Patent ID: 8640407

Claim:
A rectangular shaped masonry building block comprising: a pair of opposite exterior sides and upper and lower longitudinally extending horizontal faces or walls and a pair of opposite vertical ends transverse of said sides and said longitudinally extending upper and lower faces; and wherein said building blocks include a pair of side members and wherein each of said side members includes a vertically extending exterior rectangular rib on an inner side thereof; a generally rectangular intermediate section disposed between said side members in an abutting relationship therewith and wherein said intermediate section defines a rectangular shaped vertical recess between said side member and a rectangular extension extending below a bottom portion of said side members; wherein said rectangular extension and said vertical recess are constructed and dimensioned so that said vertically extending exterior rectangular rib fits loosely but closely within said recess of an adjacent block; said intermediate section including a pair of elliptical shaped vertical passageways diagonally disposed with respect to said upper and lower faces of said blocks and extending therethrough at an angle of between 30 and 60 degrees; wherein said elliptical shaped vertical passageways are adapted to receive rebars and/or grout extending through said elliptical shaped passageways; and in which said intermediate section includes a pair of semicircular shaped vertical passageways on each side thereof and wherein each of said side members includes a pair of semicircular shaped vertical passageways that correspond and are aligned with said semicircular passageways on said side members so that said block includes four circular shaped vertical passageways extending therethrough.