GB2575007A

GB2575007A - Landscape article

Info

Publication number: GB2575007A
Application number: GB201807271A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Oliver David
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2018-05-03
Filing date: 2018-05-03
Publication date: 2020-01-01
Also published as: GB201807271D0

Abstract

The blank 100 comprises a moulded recess 102 operable to contain a liquid.composition. The liquid composition may be a phosphorescent material. The bottom face 104 of the recess may be flat. The side walls of the recess may be sloped. The external side walls of the blank may be sloped. The blank may be precast. The concrete used to form the blank may comprise a plasticiser or superplasticiser, and an aqueous mould release agent comprising vegetable oils. The blank may be an edging article, a step stone, a paver, or a marker disc for installation in hot tarmac. Also claimed is a method of producing the blank comprising arranging a concrete composition into a mould, compacting the concrete in the mould, curing the concrete in the mould to form the blank, and stripping the mould from the blank. The method may be a wet casting or dry casting method and comprise using a hydraulic press or block paving machine. Also claimed is a method of producing a landscape article comprising arranging a composition comprising a phosphorescent agent into the recess of the blank, and curing the composition in the recess.

Description

LANDSCAPE ARTICLE

FIELD [01] The present invention relates to a concrete landscape blank. More specifically, the present invention relates to moulded concrete landscape blank and a landscape article comprising the blank and a phosphorescent material.

BACKGROUND [02] Lighting is often provided in outdoor areas such as gardens and public spaces, as well as along roads and paths. Lighting units require a source of power, often in the form of electricity. Such lighting units can be expensive to produce, install and maintain. It is desirable to provide lighting units that are easier to produce, install and maintain.

[03] Concrete is often used as landscaping material in outdoor areas and could be used as a support for a lighting unit. However, the production of the relatively small and light concrete landscaping articles with features having small size variation tolerances can lead to problems such as high air hole content and/or size variations outside of the required tolerances.

[04] Therefore, there is a requirement for improved lighting and concrete landscaping articles for use in lighting. It is therefore an object of aspects of the present invention to address one or more of the abovementioned or other problems.

SUMMARY [05] According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a concrete landscape blank for use in a phosphorescent lighting unit, the blank comprising a moulded recess, wherein the blank is operable to contain a liquid composition within the recess.

[06] According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a landscape article comprising a concrete landscape blank according to the first aspect of the present invention, the phosphorescent landscape article further comprising a phosphorescent material arranged in the recess.

[07] The recess of the concrete landscape blank is a moulded recess. As such, preferably, the recess is formed in the same moulding operation as the formation of the concrete landscape blank.

[08] The recess is typically a closed sided recess. The blank may comprise a series of recesses, such as 2 or more recesses, for example 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 recesses.

[09] The side walls of the recess are preferably of substantially the same height around the recess. Preferably the upper edge or lip of the recess is substantially flat and level around the recess. Suitably, there is no more than +/-2mm, such as +/1,5mm, +/-1 mm or +/-0.5mm variation in height in the side walls of the recess.

[10] The bottom face of the recess is preferably substantially flat. The variation in depth across the recess is preferably within +/-2mm, such as +/-1.5mm, +/-1 mm or +/0.5mm.

[11] The depth of the recess may be up to 50% of the depth of the blank, such as up to 40%, 30%, 20% or up to 10%. The recess may have a depth of up to 20mm, or up to 15mm, such as up to 10mm, such as up to 8mm or up to 7mm. The recess may have a depth of at least 1 mm, such as at least 2mm, at least 3mm or at least 4mm.

[12] The side walls of the recess may be sloped, such as a slope that is at least 0.5° off the vertical axis, for example at least 1 °, at least 1.5°, at least 2°, at least 2.5° or at least 3° off the vertical axis.

[13] Suitably, the external side walls of the blank are sloped, such as a slope of at least 1 °, at least 1.5°, at least 2°, at least 2.5°, or at least 3° off the vertical axis.

[14] The weight of the blank may be <100kg, <90kg, <80kg, <70kg, <60kg, <50kg, <40kg, <30kg, such as <25kg, or <20kg. Suitably, the weight of the blank is <15kg, or <10kg, such as <8kg, or <7kg, for example <6kg, or <5kg.

