Patent ID: 7806624

Claim:
A pavement joint disposed between two adjacent pavement slabs having respective edge surfaces facing each other, the joint further comprising: an elongate joint member disposed between the facing edge surfaces of the pavement slabs and extending along a joint axis, the member comprising: a core; first and second lateral portions that project laterally from the core and interengage with the edge surfaces of the respective slabs, the core and the lateral portions being sufficiently unyielding in the vertical direction to form a shear key so that when at least one of the slabs is subjected to vertical out-of-plane action, the shear key transfers shear load from the one slab to the other slab to cause the slabs to move vertically together, the lateral portions being rotatably flexible about the joint axis to form a hinge between the slabs so that when at least one of the slabs is subjected to out-of-plane movement the hinge accommodates angular displacement of the slabs relative to the joint axis; and spacers extending from the core and disposed between the edge surfaces of the slabs, the spacers extending toward upper and lower surfaces of the slabs, the spacers being deformable so as to accommodate movement of the edge surfaces toward each other under angular displacement of the slabs to thereby avoid pinching of the edge surfaces of the slabs.