Patent ID: 7044687

Claim:
A precast concrete retaining wall construction including a plurality of stacked elements for retaining a soil mass said construction comprising: a first element including an upstanding solid face panel having the shape of a hexahedron with front and rear walls, a top wall, two side walls and a bottom wall and wherein the area of said front wall is between 30 and 40 square feet, an integral stem extending rearwardly from said face panel in a generally T-shaped arrangement for embedment in a soil mass, said integral stem having an upper wall, a bottom wall, two side walls, a rear wall and said upper and bottom walls each defining a notch therein and each of said side walls including a pan insert therein; a second element including an upstanding solid face panel having the shape of a hexahedron with front and rear walls, a top wall, two side walls and a bottom wall and wherein the area of said first wall is between 30 and 40 square feet, an integral stem extending rearwardly from said face panel in a generally T-shaped arrangement for embedment in a soil mass, said integral stem having an upper wall, a bottom wall, two side walls, a rear wall and said upper and bottom walls each defining a notch therein and each of said side walls including a pan insert therein; said second element disposed on top of said first element in an aligned and abutting relationship; and a shear key constructed and dimensioned to fit within one of said notches in an upper wall of said stem in said first element and within a corresponding notch in a bottom wall of said stem in said second element and in which the face panel in each of said elements has a ratio of the width of said face panel to the height of said panel of between about 1.2 to about 1.6 and which includes an additional element with an upper extension of its face panel extending upwardly for a distance of between about 1 to 5 feet above said upper wall of its integral stem; and a reinforcing element and a buttress extending upwardly between said reinforcing element and said integral stem with a reinforcing rod passing through and incased by said panel, said reinforcing element and said buttress and said reinforcing rod extending down into said integral stem.