GB2162221A - Building bricks and blocks - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention relates to building bricks and blocks and particularly those designed for use in external walls, parapets, or free-standing walls exposed to the elements. Thus a brick has a front or external face 4, a back face 5, vertical perpend faces 3, and top and bottom faces 1 and 2 (Fig 1.). The top face 1 is provided with parallel horizontal channels P which run into forwardly inclined grooves 7 formed on the perpend face and inclined downwards and towards the front face 4. Hence, when laid in the position shown in Figure 1 any moisture penetrating inwards along the top face 1 will tend to be blocked and encouraged to move laterally towards the perpend face. Moisture on the perpend face will tend to move downwards under gravity and the grooves 7 will encourage forward movement of this moisture. Many other embodiments are described and illustrated. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Building bricks and blocks This invention relates to building bricks and blocks and particularly those designed for use in external walls, parapets, or free-standing walls exposed to the elements.

Walls built from existing bricks and blocks tend to suffer from penetration of rain and moisture, particularly in exposed positions with heavy driving rain.

The use of well built cavity walls may alleviate the damp, but the external leaf of the wall can become moisture sodden and, should good building practice not materialise, moisture may penetrate to the inner leaf causing serious problems. Accordingly it is an object of the invention to provide an improved brick or block which will at least partly overcome these difficulties.

Broadly stated the invention consists in a building brick or block formed and constructed with vertical, horizontal, inclined, curved, or stepped internal or external surfaces to deter penetration of moisture away from the front face thereof and, with or without adjacent bricks or blocks, to encourage escape movement of moisture in a direction having a component towards the front face.

In a preferred form of the invention the brick or block has inclined, curved, or stepped or vertical grooves or ribs on a perpend face to deter penetration and solely or in conjunction with the horizontal bed of mortar encourage movement of moisture in a direction towards fthe front face. There may be two or more substantially parallel grooves or ribs on the perpend face.

According to a particular preferred feature the upper face may have one or more ribs, grooves, or depressions designed to encourage movement of moisture laterally towards each or one of the perpend faces, and it may be important that the top face should have one or more sloping curved or stepped grooves, ribs or depressions designed to encourage movement of moisture towards the front face. Additionally or alternatively, the upper face may have one or more transverse ribs, grooves, or depressions, extending across, or substantially across the full length, designed to deter movement of moisture away from the front face. Where all features are present, it would be possible to form grooves on the perpend faces so as to extend vertically.

The formations to encourage forward movement of moisture may include internal formations within the brick or block. Ideally, however, it is the external surface which normally provides for the forward movement of the moisture.

The invention also consists in a wall constructed of building bricks or blocks as defined with interposed mortar, all arranged to deter moisture penetrating inwards between the bricks or blocks and encourage movement downward and partly towards the front face of the wall.

The invention may be performed in various ways and some embodiments with a number of possible modifications will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a simple perspective view illustrating one form of brick according to the invention designed to be laid upright, Figure 2 is a fragmentary vertical section through part of a wall constructed with bricks according to the invention showing the perpend surface of a full brick, Figure 3 is a fragmentary front view of part of a wall built with bricks as shown in Figure 2, showing one of the vertical mortar joints, Figure 4 is a general isometric view partly broken away illustrating a wall according to the invention constructed from bricks as illustrated in Figure 2, Figure 5 is an end elevation similar to Figure 2 illustrating a wall constructed of a further modified design of brick according to the invention, Figure 6 is a plan view in section illustrating the dovetail cross section of vertical grooves on the perpend faces of a brick according to the invention, and Figure 7 is an isometric view of a further possible form of brick according to the invention.

The sample rectangular brick, illustrated in Figure 1, has a front or external face 4, a back face 5, vertical perpend faces 3 and top and bottom faces 1 and 2.

The top face 1 in this example is provided with parallel horizontal channels or ribs P which extend to the perpend faces 3 and run into forwardly inclined grooves or ribs Q formed on the perpend faces and inclined downwards and towards the front face 4.

