The present invention relates to a flexible brick plate comprising a mesh of metal rods and a plurality of bricks retained in substantially stable positions in said mesh. The plate of the present invention is suitable, for example, for building concealed brick or bare brick architectural elements, arranging the flexible plate with one of its sides against a falsework and applying a binding agent from and on the other side of the plate. In an alternative embodiment, the brick plate is shaped to be used in applications that do not require a binding agent thereon. The present invention also relates to a method for the manufacture of said plate.
International patent application WO 00/71823, belonging to the same inventor as the present invention, discloses a flexible brick plate and a method for building reinforced masonry vaulted roofs with the intrados finished using said flexible brick plate. The plate comprises a flexible sheet support provided with a plurality of holes, typically a sheet metal with cuts and expanded, known as “deployé”, on which a plurality of bricks are fixed arranged on one of its larger faces and forming a mesh, with aligned gaps between the bricks. Transverse rigidizing and fastening elements are fixed, for example, by welding, at opposite ends of said sheet support. A plurality of first reinforcement bars are fixed at its ends, for example, by welding, to both of said rigidizing and fastening elements and arranged along said gaps between bricks. These first reinforcement bars are furthermore linked to a series of points of said sheet support by spacers also fixed by welding. The openings of the expanded sheet support allow the passage of concrete or mortar applied to one side of the flexible plate, and the sheet support acts as a permanent formwork which is integrated in the building. The method for building using this flexible brick plate provides for building vaulted roofs without needing to use falsework, so the flexible brick plate furthermore includes an impermeable flexible canvas, such as a plastic sheet, removably fixed on the bare brick face of the flexible brick plate, which must be removed once the mortar or concrete has set.
The present invention provides a flexible brick plate for building architectural elements which has a simple constitution and integrates a reduced number of different components.
The present invention also provides a method for manufacturing said flexible brick plate by means of a smaller number of relatively simple operations.
The flexible brick plate of international patent application WO 00/71823 has proven to be fully operative. However, it has some aspects that can be improved. For example, in the working position, the expanded sheet support is covering the bricks and the reinforcement bars and the concrete or mortar must penetrate through the openings of the expanded sheet support to fill the gaps between the bricks and around the reinforcement bars. The small dimension of the openings of the expanded sheet support obstructs the penetration of the concrete or mortar and slows and obstructs the operation for applying the binding agent. In addition, the constitution of this flexible brick plate is relatively complex and many different components and relatively laborious operations, such as multiple welds, are necessary for the manufacture thereof increasing the final price of the product.
According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a flexible brick plate for building architectural elements. Said flexible plate comprises a plurality of flexible interwoven rods forming a mesh, and a plurality of bricks provided with fastening shapes coupled to at least some of said rods in order to retain said bricks arranged on one of its larger faces in said mesh. To build an architectural element, whether a roof, a floor, a wall, or any other planar or arched structure, using the flexible brick plate of the present invention, the flexible brick plate is placed with one of its sides against a falsework and a binding agent, such as concrete or mortar, is applied from and on the other one of its sides. When the binding agent has set, the falsework is removed and the bricks are seen on the first side of the architectural element obtained.
Advantageously, said rods are corrugated rods, such that the intersection points of the rods in the mesh are immobilized by the superposition of peaks and valleys of the corrugations. The bricks are substantially rectangular and said fastening shapes comprise channels formed in first opposite edges of each brick to receive therein mutually parallel support rods forming part of said plurality of interwoven rods. Thus, the support rods retain the bricks and immobilize them against movements in a first direction perpendicular to the support rods. The support rods are crossed and interwoven with mutually parallel positioning rods forming part of said plurality of interwoven rods. These positioning rods are perpendicular to the support rods and are shaped and arranged to maintain the support rods in suitable positions in order to retain the bricks in the mesh leaving a first gap between said first opposite edges of adjacent bricks. Furthermore, the positioning rods are arranged adjacent to second opposite edges of each brick, perpendicular to said first edges, to immobilize the bricks against movements in a second direction parallel to the support rods. Finally, at least one reinforcement rod forming part of said plurality of interwoven rods is arranged in each of said first gaps between the first opposite edges of the adjacent bricks. The reinforcement rods are parallel to the support rods and are crossed and interwoven with the positioning rods.
