GB2461388A

GB2461388A - Polygonal arched structure

Info

Publication number: GB2461388A
Application number: GB0911265A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Andrew Boughton
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2008-07-02
Filing date: 2009-06-30
Publication date: 2010-01-06
Also published as: GB0812042D0; GB0911265D0

Abstract

This invention relates to a system for building a polygonal arched structure, especially as a garden ornament. The system may comprise various construction elements including bricks, pillars, cornice stones and base slabs. The bricks are trapezium shaped in plan and have arches formed in them. Base slabs may include a built in moat. The component parts may have engaging formations.

Description

A SYSTEM FOR CONSTRUCTING LARGE AND SMALL ORNAMENTAL

STRUCTURES

This invention relates to a system for building garden ornaments consisting of various construction elements which can be assembled together to create ornamental structures. These structures primarily but not exclusively are round and may include arch bricks, pillars and triangular columns.

Arch bricks in this specification include ornamental bricks with any shaped arch or a brick with angled ends intended for use in the said structures which contains no arch. Arch bricks may carry any form of surface decoration. The word brick is not intended to limit the material from which the brick is made to conventional clay brick material.

The structures described above are intended for adding eye appeal to gardens, homes or similar places. It is only a matter of scaling to adapt the invention for the construction of any object using the same method and components and therefore the invention extends to any construction including full size buildings, ornamental constructions, garden ornaments, household ornaments and other decorations. Therefore in this specification when describing a single application it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Also the terms brick or block or stone when used are not intended to limit the materials used in manufacture which include any size and any raw material including conventional building materials, plastics and edible materials.

Ornamental structures for use in gardens are quite common and frequently take the form of castings of various types mainly of concrete or the like typically depicting classical figures from mythology or representing ornaments such as various types of sun dial often mounted on a column of some type.

Other types of ornament or decorative articles can be purchased which are typically made up of lintels and columns which when assembled together can appear to be parts of a Greek temple. The said parts frequently consisting of the types of pillars and lintels normally found on the outside at the entrance to these buildings. The scale of the components can vary to suit the application which can include small or large scale decorations, ornaments, garden ornaments and building structures.

A further type of application which is quite popular is to be found in the form of a garden ornament water feature of some kind frequently combining building blocks with some type of pre cast centre piece which contains the water jet or jets.

The basic blocks which are used to form these garden features are many and varied and are often common building bricks, however, there are some examples in the art of blocks which are specially formed in order to simplify the construction of walls and other structures often without mortar joints.

Typical examples can be found in DE 100 37 716 which is a block so designed as to allow the building of a garden wall without mortar or in DE 100 506 where the blocks are shaped and contain a decorative facing or in GB 2 159 190 where the blocks are specially shaped to form certain structures.

All of the examples so far given are specific constructions to meet specific needs. Garden features can be constructed but are confined to the purpose which the designer of the component parts had in mind. None of them are truly universal. Similarly, whilst the blocks exampled above as being described in the art, can be formed into a variety of structures they are limited to the shape and size of the blocks in question. These existing systems cannot extend to ornamental types of construction, unlike the present invention.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the problems of versatility in most of the garden ornaments, garden building systems and other types of decorative constructions available today. These problems currently inhibit the ability of the garden designer, builder, interior designer or other decorative works designer to provide an ornamental construction customised to suit the exact needs of the client. The invention includes a variety of modular components which are formed from various base materials including concrete and other similar casting materials, plastics and other suitable moulding materials and solid materials from which finished products are cut or carved.

In addition to a simple contact system, the present invention also includes a method of connecting the various elements together by means of an interlocking shape system whereby male and female mating shapes are included in the system elements.

According to a first feature of the invention there is provided an ornamental building system consisting of two or more elements, which elements include an arch brick which when seen in plan view is a trapezium shape.

