BUILDING BLOCK OR PANEL

Abstract: A building block or panel having a shape of a parallelepiped comprising four edge faces (11, 13, 15 and 17) and two opposed major faces (19 and 21), said edge faces being formed to be interlockingly engageable with the edge faces of similar building blocks, each edge face comprising lateral zones which are located to one or the other side of the central longitudinal axis of the edge face, one zone of each edge face being formed with a recess (23) and the other zone of each edge face being of a complementary configuration to the one zone, the recesses on opposed edge faces being of corresponding configuration.

Description: TITLE: Building Block or Panel FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to building blocks or panels BACKGROUND The present invention relates to building blocks or panels which are capable of being lockingly interengaged with each other whereby they are positively retained in such engagement and do not necessarily require utilisation of a bonding agent such as mortar or to retain them in engagement. Previous forms of building blocks which satisfy the above criteria are disclosed in Australian patent specifications AU-B-33151/63, AU-B-78872/75 and AU-B-90575/82. The blocks which are described in the above specifications have usually required utilisation of a specialised moulding machine in their formation and have required an accurate maintenance of tolerances. Because of the nature of the blocks a close tolerance was required in the formation of the blocks and a minor variation from the required tolerances could result in a significant misalignment when a number of blocks were laid due to a compounding of the variation as each block was laid with the others. In addition, difficulties with the building blocks of the prior art referred to above related to the circumstance that blocks do not readily lend themselves to being laid in a wall whereby the vertical junctions between adjacent blocks in one course can be offset from the vertical junction of adjacent courses. The present invention is intended to provide a building block which does not rely upon the utilisation of a complex machine or apparatus to form the block and in which tolerances in the formation of the block need not be as precise as those as the tolerances which have been required in respect of the building blocks disclosed in the above mentioned patent specifications. The preceding discussion of the background to the invention is intended to facilitate an understanding of the present invention only. It should be appreciated that the discussion is not an acknowledgement or admission that any of the material referred to was part of the common general knowledge in Australia as at the priority date of the application. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Accordingly the invention resides in a building block or panel having a shape of a parallelepiped comprising four edge faces and two opposed major faces, said edge faces being formed to be interlockingly engageable with the edge faces of similar building blocks, each edge face comprising lateral zones which are located to one or the other side of the central longitudinal axis of the edge face, one zone of each edge face being formed with a recess and the other zone of each edge face being of a complementary configuration to the one zone, the recesses on opposed edge faces being of corresponding configuration. According to one preferred feature of the invention, the configuration of one pair of edge faces are of corresponding configuration with the formation of each zone on one edge face being reversed in relation to the formation in the corresponding zone of the opposed edge face. According to the further preferred feature of the invention, the configuration of the other pair of opposed edge faces are of complementary configuration. According to a further preferred feature of the invention, each recess has a base which is substantially parallel to the edge face and opposed end faces of the which are substantially parallel. According to the further preferred feature of the end faces are inclined with respect to the edge face. According to one particular embodiment, one end face is inclined at an angle of 45° to the edge face and the other end face is inclined at an angle of 135° to the edge face. According to a further preferred feature of the invention the recess on each edge face is located substantially centrally along the edge face. The invention will be more fully understood in the light of the following description of one specific embodiment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The description of the embodiment is illustrated by reference to the accompanying drawings of which Figure 1 is an upper isometric view of a block according to the embodiment showing one major face , Figure 2 is a lower isometric view of a block according to the embodiment showing the other major face, Figure 3 is a side elevation of the block according to the embodiment showing the one major face, Figure 4 is a side elevation of the block according to the embodiment showing the other major face, Figure 5 is one end elevation of the block according to the embodiment, Figure 6 is the opposite end elevation to the view shown at Figure 5, and Figure 7 is an illustration a set of blocks interengaged with each other DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENT The embodiment as shown at the accompanying drawings relates to a building block which is capable of being interengaged with corresponding building blocks in a manner which does not necessarily require the utilisation of a bonding agent to ensure that the building blocks remain interengaged As illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the building blocks generally have the form of a rectangular prism which have four edge faces 11 , 13, 15 and 17 and two opposed major faces 19 and 21 Each edge face is subdivided into two lateral zones which are located to one or the other side of the central longitudinal At each edge face one zone is formed with a recess 23 which has the configuration of a parallelogram and comprises a base 25 which is parallel to the outer edge face and two end faces 27 and 29 which are parallel to each other and which are inclined to the edge face such that one end face 29 is inclined 45° to the edge face and the other end face 27 is inclined at 135° to the edge face. The other zone of each edge face is of a complementary configuration to the one zone and as a result it is provided with a projection 31 which is of complementary form to the recess 23 of the one zone. In addition, the opposed longer edge faces (the upper and lower faces) 1 1 and 15 are of substantially corresponding configuration in that the recesses are located at the one major face 19 and the projections 31 are located at the other major face 21 with the exception that the orientation of the recesses and the projections are reversed. In regard to the shorter edge faces (the end edge faces) 13 and 17 they are of substantially corresponding configuration except that the recess 23 of one end edge face 17 is adjacent one major face 19 while the recess of the other end edge face 13 is adjacent the other major face 21 . The recesses on each end edge face have the same orientation. As a result the end edge faces 13 and 17 of a block are complementary. As a result the configuration of the end edge faces 13 and 17 are such that when a pair of blocks A and B are brought together (as shown at Figure 7) with the end edge faces 13 and 17 adjacent, the recesses 23 of the opposed end edge faces will accommodate the projections 31 of the opposed end edge faces. In addition, as a result of such the combined upper and lower edge of the interengaged blocks A and B define between themselves a projection 41 and a recess (not shown) in the region of the junction which is of complementary form to the recess 23 and projection 31 of a third block C whereby the third block C can be lowered into positive interengagement with the first and second block A and B as shown at Figure 7 to overlie the junction with the recess 23 and the projection at lower face of the third being received in the combined recess and projection formed at the junction of the first and second block A and B. To facilitate the interengagement between blocks and to provide some degree of tolerance the longitudinal faces 33 of all of the projections which provides the junction between the projections and recesses at each zone are inclined (see Figures 5 and 6). The arrangement as described in relation to the embodiment and as shown in the drawings provides a building block which is capable of being interengaged with other building blocks whereby the vertical junction between adjacent building blocks can be offset from the vertical junction of adjacent building blocks of adjacent courses and whereby the building blocks are interengaged to each side of each edge face which serves to provide for stability of the combined blocks. In addition the interengaged blocks are positively retained to at least some extent by the interengagement of the protrusions of each block with the recesses of the adjacent blocks. Furthermore the blocks are aligned as a result of the overlapping of the protrusions of the adjacent edge faces of adjacent blocks. In addition it is envisaged that the blocks will be able to be formed by the use of moulds and will not require specialised machinery in their manufacture. According to a further embodiment of the invention more than one recess and/or projection is provided along each zone of each edge Throughout the specification, unless the context requires otherwise, the word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers. It should be appreciated that the scope of the present invention need not be limited to the particular scope of the embodiments described above, in particular whilst the embodiments have been described as a block the invention need not be so limited and may have application to panels.

