AU658200B2

AU658200B2 - A building element assembly

Info

Publication number: AU658200B2
Application number: AU19631/92A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Barry Staer
Original assignee: BESSER PIONEER Pty Ltd
Current assignee: BESSER PIONEER Pty Ltd
Priority date: 1991-08-27
Filing date: 1992-07-14
Publication date: 1995-04-06
Anticipated expiration: 2012-07-14
Also published as: AU1963192A

Description

658 200

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: Invention Title: BESSER PIONEER PTY LTD BARRY STAER CULLEN GO, l-O Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 24-Qse_ -eet, •P.jO.ox l l -Brisbine;, Qld. 4 000,-7" ,(-lori a-4%" Australia. a i .O Y A BUILDING ELEMENT ASSEMBLY Details of Associated Provisional Applications: No. PK7977 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: 2 THIS INVENTION relates to a building element assembly and in particular relates to a hollow building block which can be partitioned by an insertable partition member.

Building elements such as bricks and blocks are widely used in the building industry in the assembly of walls.

Building blocks are often used as their larger size allows walls to be built with fewer blocks. These building blocks are usually hollow concrete masonry blocks comprising two opposed side walls, one or two opposed end walls and an open upper and lower face. The hollow nature reduces the weight of the block and also provides excellent insulation between the opposed side walls. The opening is also used to allow reinforcing rods to extend vertically throuyh the wall, or to S" accommodate electrical or plumbing conduit.

Often, concrete is poured down the opening to provide additional strength to the wall. As blocks are usually staggered in a wall for maximum strength, pouring concrete through the openings is inefficient as the concrete will tend to spread into adjacent holes as it flows downwardly 20.. resulting in a large wastage of concrete. To overcome this, it is known to provide these blocks with central webs which are integrally formed with the block during its manufacture.

These webs effectively divide the block into two smaller openings of equal size. When the blocks are assembled into a wall, the staggered arrangement of the blocks together with the central webs result in vertical openings being formed thereby allowing concrete to be poured down the uppermost block with the concrete flowing in a substantially vertical 3 pillar type manner to the bottom block. This eliminates the wastage usually present with blocks which do not have the central web.

However, the central web portion adds weight to the block and does not significantly function to strengthen the block. The web must however be sufficiently thick to allow it to be properly manufactured together with the block. In practice, this results in the web portion being at least as thick as the outer walls of the block. This adds undesirably to the weight of the block. Furthermore, for many uses, a web is not required while for other uses a web is advantageous and therefore it is necessary to supply both sets of blocks to a building 15 site each being used for a particular purpose.

It is an object of the invention to provide a building element and assembly which may at least *0 *partially overcome the abovementioned disadvantages or provide the public with a useful choice.

In one form, the invention resides in a building element assembly for use in wall construction, said assembly comprising: a building -lement having two spaced elongate walls and one or more integral transverse walls bridging a space between facing surfaces of said elongate walls; and at least one partition member engageable with at least one engagement means associated with one or both 4 of said walls, wherein, when said partition member engages said engagement means there is provided in upright channel between one of said transverse walls and said partition member.

Preferably, one of said transverse walls is adjacent one end of said building element.

Suitably, another one of said transverse walls is adjacent the other end of said building element.

Preferably, the engagement means is located to position said partition member at an equal distance from both of said transverse walls.

Suitably, an upper edge of the building element S" has one or more recesses formed therein for accommodating horizontal reinforcement rods.

15 The transverse walls may have a shape adapted to interlock with an adjacent transverse wall of another said building element.

Preferably, the engagement means comprises a .4* recess in at least one of said surfaces.

4 Suitably, the engagement means comprises one or more projections extending from at least one of said surfaces.

The partition member may include opposed edges engageable with said engagement means.

Suitably, the partition member includes a nose portion adapted to protrude from the building element.

Preferably, the nose portion is configured to correspond to a recessed portion in a building element provided beneath the partition member.

Suitably, one of said engagement means is adjacent the other end of said building element and another one of said engagement means is intermediate the said ends.

The invention will be better understood by reference to the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a building element and a partition member.

Figure 2 is an end view of Figure 1 showing the building element on top of a second building element.

Figures 3A 3C illustrate some alternative configurations of building elements and engagement oo" 15 means.

Referring to Figure 1 there is shown a building element assembly comprising a building element 10, a o partition member 11, and engagement means 12.

Building element 10 comprises a concrete masonry block having spaced elongate walls 13, 14 and transverse opposed end walls 15, 16 bridging a space 17 between facing surfaces of walls 13, 14. End walls 15, 16 of building element 10 include a projection 18 and recess 19 to allow end walls of adjacent building elements to interlock with the building element to provide a inortarless block. An upper edge 20 of bujilding element 10 is recessed to allow horizontal extending reinforcement rods to be laid between coarses of i /r M -j d 6 blocks. Bottom edge 21 of building element 10 is substantially planar. It should be appreciated that this particular configuration of building element is preferred only and is not meant to constitute a limitation of the invention.

Partition member 11 comprises a substantially flat sheet which can conveniently be formed from pressed fibro cement. Partition member 11 may aJ :tively be formed from metal, wood, plastic, concrete or any other suitable material.

