 14, 15 are coplanar with each other.
Each corner of the block, where a front 11 or rear 12 wall ends is beveled
with a small angled
surface 16, which may be convex, concave or planar. For aesthetic purposes, it
is usually
concave. At the inside edge of end wall surfaces, a vertical bead 17 or groove
18 is formed. One
bead 17 and one groove 18 is formed at each end of the block, so that each end
is provided with
a groove 18 and a bead 17. The front 11 and rear 12 walls each have one groove
and one bead
formed therein (at opposite ends) whereby blocks laid end to end in a course
will have the bead
of one wall fitting into the groove of the next, with the end walls 14, 15 on
adjacent blocks
firmly abutting each other. Similar beads 17 and grooves 18 are provided on
cover blocks 2 and
half length blocks 3.
The ends 19 of the front and rear walls are considerably thicker than the
portions of the walls
between the webs 13, which adds needed strength to the ends to protect them
against cracking
during transport. The middle portions of the walls 11, 12 are not as
susceptible to breakage, since
they form a rigid box channel with the transverse webs 13. Moreover, as can be
seen most
clearly in Figures 1 and 5, the beads 17 and grooves 18 may be formed in the
thickened portions
of the walls. The bead or groove will not in that case extend the full height
of the front and rear
walls, as thickened portion of the front and rear walls terminates before the
bottom edge of the
front and rear walls, as can be seen in Figure 3, to provide a lower profile
41 to inter-fit with the
upper profile ridge 42 of the block, as will be discussed below.
Referring now to Figures 2, 6, 7 and 8, the present invention provides a
corner block 2 that is
provided with front 21, rear 22 walls connected together by inner and outer
transverse webs 231,
232. Inner transverse web 231 may be eliminated entirely, if desired, to
improve the water
resistance of walls constructed with the blocks of the present invention. That
is, eliminating web
231 will permit concrete or grout poured into a wall constructed with the
blocks of the present
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invention to flow more freely, so that a continuous concrete core is formed
around the corners
of such a wall.
The front and rear walls 21, 22 are also connected together, at one end, by a
planar end wall 24.
The other ends 29 of the front and rear walls 21, 22 of corner block 2 are
thickened similar to
the ends of front and rear walls 11, 12 of the stretcher block, and also have
coplanar end surfaces
25, 26. The corners 16 of the corner block are beveled in a manner similar to
the stretcher block
1. Accordingly, corner 2 and stretcher 1 blocks can be aligned end to end in a
straight line.
Moreover, the end surfaces 25, 26 of walls 21, 22 of the corner blocks 2 are
provided with beads
17 and grooves 18 in a manner similar to stretcher block 1.
The front and rear walls 21, 22 of corner block 2 are provided with grooves 28
on their surfaces
alignable with beads 17 of a stretcher or corner block. The grooves 28 are
also provided on the
outer surface of end wall 24. Grooves 28 are positioned on the walls 21, 22
such that a stretcher
1 can be butted against a corner block 2 firmly and snugly, to construct a
right angle corner.
Grooves 28 are provided on each wall 21, 22 to permit right or left corners
being made without
special right and left corner blocks. Grooves 28 are provided on end wall to
permit stretcher
blocks to be aligned with the closed end wall 24 of a corner block 2. This
novel feature permits
the easy construction of four way corner, or cross-shaped wall structures
using the present
invention.
The present invention also provides a half-width block 3, as shown in Figures
9-12. Use of this
block permits walls to be constructed with vertical non-corner edges, such as
in connection with
doors and windows.
Half-width blocks are provided with four equal length sides three of which are
provided with
vertical grooves 32 spaced from the beveled corners 33. Grooves 32 are
alignable with the beads
17 on the ends of the stretcher 1 or corner blocks. The fourth side is an open
end, shaped like
the end of a stretcher block, with a bead on one side and a groove at the
other. Accordingly, a
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half width block can be used to abut the open end of a stretcher or a corner
block, using the open
end of the block, or one of the three other sides. The so-called open-end can
also be used to abut
the closed end of a corner block, depending on the overall layout desired.
It will be observed that because the ends 14, 15 of the front and rear walls
of the stretcher 1 are
coplanar (as are the ends 25, 26 of the front and rear panels of a corner
block 2), then aligning
a course of stretchers is simplified, as is making a corner square.
The top and bottom surfaces of the blocks are also profiled to interfit with
each other, as can be
seen most clearly from Figures 3, 4 and 11. On the stretcher, ridges 42 extend
upwardly from
the adjacent top edges of the inner face of the front and rear walls 11 and
12. The ridges 42 are
beveled inwardly slightly, to fit within the beveled inner face at the lower
edge of the front and
rear walls 11 and 12. The ridges 42 are not present in the area between the
transverse webs of
the block, nor are they present around the hollow vertical core at the closed
end of the corner
block, except at the edge thereof. The reason for the ridges is to facilitate
accurate vertical
alignment of blocks in a wall.
It will also be understood that after a wall or other structure is built using
the blocks of the
present invention, the wall should the be filled with concrete or grout, so as
to create a
continuous concrete wall, with no cracks or seams extending therethrough. It
if becomes
necessary to lay the blocks in such a way that a seam extending through a wall
is created, then
durable caulk, or mortar should be applied to the entire inner surface of such
a crack or seam,
to ensure the wall is water resistant to the maximum extent. It will also be
noted in this regard
that shallow channels are formed in the top and bottom of transverse webs, to
permit the flow
of concrete from one hollow core to the next. Moreover, it will be noted that
the transverse webs
are provided with downwardly depending legs 44. These legs do not have a
structural function,
but rather are an artifact of the molding process, and are provided to present
the web from
collapsing before curing.
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Representative Drawing