[15] The blank may have a largest dimension of <1500mm, or <1000mm, such as <800mm or <600mm. Suitably, the blank has a largest dimension of <500mm or <400mm.

[16] The concrete landscape blank may comprise a serrated external face, such as a portion of the external side face of the blank may be serrated.

[17] The concrete blank is preferably a precast concrete landscape blank.

[18] The concrete composition used to form the concrete blank may comprise aggregate and cement. Suitably the aggregate is formed of any suitable aggregate and the cement may be any suitable cement.

[19] The concrete composition may further comprise a plasticiser, suitably a superplasticiser. Preferably, the superplasticiser is a carboxylated polymer plasticiser.

A suitable superplasticiser is Alphaflow 420, available from Oscrete construction products.

[20] The concrete composition may further comprise a mould release agent, preferably an aqueous mould release agent comprising one or more oils, suitably vegetable oils or derivatives thereof. A suitable mould release agent is Ecofine 1500, available from Oscrete construction products.

[21] Preferably, the concrete composition used to form the concrete blank comprises a plasticiser and a mould release agent, preferably a superplasticiser, such as a carboxylated polymer plasticiser, and an aqueous mould release agent comprising one or more oils, suitably vegetable oils or derivatives thereof.

[22] The plasticiser may be present in the concrete composition in an amount of 0.1 5% by weight of the total weight of the concrete composition, such as 0.2 - 2.5% or 0.3 - 1.5% or 0.4 - 1.25%, preferably 0.5 -1% by weight of the total weight of the concrete composition.

[23] The concrete composition used to form the concrete blank may have a solids content of up to 60%. The concrete composition used to form the concrete blank may have a water content of up to 40%.

[24] Advantageously, it has been found that the concrete composition of the present invention results in reduced air holes in the concrete blank. As such, the recess of the blank may be moulded with improved precision.

[25] The concrete landscape blank may be an edging article, a step stone, a paver, a marker disc, suitably a marker disc for installation in hot tarmac, resin or poured concrete.

[26] The phosphorescent material is preferably fixedly attached to the concrete landscape blank. Suitably, the phosphorescent material is contacted with the blank in the liquid form and cured to a solid form in the recess of the blank.

[27] The phosphorescent material of the landscape article is preferably formed from a composition comprising a binder and a phosphorescent agent.

[28] According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for producing a concrete landscape blank according to the first aspect of the present invention, comprising the steps of:

a) arranging a concrete composition into a mould;

b) optionally, compacting the concrete composition in the mould;

c) curing the concrete composition in the mould to form the concrete landscape blank; and

d) stripping the mould from the concrete landscape blank.

wherein the mould is operable to produce a recess in the concrete blank.

[29] The method of the third aspect of the present invention may be a wet casting or dry (or semi-dry) casting method.

[30] The method of the third aspect of the present invention may comprise the use of a hydraulic press or block paving machine.

[31] When the method is a wet casting method the method suitably comprising compacting the concrete composition with vibration.

[32] Suitably, the wet cast method comprises contacting the concrete compositioncontaining mould with a first high amount of vibration and then a second low amount of vibration. Optionally, the method may comprise contacting the concrete compositioncontaining mould with one or more intermediate amounts of vibration between the high amount and the low amount of vibration.

[33] Suitably, after step (b) the concrete composition-containing moulds are floated, preferably individually floated.

[34] Preferably, the mould is be mounted as to allow free access to enable the mix to be floated level after vibration.

[35] The moulds used in the method of the present invention may be rigid or flexible. The mould may be formed from a polymeric material. Suitably, a rigid mould is formed from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic. A flexible mould may be formed from polyurethane. The type of mould used will depend upon the desired shape of the concrete blank. Suitably, if the concrete blank has vertical sides in contact with the mould and/or an undercut the mould is a flexible mould. For concrete blanks comprising sides in contact with the mould that have a slope a rigid mould is preferably used.