Thus when laid in the position shown any moisture penetrating inwards along the top face 1 will tend to be blocked and encouraged to move laterally towards the perpend faces. Any moisture on these perpend faces will, of course, tend to move downwards under gravity and the grooves or ribs Qwill encourage forward movement of the moisture.

The building brick illustrated may be designed to be laid flat, with a largertopface and a shallower front face.

It will be appreciated that when laid in a wall mortar will occupy most of the grooves at P and Q, but this does not affect the principle of the invention, particularly since moisture tends to penetrate and move primarily along the interface between the brick and mortar.

The brick illustrated in figure 2 is in principle similar to that of Figure 1, but in this example the formations P on the top face consist of two parallel horizontal channels P1 and the grooves on the perpend face 3 consist of three inclined channels 7,8 and 9. The upper primary channel 7 inclined at about 45" opens into the front face as an opening 6, as illustrated in Figure 3. The secondary channel 8 does not reach the front face 4, but opens into a horizontal channel 20 formed on the lower face of the brick parallel to the front face 4. Similarly the rearmost or tertiary channel 9 opens into another horizontal groove 21 in the bottom face of the brick.It will be seen that any moisture reaching the mortar bed 11 below the brick will tend to be discharged over the top of the mortar bed joint or trapped by the grooves P1 in the top face of the lower brick if the moisture passes through the mortar, and will then be encouraged to move forwards by the primary and secondary channels 7 and 8. If for aesthetic or other reasons it is desirable not to have visible openings in the front face of the brick, the channel 7 could be replaced by the alternative channel indicated in dashed outline at7A. In this case however it might be advisable for the front face of the brick to carry some marking enabling anyone inspecting a wall to be sure that all the bricks are the correct way up.

In some modified forms of brick according to the invention there may be increased numbers, for example five or more grooves or channels in the top and bottom faces with the same or different numbers of channels on the perpend faces.

Figure 4 illustrates how the bricks inter-relate when laid in normal bond such that moisture moving forwards and downwards along the inclined grooves of a perpend brick face will then tend to move lengthwise along the upper channels P1 of the brick below before again being urged forwards down the inclined perpend grooves of the lower brick.

Figure 4 also illustrates a modified form of brick 1A where the lower face is formed with a recess 12 which is inclined towards the front face so as to direct water from the channel 9 forwardly along the brick/mortar interface. A check recess 13 is also formed to check moisture penetrating into the wall through the brick/mortar interface.

Figure 5 illustrates another modification in which the upper face of the brick has a single shallow depression R with a lower surface R1 which is inclined forwards and downwards towards the front face at a shallow angle of about 5" (although other angles are possible). This positively encourages movement of moisture on the top surface forwards towards the front face, and when this moisture excapes at the lateral perpend faces the forward movement is further encouraged by the inclined grooves 7 (or 7A), 8 and 9 in the perpend faces. As illustrated, the undersurface of the brick may have a similar depression 12 with a forwardly inclined upper face, and a check recess 13. In addition the top and bottom surfaces of the bricks may be formed with vertical or inclined steps 29 to discourage penetration of water inwardly.

In a further possible modification, illustrated in Figure 7, each brick may be formed with one or more inclined surfaces Z in its upper surface designed to encourage movement of moisture laterally towards the inclined grooves 7 (or 7A), 8,9 in the perpend faces. The surfaces Z and R in Figures 5 and 7 may be in effect combined to provide a slope which is both forward and lateral to encourage movement of moisture partly towards the front face 4 and partly towards the perpend face. Again the underface is shown with a forwardly inclined recess 12. As an alternative or addition to the exposed primary drainage channels 7 the terminations of (preferably) sloping drainage channels could be exposed at the base of the front face of the brick. Other drainage channels for this (and other) brick types could open at the top edge of the front face.Also the base of the brick could be recessed in a manner mirroring the inclined surfaces Z on the upper face to encourage moisture movement forwards and towards the perpend faces.