Claims: CLAIMS The claims defining the invention are as follows: 1. A building block or panel having a shape of a parallelepiped comprising four edge faces and two opposed major faces, said edge faces being formed to be interlockingly engagable with the edge faces of similar building blocks, each edge face comprising lateral zones which are located to one or the other side of the central longitudinal axis of the edge face, one zone of each edge face being formed with a recess and the other zone of each edge face being of a complementary configuration to the one zone, the recesses on opposed edge faces being of corresponding configuration. 2. A building block or panel as claimed at claim 1 wherein the configuration of one pair of edge faces are of corresponding configuration with the formation of each zone on one edge face being reversed in relation to the formation in the corresponding zone of the opposed edge face. 3. A building block or panel as claimed at claim 1 or 2 wherein the configuration of the other pair of opposed edge faces are of complementary configuration. 4. A building block or panel as claimed at claim 1 or 2 or 3 wherein, each recess has a base which is substantially parallel to the edge face and opposed end faces of complementary profile. 5. A building block or panel as claimed at claim 4 wherein the opposed end faces are substantially co-planar and are substantially parallel. 6. A building block or panel as claimed at claim 4 or 5 wherein the opposed end faces are inclined with respect to the edge face. 7. A building block or panel as claimed at claim 6 wherein, one end face is inclined at an angle of 45° to the edge face and the other end face is inclined at an angle of 135° to the edge face. 8. A block or panel as claimed at any one of the preceding claims wherein the recess on each edge face is located substantially centrally along the edge face. 9. A block or panel as claimed at any one of the preceding claims wherein the longitudinal face defined between the adjacent projection and recess of the adjacent zones is inclined from the central plane which intersects all of the edge faces. 10. A block or panel substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Substitute Sheet

Inventors: CORPORAAL HENDRIK, CORPORAAL, HENDRIK
Applicants: CORPORAAL HENDRIK, CORPORAAL, HENDRIK
Application year: 2000
Main classification: E04C1
IPC codes: E04B2