The material of the support, positioning and reinforcement rods is flexible and elastic enough to allow winding the plate up in a roll substantially without causing any plastic or permanent deformation of the rods, i.e., such that the roll can be again unrolled to extend the flexible brick plate without any negative effect on the rods. The capacity of the flexible brick plates of the present invention for being wound up in a roll greatly facilitates the storage, transport and handling thereof, and eliminates many of the size limitations imposed by road transport regulations existing with the plate of the prior art. A suitable material for the rods is steel, and the bricks can be, for example, of a rigid material, such as cooked clay, stone, concrete, reinforced concrete, plastic, wood, glass, or a metal, such as aluminum. Furthermore, the bricks are shaped so that they can be produced according to a classic extrusion method well known in the art. Obviously, to facilitate winding it up in a roll, the longest dimension of the bricks will be arranged parallel to the axis of the roll and perpendicular to the support and reinforcement rods.
In the working position, the rods are arranged between the bricks and coupled thereto and there is no impediment for applying the binding agent on the bricks and inside the gaps between them in order to fill all the gaps and surround and cover the rods. It must be taken into account, in fact, that in an architectural element built using the flexible brick plate of the present invention all the rods will act to a certain extent as reinforcements, i.e., as resistant and rigidizing elements in cooperation with the binding agent. However, only the rods arranged in the first gaps between bricks, herein referred to as “reinforcement rods”, are separated enough from the bricks to assure that they will be completely embedded in the binding agent, i.e., completely surrounded and covered by the binding agent, concrete or mortar, such that they act as classic reinforcement bars. For this reason, it is recommended to take into account only these “reinforcement rods” when performing the strength calculations for the architectural element.
According to an alternative embodiment, the brick plate is also suitable for a large number of applications that do not use a binding agent, i.e., leaving the rods and the bricks in the open air, with minimal adaptations. Among these applications that do not use a binding agent the following can be mentioned by way of example: covering for grounds and terrains, for example, for building roads on the sand on beaches and the like, or for providing walkable surfaces on the ground, allowing grass to grow in the gaps between the bricks; surface applications for walls, whether indoor or outdoor, as a finishing; outer covering for flat or inclined roofs or vaults ballasting their waterproofing elements; forming ventilated walls, lattices, pergolas, shaded area roofs and/or walls, etc., to partially prevent or attenuate the passage of the light, allowing air to pass; among others.
The adaptations necessary to do so consist of making both the rods and the bricks from materials resistant to external agents or from materials provided with a treatment resistant to external agents. Furthermore, for applications that do not use a binding agent, the brick plate does not need the reinforcement rods described in the previous embodiment, so they can be left out with the subsequent economic savings, although it must be indicated that the presence of the reinforcement rods neither prevents nor hinders the use of the brick plate in applications that do not use a binding agent.
The following can be mentioned as materials suitable for the support rods and positioning rods: stainless steel; galvanized steel, painted steel; plasticized steel; aluminum; plastic material, i.e., synthetic polymer material; and plastic material reinforced with fibers such as glass fiber, carbon fiber, steel cables, nylon threads or the like, among others.
The bricks can have different shapes in addition to the typical orthohedron shape. Generally, in order to be inscribed and retained in the rectangle formed between two support rods and two positioning rods crossed in the mesh, each brick has two substantially parallel opposite larger faces, at least one of which can be smooth or have embossments, furrows, hollows, protuberances, etc., first opposite edges, substantially parallel to one another, in which channel-shaped fastening shapes are formed to receive inserted therein the support rods, and second opposite edges shaped to cooperate with the positioning rods, for example, being adjacent or in contact therewith, in order to retain the bricks in the mesh preventing them from sliding along the support rods. Said first edges can be rectilinear or interrupted, provided that each one has a rectilinear portion or several aligned rectilinear portions provided with the fastening shape. The second edges do not necessarily have to be rectilinear or parallel to one another or perpendicular to the first edges, being able to have a variety of shapes provided that they meet said function of cooperating with the positioning rods. Depending on the distances between the bricks in the mesh, bevels are formed in the converging edge between one of the larger faces and the first edges, which bevels have the function of preventing the edges of adjacent bricks in the mesh from colliding with one another when the flexible plate is wound up in a roll.