According to a second feature of the invention there is provided an ornamental building system according to the first feature which also includes a half arch element with its end similarly angled to the said arch brick, pillars, slabs of various diameters formed in full or quarter circles with or without a built in moat, cornice stones in straight or curved form, and shaped bases formed in any suitable shape which includes shapes such as a football shirt or any other custom shape. Said elements can be assembled together with or without mortar joints or other joint adhesion for any required shape of ornament.

According to a third feature of the invention there is provided an ornamental building system according to the first or second feature in which each element contains either a male or a female feature intended for facilitating the mating of two components of the system.

According to a fourth feature of the invention there is provided an ornamental building system according to any previous feature in which triangular vertical columns are engaged with and mounted upon pillars and in which the said triangular vertical columns contain interlocking means to engage with arch bricks.

The invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example with reference to the drawings in which: Figure 1 Is a typical ornamental construction using a number of the elements of the system to form a circular garden ornament which can incorporate a water feature in the centre.

Figure 2 Is another example of an ornamental construction assembled to form a wall or a screen which can be built in a straight line or in a curve depending on the angles of the end faces of the construction elements.

Figure 3 Is an element of the system formed in the shape of a pillar Figure 4 Is an element of the system formed in the shape of a gothic arch Figure 5 Is an element of the system formed in the shape of a right hand half of a gothic arch.

Figure 6 Is an element of the system formed in the shape of a left hand half of a gothic arch Figure 7 Is an element of the system which is a curved cornice Figure 8 Is an element of the system which is a straight cornice Figure 9 is a slab which is a circle formed from 4 identical elements identified as a, b, c, and d, and which may or may not incorporate a channel known as a moat.

Figure 10 Is the shape of the top of the arch brick where the brick is used to form a straight line Figure 11 Is the shape of the top of the arch brick where the brick is used to form a curve utilising a 15 degree angled end Figure 12 Is the shape of the top of the arch brick where the brick is used to form a curve utilising a 22.5 degree angled end Figure 13 Is the shape of the top of the arch brick where the brick is used to form a curve utilising a 30 degree angled end.

Figure 14 Shows a base arrangement intended to be used with a water feature.

Figure 15 Shows a cross section of figure 14 Figure 16 Is a 3D view of an alternative base unit showing the moat and the square protrusions provided to locate and accept pillars.

Figure 17 Shows the above base unit with pillars added.

Figure 18 Shows the above pillars with triangular columns which are intended to receive arch bricks.

Figure 19 Shows the above triangular columns with the arch bricks in place and engaged with the triangular columns.

Figure 20 Shows the above triangular columns with arch bricks in place and capped with a top plate which is ready to receive the next tier.

Referring now to Figure 1, a typical construction of a garden water feature is illustrated in which pillars 2, on the bottom level support arch bricks 9 on top of which is mounted 4 quarter circle slabs 8, formed into a circle. The said slabs contain a moat 10.

On top of the circle slabs 9 are mounted more pillars 2, which support arch bricks 7 consisting of two arch bricks the top one of which is inverted and placed on top of a conventionally mounted arch brick. The inverted brick in turn supports further quarter circle slabs 3, also containing a moat 4, in a smaller diameter than the previous layer.

Finally on the top of the construction are two further pillars 2, supporting a single arch brick 1. A circle 5, is let into the slab stones 3, in order to facilitate the installation of a water feed. Water then cascades out on to the slab 3 filling the moat 4, and finally flowing over the edge and down on to slabs 8.

Referring now to figure 14, a base 11 is shown which can be used in a water feature. A cross section appears in figure 15 where water collectors 15 are able to collect the water falling back on to the base. A sprayer element is not illustrated here but is included in the assembly. This sprayer is mounted at the top of Figure 1, at point 5, and block 1 is not then included in the assembly. It should also be noted here that dowels 16 are passed through base surface 13. These dowels engage with the construction blocks to help stabilise the construction.

Figure 2 shows a simpler construction of a wall which could be straight or curved consisting of pillars 2 on top of which are placed arch bricks 1 in several tiers.

