Patent Publication Number: US-2006005500-A1

Title: Mortar less brick wall construction

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention is directed to a method of construction. In particular, the method is directed to the construction of a veneer brick wall that is constructed without the use of mortar between the bricks.  
      Normally, veneer brick walls are constructed in front of structural walls. In the available prior veneer walls, the bricks forming the walls are fabricated into a wall by the use of mortar between the bricks. This type of construction suffers from several defects including the eventual deterioration of the mortar between the bricks which results in the deterioration of the structural integrity of the wall. In addition, there are certain geographic locations where the availability of raw material needed for the fabrication of conventional brick material is severely limited. At such locations, it is expensive to construct a brick wall which would require costs associated with transporting the bricks over a long distance.  
      The present invention is directed to use of a particular type of brick that is fabricated from a raw material prevalent in certain areas of the world. The bricks fabricated from this material are particularly appropriate for use in the method of the present invention.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention is directed to a method for constructing a mortar less veneer brick wall comprising a plurality of rows of bricks comprising the steps of fabricating a plurality of bricks that are generally rectangular in shape with a top surface, a bottom surface and four side surfaces with each brick comprising an integral means on the top surface and bottom surface for connecting the plurality of bricks into the veneer brick wall; forming some of the plurality of bricks into a first row of the veneer brick wall by placing the bricks together at adjoining side surfaces; forming a second row of the veneer brick wall on top of the first row by placing the bricks together at adjoining side surfaces and connecting the second row to the first row by the integral means; and repeating the prior step for each of the remaining plurality of rows forming the veneer brick wall. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  shows a front view of a wall constructed according to the present invention.  
       FIGS. 2A, 2B , and  2 C illustrated one embodiment of bricks used in a method of the present invention.  
       FIG. 3  is a cross-section of a veneer brick wall fabricated according to a method of the present invention.  
       FIG. 4  is a plan view of another embodiment of bricks used in a method of the present invention.  
       FIG. 5  is a cross-section of an alternate embodiment of a veneer brick wall fabricated according to the method of a present invention.  
       FIG. 6  is a cross-section of an alternate embodiment of a veneer brick wall fabricated according to the method of a present invention.  
       FIG. 7  is a plan view of another embodiment of bricks used in the method of a present invention.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention will now be described in terms of the presently preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings. However, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many obvious modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.  
      The present invention is directed to a method of construction of a veneer brick wall without using mortar between the bricks. Although the scope of the present invention should not be limited thereby, a type of raw material can be used for the bricks that is particularly appropriate for use in connection with the method of the present invention. The raw material is a grayish white rock known as andesitic tuff. The material is available from Mount Ararat which is located near the borders of Turkey, Iran and Russia. The countries located near to Mount Ararat suffer from lack of the raw materials needed to fabricate the type of bricks normally used in veneer walls.  
       FIG. 1  illustrates a front view of a veneer wall  10  fabricated according to the method of the present invention. A plurality of bricks  12  are generally aligned in a staggered fashion into a plurality of rows  14 . The plurality of bricks  12  utilized in the veneer wall  10  are illustrated in  FIGS. 2A, 2B , and  2 C.  
      As shown in  FIG. 2 , each of the bricks  12  is generally rectangular in shape and comprises a top surface  16 , a side surface  18  and a bottom surface  20 . The top surface  16  comprises a projection of rectangular cross-section  21  protruding from the top surface  16  and extending the length of the brick  12 . The top surface  16  further comprises bevels  22  located at the intersection of the top surface  16  and side surfaces  18 . The bottom surface  20  comprises a slot of rectangular cross-section  24  extending along the length of the brick  12  that is adapted to receive the projection  21  on an adjoining brick. The bottom surface  20  further comprises bevels  26  located at the intersection of the bottom surface  20  and the side surfaces  18 .  
      A cross section of the veneer wall is illustrated in  FIG. 3 . As can be seen from  FIG. 3 , the plurality of bricks  12  are stacked in rows one on top of the other to form the veneer wall. The rows of bricks  12  are aligned by fitting the projections  21  of one row into the slots  24  in the bricks  12  in the next adjoining row. In this manner, the veneer wall  10  is constructed without the use of mortar.  FIG. 3  also illustrates the attachment of the veneer wall  12  to the structure of the building. This attachment is achieved through conventional construction techniques.  
      An alternative embodiment of the veneer wall is illustrated in  FIGS. 4 and 5 . In this embodiment, shown in  FIG. 4 , the bricks  26  are generally rectangular in shape with bevels  28  at each of its four comers. The bricks  26  further comprise rectangular slots  30  on the top and bottom surface that both extend along the length of the brick  26 . In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 5 , a plurality of galvanized bars  32  are utilized. Each of the plurality of galvanized bars  32  are adapted to be received in the slots  30 . The wall  25  in  FIG. 4  is constructed by laying the bottom row of bricks  26  end to end with the slots  30  of each brick  26  of the row being longitudinally aligned to form a long slot in the row of bricks. One of the plurality of galvanized bars  32  is then placed into the slots  30  on the top surface of the bricks  26 . The next row of bricks  26  is then placed on top of the first row. The slots  30  on the bottom of the second row of bricks  26  will fit over the top of the plurality of galvanized bars  32 . The process will then be repeated for each succeeding row until the veneer wall  25  is constructed.  
      A second alternate embodiment is illustrated in  FIG. 6 . In this embodiment, the bricks  34  comprising the veneer wall  36  are similar to the bricks  26  in the  FIG. 4  embodiment. However, the slots  38  on the top and bottom of the bricks  34  are semi-circular in cross-section. In addition, galvanized pipe  40  rather than a square bar is used between the bricks  34 . The wall  36  is constructed by the same method as the wall in the  FIG. 4  embodiment.  
      A third alternate embodiment of the veneer wall can be constructed by use of the bricks  42  illustrated in  FIG. 6 . The bricks  42  in  FIG. 6  are generally rectangular with beveled corners similar to the bricks in the prior embodiments. The bricks  42  comprise a plurality of circular slots  44  perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the bricks and two semi-circular slots  46  at the ends of bricks. These bricks  48  would be constructed into a veneer wall without mortar between the bricks. However, the bricks  42  would be placed in such a manner that the slots  44  and  46  would align between the bricks and create a continuous round hole from top to bottom in the wall. In this type of wall, mortar could be poured into the continuous round hole to hold the bricks  42  together and thereby create the wall structure.  
      Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the foregoing description merely illustrates an embodiment of the present invention and many modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.