GB2144793A - Bricklaying guide - Google Patents

Abstract

A bricklaying guide or jig comprises a rigid bar (A), which can be supported horizontally by its ends without sagging, and bar-supports such as a pair of uprights (1), or brackets (14), the bar being marked along its length with brick-and-joint dimension markings (12) and the bar-supports having means to support the bar, or being adjustable on laid brickwork, at given brick-height intervals. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Bricklaying system This invention relates to laying bricks, concrete blocks and like building units (hereinafter referred to generally as bricks).

Traditional methods of positioning such bricks rely on the use of lines supported either by a frame or by pins in the brickwork being built to provide a straight face and horizontal line to work to, and a plumb line to ensure that the bricks are being laid vertically true.

The bricklayer has not only to handle mortar and bricks but must also watch and check that the bricks are laid in place,. Also the bricklayer has to watch that there is no excessive variation in mortar thickness through the structure being built.

The applicant has realised that bricklaying can be done to a high standard of finish if a jig is provided to enable individual bricks to be positioned accurately without the necessity of constantly checking guide lines and plumb lines.

Accordingly the invention provides, as a bricklaying system, separately and in combination, the following elements.

The invention provides a bricklaying guide component comprising a bar having along its length brick-and-joint dimension markings for use as a horizontal bricklaying reference. Preferably the brickand-joint markings are spaced at half brick-and-joint dimension intervals.

The invention also provides a bricklaying guide component comprising an upright having support means positionable at brick-and-joint dimension vertical intervals to support a horizontal bar to act as a bricklaying reference. Preferably the upright has means to adjustably mount the upright on a brick.

The upright may also have means to support the free end to a projecting brick. The upright may be provided with one or more indicators to show when it is vertical. The bar may be provided with an indicator to show when it is horizontal.

The invention further provides a bricklaying component (the "multiple horizontal support") comprising two or more vertically spaced supports for a horizontal bar to act as a bricklaying reference, and a pair of internal caliper clamping jaws to attach the component at the end of a course of bricks by outward pressure against projecting bricks in the courses above and below said course of bricks. In use a bricklaying guide can advantageously comprise a bar and two uprights as described above, or alternatively a bar, an upright and a multiple horizontal support as described above.

The invention is illustrated, by way of example, in the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a bricklaying guide upright; Figure 2 is a perspective view of an upright and horizontal bar in use; Figure 3 is a view of a multiple horizontal support being used to build a course of bricks at right angles to an existing course; Figure 4 is a view of the multiple horizontal support of Figure 3 being used to continue an existing course of bricks; Figure 5 is an alternative upright; Figure 6 is a perspective view showing how a bricklaying guide bar can be used for adding additional brick-work on the between laid courses; Figure 7shows a simple alternative form of bar and uprights; and Figure 8 shows how they can be used for corner brickwork.

Bricklaying guides, as illustrated by the drawings, comprise in various forms the following main.components, indicated generally as: A. - A rigid bar, which may be of L-section, H-section or other angular cross-sectional shape, which does not sag when supported horizontally by its ends and has along its length given brick-andjoint dimension markings for use as a horizontal bricklaying reference.

Preferably, the markings are spaced at intervals of half a given brick dimension plus half a given joint width, the markings are each of a given joint width and the interval between alternate joint markings, not including any width of the marking, is a given joint dimension.

B. - Means for supporting the guide bar at given brick-height intervals. Such means may be a pair of uprights with means for adjusting them to the vertical, such as by universal joints at their feet or means for clamping each upright to a brick from which the upright can stand vertically.

Alternatively, bar-support brackets may be provided with means engageable with a laid brick or bricks, in one or more courses, to support the bar horizontally.

The bricklaying guide components will now be described in more detail.

In the drawings an upright 1 is shown having clamping means 2 adjustably to mount the upright on a brick. The upright is of U-channel form and of suitable dimensions to accept the end of a brick and the clamping means 2 can be a cam clamp, screw clamp or other suitable clamp. The upright is provided with spirit levels 3 so as that it may be adjusted to the vertical. The upright is provided with mountings 4 spaced at regular intervals, the distance between mountings being equivalent to the height of a brick plus the desired thickness of mortar bed. A shelf 5 is provided to locate on the mountings 4 as support means for a horizontal bar 6 which is used as the reference for positioning bricks. In the front face of the upright shown in Figures 1 and 2 brick supports 7 are provided to support the free ends of bricks projecting from a course of bricks.This has the disadvantage that the upright is only suitable for use with one size of brick. Conveniently therefore the front face of the upright may be open as shown in Figure 5 and a movable brick support 8 provided at the back of the upright. The brick support 8 is located in place by slots 9 in the back plate of the upright which locate lugs 10 on the back of the brick support 8. The brick support 8 may be clamped in place and on completion of a further course of bricks may be removed and moved up the upright by unclamping, rotating through 90 , and removing through the channel 11 in the back of the upright.

By using a pair of uprights as provided by the invention, a horizontal bar 6 can be used to provide a reference guide for laying bricks, the bar being marked along its length to indicate brick-and-joint dimensions to ensure uniformity of bricklaying. As can be seen in Figure 2, such marking 12 may conveniently be at half brick-and-joint dimension intervals. This allows the bar 6 to be used as a guide for bricklaying without having to move the bar 6 longitudinally between courses of bricks.

