Patent ID: 7004158

Claim:
A method of producing a concrete block having an irregular front face, at least one chipped and roughened surface adjacent the front face, at least one rounded edge at the intersection of the chipped and roughened surface of the block and the front face, and a rear face from a concrete workpiece, comprising: providing a concrete block splitting machine having a first splitting assembly that includes: i) a first block splitter that is configured and positioned to apply a splitting force to the workpiece to split the workpiece into at least two pieces during an activation of the first splitting assembly, at least one of the pieces being the concrete block with the irregular front face; and ii) a first multiplicity of peaks that are configured and positioned to engage a surface of the workpiece adjacent the front face of the resulting concrete block during activation of the first splitting assembly to chip and roughen the workpiece surface adjacent the front face of the resulting concrete block so that the majority of the length of the workpiece surface adjacent the front face is chipped and roughened and to round the edge at the intersection of the chipped and roughened surface and the front face, the multiplicity of peaks including peaks distributed over a distance parallel to the front face of the resulting concrete block and peaks distributed over a distance away from the front face of the resulting concrete block toward the rear face of the resulting concrete block; locating a concrete workpiece in the block splitting machine so that the first splitting assembly can engage the workpiece when the first splitting assembly is activated; and activating the first splitting assembly so that the first block splitter splits the workpiece into the at least two pieces and the peaks engage the workpiece surface adjacent the front face of the resulting concrete block.