Patent ID: 7743574

Claim:
A freestanding wall of concrete blocks comprising: a first plurality of generally trapezoidal-shaped concrete wall blocks stacked atop one another into a plurality of courses to form a portion of the wall having a wall face, each of the wall blocks having two generally parallel side surfaces extending generally parallel to the length of the wall, two non-parallel side surfaces extending between the two generally parallel side surfaces, a top surface and a bottom surface, and each of the wall blocks having a depth “d” between the two generally parallel side surfaces and a height “h” between the top and bottom surfaces and the two generally parallel side surfaces have different distances between the two non-parallel side surfaces; a plurality of generally rectangular concrete column blocks stacked atop one another into a plurality of courses to form a rectangular column of the wall, each column block having first and second generally parallel side surfaces having generally equal lengths, third and fourth generally parallel side surfaces having generally equal lengths, a top surface and a bottom surface, and each column block having a depth “d” between the first and second side surfaces, a height “h” between the top and bottom surfaces, and a length “2d”, which is twice the depth “d”, between the third and fourth side surfaces, part of the column forming a portion of the wall face, and part of the column extending away from the wall face, at least one rectangular column block in each course forming a portion of the wall face; and wherein for at least a plurality of courses of the wall, for every other course of the column the column comprises at least three of the column blocks and a portion of one of the wall blocks, which wall block bridges between the wall and the column and forms part of the wall and part of the column, and for the alternating course of the column a column block overlies the portion of the wall block that extends into and forms part of the column; and the wall and the column together has a depth in a direction away from the wall face formed by no more than two of the blocks selected from: the wall blocks, the column blocks, and combinations thereof.