In a further possible modification, not illustrated, the brick has one or more horizontal grooves or depressions in its upper face each communicating with one or more generally vertical internal bores or passages inclined forwards and downwards so as to encourage movement of moisture towards the front face of the brick and hence the front face of the wall.

In all these examples the grooves and channels may, if required, be filled at least partly with an absorbent material designed to act partly as a capillary wick and partly to provide a flat external surface where that is desired. Also, if required, the effective surfaces of the grooves or channels or recesses may be specially treated to be waterresistant.

The bricks or blocks may be formed of any suitable composition, for example ceramic, clay, sandlime, cement, stone, conctrete or refractory. The invention may be of advantage in construction of walls which are rendered or unrendered and may be applicable also to cavity walls filled with insulation. The bricks described may facilitate introducing cavity insulation and will also improve the mortar bond between the bricks. The grooves formed in the brick surfaces may vary considerably in depth, width, profile, spacing and direction, and it will be seen that in some cases a stepped or curved groove will achieve the same results as an inclined groove.

An important feature of the invention is that the moisture channels on the perpend faces of one brick may line up or co-operate with channels on the top surface of a brick below so that, where moisture is likely to penetrate through the mortar, there is progressive forward movement of moisture as it moves downward in the wall.

It will be appreciated that all the features applied to the bricks illustrated in the drawings may equally well be applied to building blocks.

Whilst the channels 7,8,9 illustrated in the perpend faces are shown as continuous and linear, it is envisaged that these channels might be stepped, broken and/or curved orwavelike in form. Also some or all of the channels may interconnect partway down the brick and, if desired, channels need not necessarily commence at the very top edge of the perpend face.

The suggested capillary wick could be replaced by a short-life material which would rot or corrode or disintegrate to leave voided channels in the finished wall.

Claims (14)

1. A building brick or block formed and constructed with vertical, horizontal, inclined, curved, or stepped internal or external surfaces to deter penetration of moisture away from the front face thereof and, with or without adjacent bricks or blocks, to encourage escape movement of moisture in a direction having a component towards the front face.

2. A brick or block according to Claim 1, having an inclined, curved, stepped or vertical groove or rib on a perpend face to deter penetration of moisture along the face and encourage movement of moisture in a direction towards the front face.

3. A brick or block according to Claim 2, including two or more substantially parallel inclined or stepped grooves or ribs on the perpend face.

4. A brick or block according to any of the preceding claims, in which the upper face has one or more transverse ribs, grooves, or depressions, extending across substantially the full length, designed to deter movement of moisture away from the front face.

5. A brick or block according to any of the preceding claims, in which the top face has one or more ribs, grooves, or depressions designed to encourage movement of moisture laterally towards one of the perpend faces.

6. A brick or block according to any of the preceding claims, in which the upper face has one or more sloping or stepped grooves, ribs or depressions designed to encourage movement of moisture towards the front face.

7. A brick or block according to any of the preceding claims, in which the formations to encourage forward movement of moisture include internal passages or surfaces within the brick or block.

8. A brick or block according to any of the preceding claims 1 to 6, in which the external surfaces provide for the forward movement of the moisture.

9. A brick or block according to any of the preceding claims, having a depression on its upper surface which provides a sloping flank inclined laterally and/orforwardly.

10. A brick or block according to any of the preceding claims, in which the top and/or bottom surfaces and/or the perpend faces have sharp or steep interruptions, steps, or undercuts to prevent or impede flow of moisture.

11. A brick or block according to any of the preceding claims, having a marking or visible exter nal shape or pattern to indicate the orientation of the block.

12. A brick or block according to any of the preceding claims, having external or internal surfaces or passages arranged and positioned to com bine with other surfaces or passages on adjacent bricks or blocks, when laid in bond, to combine to cause movement of moisture under gravity both laterally along a course in a wall and also forwards towards the front face of the wall.

13. Awall constructed of building bricks or blocks as defined with interposed mortar, all arranged to deter moisture penetrating inwards between the bricks or blocks and encourage move ment downwards and partly towards the front face ofthe wall.

14. A brick or block substantially in any of the forms described, with reference to the accompany ing drawings.