Engagement means 12 comprise a pair of slots 22, 23 recessed into the facing surfaces of walls 13, 14.

Slots 22, 23 are of sufficient cross-sections to o accommodate the opposed edges 24, 25 of pa-.zion 15 member 11 to allow partition member 11 to slide within slots 22, 23. In this embodiment, partition member 11 is held against lateral displacement in two *e directions. It should be appreciated however that if *e.

lateral displacement in one direction only is

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required, slots 22, 23 can be dispensed with and one or more projections can be formed in facing surfaces S'i of side walls 13 against which partition member 11 can abut.

Partition member 11 in the embodiment is formed with a lower nose portion 26 which protrudes from the base of building element 10 as more clearly shown in Figure 2. Nose portion 26 is useful if concrete is to be poured down one of the zones defined by the r kc inserted partition element and if the building element has a recessed upper edge 20 as shown in Figure 1. By referring to Figure 2 it can be seen that when two such building elements 10, 10A are placed on top of each other, there will be a gap 27 between the lower edge 21 of building element 10 and the recessed 28 of lower building element 10A. Nose portion 26 protrudes into space 27 to effective y seal it such that if concrete is poured down the opening within building element 10, 10A it will not pass laterally through opening 27 due to nose portion 26 of partition member 11. It should be apprecia\ed however that if the 00 building elements are of a generally rectangular configuration with no recessed portion, it may not be necessary or desirable to have a nose portion 26 of partition member 11.

Figures 3A-KC show some alternative brick element configurations. Figure 3A shows a U-shaped building Selement 30 having a pair of opposed engagement means 5*55** e 31, 32 in the form of slots and into which a partition element (not shown) can slide. Figure 3B shows a more conventional building element 31 being of generally rectangular configuration and having planar upper and lower faces. This building element again illustrates engagement means 34, 35 in the form of slots. figure 3C shows a building element wherein the engagement means 36, 37 corprise a pair of spaced abutments 38, 39, 40, 41 between which a partition member (not -if shown) can slide.

In use, the engagement of partition member 11 with engagement means 22, 23 has the effect of partitioning space 17 to provide an upright channel between a transverse wall and partition member 11.

When the building element comprises two transverse walls, for example as illustrated in Figure 1, two upright channels are formed. One channel is formed between parLition member 11 and wall 15, the other channel being formed between partition member 11 and wall 16.

It should be appreciated that a number of S•engagement means may be provided in space 17 of the o building element thereby allowing a partition member 15 to partition the space into zones of various sizes.

Furthermore, this arrangement can allow a number of partition elements to be inserted to define a plurality of partitioned zones within space 17. This latter arrangement may be advantageous if certain zones are required for electrical conduit, plumbing and concrete filing. The engagement means may also be located adjacent end walls 15, 16 of a particular building element to partition the building element longitudinally. As described above, in a simpler form the engagement means may be one or more projections to allow a partition member to be prevented against lateral movement in one direction but not the other direction. It should be appreciated that various 9 other changes and modifications may be made to the embodiment described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

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Claims

1. A building element assembly for use in wall construction, said assembly comprising: a building element having two spaced elongate walls and one or more integral transverse walls bridging a space between facing surfaces of said elongate walls; and at least one partition member engageable with at least one engagement means associated with one or both of said walls, wherein, when said partition member engages said engagement means there is provided an upright channel between one of said transverse walls and said partition member.

2. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein one of 15 said transverse walls is adjacent one end of said building element.

3. The assembly as claimed in claim 2 wherein another one of said transverse walls is adjacent the 6

6.66 other end of said building element. 4. The assembly as claimed in claim 3 wherein said engagement means is located to position said partition member at an equal distance from both of said transverse walls. The assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein an upper edge of the building element has one or more recesses formed therein for accommodating horizontal reinforcement rods. 6. The assembly as claimed in any one of clains 3 to 11 wherein said transverse walls have a shape adapted to interlock with an adjacent transverse wall of another said building element.

7. The assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the engagement means comprises a recess in at least one of said surfaces.

8. The assembly as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the engagement means comprises one or more projections extending from at least one of said surfaces.

9. The assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the partition member includes opposed edges engageable with said engagement means. S" 10. The assembly as claimed in any one of the 15 preceding claims wherein, in use, the partition member 0* I includes a nose portion adapted to protrude from the building element.

11. The assembly as claimed in claim 9 wherein the nose portion is configured to correspond to a recessed portion in a building element provided beneath the partition member. S.12. The assembly as claimed in claim 2 wherein one of said engagement means is adjacent the other end of said building element and another one of said engagement means is intermediate the said ends. 12

13. An assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with refarence to the accompanying drawings. DATED this Twenty-Fourth day of January 1995 BESSER PIONEER PTY LTD By their Patent Attorneys FISHER KL;,LLY so 00 .0 0 0 13 ABSTRACT A buildingx block is formed to accommodate a partition member which can be inserted and removed from the building block to partition the building block into separate areas. The partition member is suitably of a relatively thin 09066: sheet material having oppoed edges which can be retained in opposed slots in the building block. .0 0C*0S