GB2200150A - Building bricks - Google Patents

Abstract

A building brick 10 has a front face 11 with a rebate 21 extending along a vertical edge, the end 16 of the brick adjacent the rebated edge having a recess (17) which is arranged to retain mortar, the opposite end 15 of the brick being flat. A second rebate 20 may extend along the upper or lower horizontal edge of front face 11. The brick may be a self- levelling brick and may be double-faced. The fronf face may be arranged to resemble a hanging tile. <IMAGE>

Description

Building Bricks The present invention relates to building bricks.

A recent development in the building of brick walls with conventional bricks is to rake out the mortar between the bricks to a predetermined depth. This is usually done with a piece of wood while the mortar is still soft. The mortar used frequently has the same colour as the bricks to give a matching appearance. The present invention seeks to provide a brick with which the time and expense of raking out the mortar can be avoided.

Another recent development in building is to employ bricks to provide an appearance of hanging tiles.

In both of the above developments, it is necessary to provide a vertical rebate in the front face of the bricks, to imitate the raked-out mortar joint or the gap between adjacent "tiles" respectively. When a rebate is required at each end of the front face, as in the case of the brick shown in Figure 1 of our copending patent application G.B. 2099032, this causes disadvantages in the procedure for moulding the bricks.

The provision of mortar-retaining recesses at both ends of the bricks also causes similar disadvantages. The present invention also seeks to overcome one or more of the above disadvantages.

According to the present invention there is provided a building brick having a front face with a rebate extending along a vertical edge, the end of the brick adjacent said vertical edge having a recess which is arranged to retain mortar, and the opposite end of the brick being flat. The brick may have a second rebate extending along the upper or lower horizontal edge of the front face.

The brick may be a self-levelling brick. A selflevelling brick is described in our G.B. patent l40299 which requires a minimum of mortar and which can be laid quickly and easily by unskilled labour. However both ends of tnis earlier brick are provided with mortar-retainina recesses and this means that an expensive moulding operation is necessary in the manufacture of the brick.

In practice the brick of patent1402991 is moulded in a mould with a base in the form of a flat pallet. This requires that brick be moulded with its back lower-most so that the parts of the mould defining the long faces have-to be withdrawn horizontally before the brick is sent for curing or firing. Horizontal withdrawal is an inconvenient process and only half a dozen bricks may be moulded simultaneously on a single pallet.

It would of course be possible to mould the brick of patent 1402991 on one of its recessed ends. This would permit the parts of the mould defining the long faces to be withdrawn vertically. This would be more convenient and would increase the number of bricks which could be simultaheously moulded on a single pallet. This method is not employed at present because of the expense of providing a bottom pallet shaped to define the mould-retaining recesses in the ends of the bricks. The method would be particularly expensive since a large number of shaped pallets would be required. The reason for this is that the bricks are cured or fired still supported by the bottom pallet, and thus a pallet cannot be re-used for moulding for up'to twenty four hours.

Another disadvantage of a shaped bottom pallet would be that very delicate positioning would be necessary in the horizontal plane in order to align the recesssdefining projections of the bottom pallet with the rest of the mould.

Another reason for not employing this method is that the front edges of the brick of patent 1402991 are curved, and this causes unsatisfactory separation of the brick from the mould.

The present invention also seeks to avoid these disadvantages. In particular it permits vertical withdrawal of the m-ould parts to be combined with a flat bottom pallet.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: Fig.l shows a front view of a brick according to a first embodiment of the present invention; Fig.2 shows an end view of a brick as shown in Fig.l positioned over a similar brick; Fig.3 shows a plan view of the brick of Fig.l.

Fig.4 shows a perspective view of the brick of Fig.l; Fig.5 shows an end view of a brick in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention; Fig.6 shows an end view of a brick in accordance with a third embodiment of the invention; and Fig.7 shows a perspective view of a brick in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the invention.

Referring to Figs 1 to 4 of the drawings a brick 1G has a front face 11, a rear face 12, a top face 13, a bottom face 14, a flat end face 15 and a recessed end face 16. The front face of the brick has a rebate or recess 20 along its upper edge which meets a similar rebate 21 along the edge between the front face and the recessed end face 16. The top surface of the brick has projections 25,26, similar to those provided in the brick of G.B. patent 1402991, and in a similar way the bottom surface has a shoulder 24 and a recess 23. The formation of the top and bottom surfaces is arranged to permit easy levelling as discussed in the earlier document.

A wide range of sizes can be manufactured including the U.K. coordinating size: length 225 mm, height 75 morn, depth 102 mm.

In use, a course of bricks is laid end-to-end with the recessed end 16 of one brick lying next to the flat end 15 of an adjacent brick. The recess 17 in end 16 defines a channel for receiving mortar. When the next course is laid, mortar 30 is provided between vertically-adjacent bricks and e x tend i ng between shoulder 24 and projection 25. Thus in the finished wall a raked-out appearance is achieved withe) the need to remove any mortar at all from the region of the front face. In addition the wall looks as if it is made from conventional bricks.

Bricks as described above are manufactured as follows.

