GB2324817A - Patterned arch support - Google Patents

Abstract

An arch (10) for a building structure comprises a backing support of at least two pieces, and elements (12) forming a visible pattern attached to the front face of the support pieces. The elements (12) may be attached to the support pieces prior to the support pieces being assembled to form the backing support. The elements (12) may be cut from standard blocks or bricks by a water jet or a diamond cutter method, or they may be moulded to the required shape. The arch (10) has the advantage that each support piece may be formed off site with the elements (12) attached, transported to the site and then the arch (10) assembled on site.

Description

BUILDING STRUCTURES THIS INVENTION relates to building structures, in particular arches.

According to one aspect of the invention an arch comprises a backing support of two or more pieces, and attached to a front face of the pieces, elements forming a visible pattern.

The elements may be attached to the pieces before the pieces are assembled to form the backing support.

The pieces and elements may be cut from standard size building bodies e.g. blocks, bricks.

According to another aspect of the invention, building bodies are cut using a water jet apparatus.

The apparatus may be operated in response to a programme arranged to perform specified cuts on standard size building blocks or bodies.

The body may be a slip for use as a voussoir.

The invention may be performed in various ways and one specific embodiment with possible modifications will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying somewhat schematic drawings, in which: Figs. 1 to 12 show various forms of arch without voussoirs forming a visible pattern; Fig. 13 is a front view of an assembled backing support; and Figs. 14 to 16 are views of building bodies.

Arches are used in buildings and can be load bearing or not load bearing.

An example is a flat gauged arch 10 (Fig. 6) which has a trapezoid overall shape and is symmetrical about a centre line 11.

The elements 12 e.g. bricks forming the visible pattern shown are all slightly different in shape.

In the present case the arch 10 is formed with a backing support 13 (Fig. 13) which is in two or more pieces 14, each piece having elements 12 (not shown in Fig. 13) arranged in the desired pattern adhered to the front face of the piece 14.

Thus, to form the arch, the pieces 14, for example three in number, are individually formed off site with elements 12 attached, and are assembled to form the arch on site.

This is to be contrasted with an arrangement in which the individual elements 12 are delivered to a site as a pack and must then be attached on site to a single backing support itself possibly constructed on site.

The pieces 14, e.g. 14a, 14b, 14c Fig. 10 can be formed by cutting on lines 16 to 21 of three similar standard concrete or breeze building blocks 22, 23, 24. This further simplifies production.

A standard block size may be for example 215 x 440 x 75mm. Other standard or readily available sizes may be used. The elements 12 may be individually formed e.g moulded in the required shape ( Fig.

14) or may be cut, as shown dotted, from a standard rectangular shape (Fig. 15). The depth of the elements 12 can vary but preferably they are cut as thin slips 40 (Fig. 16) by transverse cuts 30 from a larger element e.g. a brick. This cutting may be by a diamond cutter.

The cutting of a slip 40 is preferably done by a water jet cutter indicated schematically at 50 which itself is controlled by a computer 51 programmed to cut the various required profiles of the slips to form elements 12. The invention can be used in other types of arch for example as shown in the other Figures.

The slips 40 can be formed initially as slips instead of being cut from a larger body.

The arch can be supported in a lintel.

As can be seen from Fig. 1 and 3 the arch may or may not have a keystone.

The elements 12 can be bonded to the pieces 14 by a suitable adhesive e.g. an epoxy resin.

The elements 12 can alternatively be attached to the pieces 14 on-site.

Claims (12)

1. An arch comprising a backing support of two or more pieces, and attached to a front face of the pieces, elements forming a visible pattern.

2. An arch according to Claim 1, having the elements attached to the pieces before the pieces are assembled to form the backing support.

3. An arch according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the pieces and elements are cut from standard size building bodies e.g.

blocks, bricks.

4. An arch according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the building bodies are cut using a water jet apparatus.

5. An arch according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the building bodies are cut using a water jet apparatus operated in response to a programme arranged to perform specified cuts on standard size building blocks or bodies.

6. An arch according to any preceding claim, wherein each element is a slip for use as a voussoir.

7. An arch according to any preceding claim in the form of a flat gauged arch having a trapezoidal overall shape symmetrical about a centre line.

8. An arch according to Claim 1, wherein the backing support comprises three individual pieces, each piece having an arrangement of said elements in a desired pattern adhered to the front face of the piece.

9. An arch according to Claim 1 or Claim 8, wherein the individual pieces, when aligned side-by-side, form a trapezoidal overall shape symmetrical about a centre line.

10. An arch according to Claim 1, wherein the elements are individually formed by moulding to the required shape.

11. An arch according to Claim 1, wherein the building bodies are cut using a diamond cutter.

12. An arch according to Claim 1, wherein the elements are attached to the front face of the backing support by an epoxy resin.