In laying a brick wall, for example, a level foundation would be laid and a pair of bricks laid on the foundation at a convenient separation. As will be described later thins separation may conveniently be 4 feet (approx. 1.3 m). An upright would then be mounted on each brick and, using the spirit levels 3, the uprights would be adjusted to be vertical. The horizontal bar 6 may have a spirit level (not shown) to indicate when it is level and one of the uprights will be adjusted vertically until the bar 6 is level. The first course of bricks may then be laid, using the intervals marked on the bar for brick-and-joint dimension as a gauge for laying the bricks. As the markings are situated at half-brick intervals, alternate markings are used for full bricks.

The second course of bricks may then be laid using the series of brick-and-joint dimension markings intervening the first used set of markings, the shelf 5 may be moved up each upright and the next course of bricks laid. Following this procedure it is found that the vertical joints between bricks (perpends) are aligned vertically in next adjacent courses of bricks. This is a desirable feature in bricklaying practice.

On completion of a span of wall the uprights may be dismounted and removed. This will leave a wall with a crenellated end suitable for bonding in further brickwork. Figures 3 and 4 show how in a further aspect of the invention a multiple horizontal support 13 may be provided be continue the brickwork. This support comprises two or more shelves 14 (only two shown in this embodiment) vertically spaced at brick-and-joint dimension intervals and a pair of internal caliper clamping jaws 15, 16 to attach the component to the end of a course of bricks by outward pressure against projecting bricks 17, 18 in the course above and below said course of bricks. It will be appreciated that by a course of bricks is meant a single course of bricks as shown in the drawings or several courses of bricks; thus the jaws 15, 16 may be wider apart than shown.It is necessary that one of the jaws 15, 16 is fixed in relation to the shelves 14 so as to provide a reference level; conveniently this is the top jaw 15 as shown, as the bottom of each projecting brick will have been fixed in position by the brick support 7 or 8. The shelves 14 may support one end of a horizontal bar 6, the other end of which is supported by an upright as already described.

Figure 3 shows how the multiple horizontal sup port may be used in making a 90 corner in a brick wall, Figure 4 shows how it may be used in continuing a brick wall.

In continuing a brick wall upwards the uprights may be dismounted from the end of the wall and remounted in a higher position at the end of the wall.

The uprights may be fixed either to just the top brick at the end of the wall, or preferably to a few projecting bricks at the end of the wall.

In the open faced upright of Figure 5 it may be desirable to clamp the upright to the wall at positions other than and in addition to the base of the upright This may be conveniently done by mounting the horizontal bar support 5 to the upright by means of a clamp running from one side to the other of the upright similarly to the clamping means 2 at the base of the upright of Figure 5.

As shown by Figures 6,7 and 8, the bar 6 and uprights 1 may be of simple L-section. For adding to existing brickwork, the bar 6 may be used alone, as shown by Figure 6, a horizontal flange of the bar being engaged in raked-out joints which are subsequently pointed.

The L-section uprights 1 shown by Figures 7 and 8 have support means 19 externally on one or both flanges 20 to receive, at brick-height intervals, the horizontal flange of an L-section guide bar 6. The support means 19 may be, for example, ledges or apertures to receive removable attachments to be re-positioned from course to course. The feet 21 of the uprights 1 have universal mounting joints, preferably for mounting on a brick, but which may be of other forms, such as crossed-pins or ball-andsocket joints, to enable them to be adjusted to the vertical, shown by levels 3.

A special advantage of L-section uprights is that they can receive and support a horizontal bar in each of two directions at right angles and this enables corner brickwork to be accurately laid, as shown in Figure 8.

In building a wall, brick piers are normally positioned at 6-foot intervals. By using a combination of 4-foot and 8-foot horizontal bars it is possible to ensure that such piers always occur at the middle of a bar and this is convenient in practice.

The above examples indicate the general scope of the invention which is subject to variation in detaii.

In particular the shelves 5 and 14 may be replaced by other means of supporting the bar 6.

It is convenient that the standard sizes of concrete blocks etc. tend to be simple multiples of the British Standard Brick (taking into account mortar thicknesses). This means that an upright as shown in Figure 5 can be used to cope with several types of building units quite easily and to the same high standard of finish provided by the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. A bricklaying guide comprising a rigid bar, which does not sag when supported horizontally by its ends, having along its length given brick-and-joint dimension markings for use as a horizontal bricklaying reference.

2. A bricklaying guide according to claim 1 in which the bar is of angular cross-sectional shape, such as L-section of H-section.

3. A bricklaying guide according to claim 1 or 2, in which the centres of the markings are spaced at intervals of half a given brick dimension plus half a given joint width.

4. A bricklaying guide according to claim 3, in which the markings are each of a given joint width and the interval between alternate joint markings, not including any width of the marking, is a given brick dimension.

5. A bricklaying guide comprising a bar according to any of claims 1 to 4 and a pair of uprights having means to support the bar at given brickheight intervals and means for adjusting the uprights to the vertical.

6. A bricklaying guide according to claim 5, in which the foot of each upright has adjustable means for clamping the upright to a brick from which the upright can stand vertically.

7. A bricklaying guide according to claim 5 or 6, in which the means to support the bar are adjustable on the uprights.

8. A bricklaying guide comprising a bar according to any of claims 1 to 4 and bar-support brackets engageable with a laid brick or bricks, in one or more courses, to support the bar horizontally.

9. A bricklaying guide according to claim 5, in which the foot of each upright has universal joint means enabling the upright to be adjusted to stand vertically.

10. Bricklaying guide components according to claim 5 or 8 and substantially as described and illustrated by the drawings.