[36] According to a fourth aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for producing a landscape article according to the second aspect of the present invention, comprising the steps of:

a) arranging a composition comprising a phosphorescent agent into the recess of a concrete blank according to the first aspect of the present invention, suitably a concrete blank produced according to the method of the third aspect of the present invention;

b) curing the composition comprising a phosphorescent agent in the recess.

[37] Suitably, the composition comprising a phosphorescent agent is a liquid composition.

[38] Step (a) of the method of the fourth aspect of the present invention may comprise dispensing a pre-set amount of the phosphorescent composition into each recess of each blank. Suitably, each pre-set amount is the same for each same type of blank.

[39] Advantageously, the method of the present invention helps to reduce the problems associated with the production of relatively small and light concrete articles that have a recess requiring precise dimensions. Concrete blanks can be produced with reduced air holes and having dimensions within the desired margin of error. Phosphorescent landscape articles can also be produced in a quick and simple manner by dispensing pre-set amounts of the phosphorescent material.

[40] By “contain” in relation to the first aspect of the present invention it is meant hold the liquid therein.

[41] All of the features contained herein may be combined with any of the above aspects in any combination.

[42] For a better understanding of the invention, and to show how embodiments of the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the following figures and experimental data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS [43] Figure 1 shows a top view of a concrete landscape blank according to a first embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention in the form of a half block paver.

[44] Figure 2 shows a top view of a concrete landscape blank according to a second embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention in the form of a full block paver.

[45] Figure 3 shows a top view of a concrete landscape blank according to a third embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention in the form of a marker disc.

[46] Figure 4 shows a top view of a concrete landscape blank according to a fourth embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention in the form of a scallop edging.

[47] Figure 5 shows a top view of a concrete landscape blank according to a fifth embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention in the form of a snake edging.

[48] Figure 6 shows a top view of a concrete landscape blank according to a sixth embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention in the form of a small step stone.

[49] Figure 7 shows a top view of a concrete landscape blank according to a seventh embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention in the form of a large step stone.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS [50] Figure 1 shows concrete landscape blank 100 in the form of a half block paver. Blank 100 has closed recess 102 arranged centrally in the top face of blank 100. Blank 100 has dimensions of 100mm width x 100mm length x 50mm depth. Recess 102 has dimensions of 50mm width x 50mm length x 7mm (optionally the depth could be 5mm) deep. Bottom face 104 of recess 102 is flat and the variation of the depth across recess 102 is <+/- 0.5mm.

[51] Blank 100 was formed from a concrete composition by the following method. A mould comprising a projection operable to produce a recess in the moulded blank was housed in a wooden carrier that was level. The mould was filed to the top with the concrete composition and the unit was pushed along three joined vibrating tables allowing sufficient time for the air bubbles to float to the surface. The third and final vibrating table had lower vibration then the other tables. At the third table the unit was floated off. The full mould was then placed onto a pallet and laid on a flat floor with the concrete composition level in the mould. The unit was left on the pallet until the composition was sufficiently set such that any new movement will have no impact on the dimensions of the blank. The blank was then stripped from the mould, and the carrier is cleaned to ensure no concrete was left on the wooden bearers for the next fill.

[52] Blanks 200 to 700 of the second to seventh embodiments as show in Figures 2 to 7 were produced in the same manner as the first embodiment. The results are provided in Table 1.

Table 1 - Results

Example blank	External dimensions (L x W x D or diameter x D) (mm)	Weight of blank (kg)	Dimension of recess (L x W x D or diameter x D) (mm)	Depth of recess variation (mm)
Blank 100	100x 100x50	0.9	50 x 50 x 7	<+/- 0.5mm
Blank 200	200x 100x50	1.8	100x50 x7	<+/- 0.5mm
Blank 300	190 diax60	3.5	127 diax 7	<+/- 0.5mm
Blank 400	590 x140x35	6.3	Semi circ. 125 dia x 4	<+/- 0.5mm
Blank 500	250 x 85 x 60	2.5	100x50 x7	<+/- 0.5mm
Blank 600	300 dia x 40	5.6	112diax7	<+/- 0.5mm
Blank 700	450 dia x 40	11.8	127 diax 7	<+/- 0.5mm

[53] Blank 400 of Figure 4 has a series of semi-circular recesses 104a, b, c and d.