A flat bottom pallet is used. The parts of the mould defining the long faces of. the bricks are then located on the bottom pallet, with their long axes vertical, and the brick material in cement mix, clay or paste form is introduced. The vertical mould parts form a plurality of generally-rectangular tubes. Flat end faces 15 of the bricks are located at the bottom. Top mould pieces are then mated with each of the brick moulds. The top pieces are shaped to define the recesses 17 and rebates 21 and are on respective rods on a heavy framework. The moulds or the rods and top pieces are then vibrated to ensure correct filling-out of each mould and shaping of the bricks.

The vertical mould parts are then raised vertically from the moulded bricks and over the top pieces and their supporting rods. The top pieces are then removed from the bricks which are transported on the flat bottom pallet for curing or firing.

The advantages of this method are: (i) No accurate horizontal positioning of the bottom pallet is required; (ii) Relatively inexpensive flat pallets may be used; and (iii)Twenty to fifty bricks may be moulded simultaneously and subsequently cured or fired on a single pallet.

In addition to the above manufacturing advantages the brick has the following advantages: ( It provides a raked-out mortar joint appearance without the need to rake out mortar; in addition the colour of the "raked-out" portions automatically matches the rest of the brick.

(ii) A wall built with such bricks looks as if it is made from conventional bricks, yet permits the use of self-levelling bricks with their associated advantages.

Rebate 20 may be alternatively located at the bottom of the front face 11, and rebate 21 may be located at either the left or right edge of the front face, provided that recess 17 is provided at the same end.

the brick 10 may have a recess in the back 12 to form a hand grip.

The bricks are laid in conventional half bond, and half bricks would be provided to terminate at doorways and windows. Corner bricks are provided for the corners of the building. Both left hand and right hand corner bricks are required. The corner bricks are made by repeating the face design on the end of the brick and returning the transverse joint around the corner of the brick.

Referring now to Fig.5 there is shown a brick SC in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention. The brick is double-faced and thus is especially suitable for building a garden or other wall with single brick thickness. Thus in addition to rebate 21 on the front face 11 the brick also has a vertical rebate 21' on the rear face 12 at the recessed end 16 of the brick. The top edge of the rear face of brick 50 is provided with a rebate 20'. Rebate 20' can alternatively be located at the bottom of face 12.

Fig.6 shows a brick 60 in accordance with e third embodiment of the invention. Brick 60 is a non selflevelling brick as disclosed in our co-pending patent application G.B.2099032, that is projection 25 does not touch the brick above when the bricks are laid in courses. Brick 60 is also a double-faced brick, but in this case rebate 20' is located et the bottom of rear face 12. It can alternatively be located at the top of face 12.

Figure 7 shows a brick 70 in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention. Instead of resembling raked-out mortar joints as in the previous embodiments, the front face 11 of the brick is arranged to resemble a hanging tile. This is similar to the brick disclosed in Fig.l of our co-pending application G.B. 2099032 except that the present brick resembles half the length of this earlier brick. Thus there is no horizontal rebate 20, only a vertical rebate 71 being provided, the width of which is equal to the gap between adjacent "tiles". Rebate 71 is provided at the same end 16 as recess 17, the opposite end 15 of the brick being flat.

The brick 70 has the same manufacturing advantages as bricks 10,50 and 60. In addition it provides the appearance of hanging-tiles whilst permitting the use of bricks, which may be self-levelling.

The brick 70 may have a recess in the back 12 to form a hand grip.

In the above-described bricks the mortar-receiving recess 17 may be modified in that it can be extended to the rear of the brick so that it is open at the back.

Claims (10)

Claims

1. A building brick having a front face with a rebate extending along a vertical edge, the end of the brick adjacent said vertical edge having a recess which is arranged to retain mortar, and the opposite end of the brick being flat.

2. A brick according to claim 1 having a second rebate extending along the upper or lower horizontal edge of the front face.

3. A brick according to claim 1 or 2, having a first planar portion extending along or adjacent the rear edge of the top of the brick, a second planar portion extending along or adjacent the rear edge of the bottom of the brick, a third planar portion extending along or adjacent the front edge of the top of the brick and a fourth planar portion extending along or adjacent the front edge of the bottom of the brick, the arrangement being such that when a first said brick is positioned on a second said brick, the second and fourth planar portion of the first brick are respectively located on the first and third planar portions of the second brick.

4. A brick according to claim 3 wherein the planar portions are horizontal.

5. A building brick substantially as herein described with reference to Figs 1 to 4, Fig 5, Fig 6 or Fig 7 of the accompanying drawings.

6. A brick according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the rear face is also rebated.

7. A brick according to any of claims 1,2 or 6 having a first planar portion extending along or adjacent the rear edge of the top of the brick, a second planar portion extending along or adjacent the rear edge of the bottom of the brick, a third planar portion extending along or adjacent the front edge of the top of the brick and a fourth planar portion extending along or adjacent the front edge of the bottom of the brick, the arrangement being such that when a first said brick is positioned on a second said brick, the fourth planar portion of the first brick is located on the third planar portion of the second brick but the second planar portion of the first brick does not engage the first planar portion of the second brick.

8. A brick according to any preceding claim, wherein the front of the brick is arranged to resemble a hanging tile.

9. A method of manufacturing a brick according to any preceding claim, wherein material to form the brick is introduced into a mould having a flat bottom pallet and vertical parts defining the long faces of the brick.

10. A method of manufacturing a brick substantially as herein described.