Figures 3 to 13 inclusive, show individual elements of the system which have already been described in the explanation of the figures. It will be understood that the individual pattern and shape of the elements shown in the drawings are given by way of example only and any variation of shape and pattern may be substituted for the example shown in the figures.

Referring now to figure 16, This shows an alternate construction for the same invention which lends itself to moulded materials more than cast ones. A moat 17, is formed between inner waIls 20 and outer walls 21. The base plate 16 can be seen mounted on inner wall 20 and a hole 19 is present to allow for a water feed pipe. The square protrusions 18 are locating points for the pillars and are intended to engage with a receiving hole in the said pillars. Because the construction may be tiered, it will be understood that when the next tier is capped there will be similar protrusions 18 to engage the next tier's pillars.

The number of pillars on the next tier will be less to accommodate the decreasing diameter of the tiers.

Figure 17 illustrates the addition of pillars 22 to the base plate 16. The pillars are mounted and engaged with square protrusions 18. It will also be seen that on top of the pillars there are triangular protrusions 23 which are intended to accept triangular mounting columns.

Figure 18 takes the construction one step further and adds the triangular mounting columns 24 referred to above. The columns 24 engage with the triangular detail 23 on top of the pillars 22. It will be seen that triangular mounting columns 24 are equipped with vertical keys 25a and 25b. These keys are intended for engagement with the arch bricks when added.

Figure 19 continues with the assembly and shows the trapezium shaped arch bricks 26 engaged with the vertical keys 25a and 25b on the triangular mounting columns 24. It will be understood that for the next tier the arch bricks are identical but the columns are less in number because of the reduced diameter and therefore the triangular mounting columns are formed with a more acute angle at point 27 and thus side 28 will be shorter.

Figure 20 shows the capping piece 29 in place and this piece forms the base for the next tier. A moat 30, is present in this embodiment and the centre hold for carrying the water feed pipe is not shown.

The top tier will finish with a flat surface at 31 though it may contain some additionally aesthetically pleasing feature. However it will be understood that if another tier is to be added then surface 31 will contain square protrusions identical to those shown at 18 in figure 16. The plate 29 will be equipped with triangular protrusion (not shown) on its underside which are intended to engage with triangular mounting columns 24.

Further version of the triangular columns are planned in which the angle shown in figure 19 at 27 will be adjustable by creating a break in side 28 and mounting a suitable control device within the pillar.

The description "plan view" used in the claims means a view from above column when in use, before anything is mounted upon the item in question.

There are many different possible embodiments for this invention and each embodiment disclosed in this specification including the drawings is given by way of example only. The invention is intended to be limited only by the scope of the claims.

Claims

CLAIMS1. An ornamental building system consisting of two or more elements, which elements include an arch brick which brick when seen in plan view is a trapezium shape.
2. An ornamental building system according to claim 1 which also includes a half arch element with its end similarly angled to the said arch brick.
3. An ornamental building system according to any previous claim which includes pillars.
4. An ornamental building system according to any previous claim which includes slabs of various diameters formed in either full or quarter circles with or without a built in moat
5. An ornamental building system according to any previous claim which includes cornice stones in straight or curved form
6. An ornamental building system according to any previous claim which includes shaped bases formed in any suitable shape.
7. An ornamental building system according to any previous claim which includes slabs in any suitable shape which slabs are provided with means to receive and engage with pillars.
8. An ornamental building system according to any previous claim which includes pillars which pillars are provided with means to engage with and receive triangular columns.
9. An ornamental building system according to any previous claim which includes triangular columns which columns are equipped with means for engaging with and receiving arch bricks.
1O.An ornamental building system according to any previous claim which includes arch bricks which are equipped with means for engaging with triangular co'umns.
11.An ornamental building system according to any previous claim in which each element contains either a male or a female feature intended for facilitating the mating of two components of the system.