[54] Blank 600 has serrated external side face 606.

[55] Attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference.

[56] All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

[57] Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

[58] The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment(s). The invention extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.

Claims

1. A concrete landscape blank for use in a phosphorescent lighting unit, the blank comprising a moulded recess, wherein the blank is operable to contain a liquid composition within the recess.

2. A landscape article comprising a concrete landscape blank according to claim 1, the phosphorescent landscape article further comprising a phosphorescent material arranged in the recess.

3. A blank or article according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the side walls of the recess are of substantially the same height around the recess, preferably there is no more than +/-2mm, such as +/-1,5mm, +/-1 mm or +/-0.5mm variation in height in the side walls of the recess.

4. A blank or article according to any preceding claim, wherein the bottom face of the recess is substantially flat, preferably, the variation in depth across the recess is within +/-2mm, such as +/-1,5mm, +/-1 mm or +/-0.5mm.

5. A blank or article according to any preceding claim wherein the depth of the recess is up to 50% of the depth of the blank, such as up to 40%, 30%, 20% or up to 10%.

6. A blank or article according to any preceding claim, wherein the side walls of the recess are sloped, such as a slope that is at least 0.5° off the vertical axis, for example at least 1 °, at least 1.5°, at least 2°, at least 2.5° or at least 3° off the vertical axis.

7. A blank or article according to any preceding claim, wherein the external side walls of the blank are sloped, such as a slope of at least 1 °, at least 1.5°, at least 2°, at least 2.5°, or at least 3° off the vertical axis.

8. A blank or article according to any preceding claim, wherein the weight of the blank is <100kg, <90kg, <80kg, <70kg, <60kg, <50kg, <40kg, <30kg, such as <25kg, or <20kg, preferably the weight of the blank is <15kg, or <10kg, such as <8kg, or <7kg, for example <6kg, or <5kg.

9. A blank or article according to any preceding claim, wherein the blank is a precast concrete landscape blank.

10. A blank or article according to any preceding claim, wherein the concrete composition used to form the concrete blank comprises a plasticiser, suitably a superplasticiser.

11. A blank or article according to claim 10, wherein the plasticiser is present in the concrete composition in an amount of 0.1 - 5% by weight of the total weight of the concrete composition, such as 0.2 - 2.5% or 0.3 - 1.5% or 0.4 - 1.25%, preferably 0.5 -1% by weight of the total weight of the concrete composition.

12. A blank or article according to any preceding claim, wherein the concrete composition used to form the concrete blank comprises a mould release agent, preferably an aqueous mould release agent comprising one or more oils, suitably vegetable oils or derivatives thereof.

13. A blank or article according to any preceding claim, wherein the concrete composition used to form the concrete blank has a solids content of up to 60%.

14. A blank or article according to any preceding claim, wherein the concrete composition used to form the concrete blank has a water content of up to 40%.

15. A blank or article according to any preceding claim, wherein the concrete landscape blank or article is an edging article, a step stone, a paver, a marker disc, suitably a marker disc for installation in hot tarmac.

16. A method for producing a concrete landscape blank according to any of claims 1 to 15, comprising the steps of:

a) arranging a concrete composition into a mould;

b) optionally, compacting the concrete composition in the mould;

d) stripping the mould from the concrete landscape blank.

17. A method according to claim 16, wherein the method is a wet casting or dry (or semi-dry) casting method.

18. A method according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the method comprises the use of a hydraulic press or block paving machine.

19. A method according to any of claims 16 to 18, wherein the method is a wet casting method.

20. A method according to any of claims 16 to 19, wherein the method comprises compacting the concrete composition with a first high amount of vibration and then a second lower amount of vibration.

21. A method according to any of claims 16 to 20, wherein after step (b) the concrete composition-containing moulds are floated, preferably individually floated.

22. A method for producing a landscape article according to any of claims 1 to 15, comprising the steps of:

a) arranging a composition comprising a phosphorescent agent into the recess of a concrete blank according to any of claims 1 to 15, suitably a concrete blank produced according to the method of any of claims 16 to 21;

b) curing the composition comprising a phosphorescent agent in the recess.