Whatever the bricks are like, the plate can comprise only the number of support and positioning rods strictly necessary for supporting and positioning the bricks and keeping the mesh well secured, or it can comprise a number of additional rods parallel to the support rods and/or a number of additional rods parallel to the positioning rods.
According to a second aspect, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a flexible brick plate for building architectural elements analogous to the one described above, which is suitable for being placed with one of its sides against a falsework and receiving a binding agent from and on the other one of its sides. The method firstly comprises arranging a first plurality of mutually parallel rods to form a warp. Then a second plurality of rods is crossed and interweaved consecutively with said first plurality of rods to form a mesh weft, and consecutively arranging rows of bricks in said mesh between the rods of said second plurality of rods, coupling fastening shapes formed in said bricks with at least some of the rods of the first and/or second plurality of rods.
Preferably, the method of the present invention comprises the prior step of corrugating the rods to be used for the first and second plurality of rods, and during the interweaving operation, alternately arranging peaks of corrugations existing in the rods of the first plurality of rods on valleys of corrugations existing in the rods of the second plurality of rods, and vice versa, to immobilize the intersection points of the rods forming the warp and the weft in the mesh. This technique of forming a grid by means of corrugated rods has been known for many years and is part of the public domain. The novelty consists of consecutively coupling rows of bricks in the mesh alternated with the rods of the second plurality of rods as they are being placed to form the weft, for the purpose of retaining the bricks in stable positions in the mesh.
The method furthermore comprises arranging support rods, forming part of the first plurality of rods of the warp, at suitable distances for coupling them with said fastening shapes, which are formed in first opposite edges of the bricks, and for providing a first gap between said first edges of adjacent bricks. The method also furthermore comprises arranging reinforcement rods, forming part of the first plurality of rods of the warp, in suitable positions between said support rods to be arranged inside said first gaps and at a distance from the first opposite edges of adjacent bricks. The method comprises crossing and interweaving positioning rods forming part of the second plurality of rods of the weft, before and after arranging each row of bricks, in suitable positions for providing a second gap between second opposite edges of adjacent bricks, said second edges being perpendicular to the first edges.
With this method, the flexible brick plate of the present invention can be manufactured using a smaller number of components, only rods and bricks, and without needing welding or gluing operations or the like, so the flexible brick plate of the present invention can be made at a lower cost in comparison to the plate of the prior art.
The previous and other features and advantages will be better understood from the following detailed description of an exemplary embodiment with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
Referring first to
A first type of rods consists of support rods 1 which extend in the flexible plate 10 parallel to the first edges 4a of the bricks (
A second type of rods comprises positioning rods 2 which extend in the flexible plate 10 parallel to the second edges 4b of the bricks (
Thus, the combination of said first corrugation pitch P1 of the support rods 1 and the second corrugation pitch P2 of the positioning rods 2 determines that the positioning rods 2 can maintain the support rods 1 in suitable positions for being inserted in the fastening shapes 5 of the bricks 4 and thereby retaining the bricks 4 in the mesh and at the same time preventing movements of the bricks 4 in the mesh in a first direction parallel to the second edges 4b of the bricks 4, i.e., parallel to their longest dimension, and that the support rods 1 can maintain the positioning rods 2 in suitable positions adjacent to the second edges 4b of the bricks 4 for preventing the movements of the bricks 4 in the mesh in a second direction parallel to the first edges 4a of the bricks 4, i.e., parallel to their shortest dimension. Furthermore, the positions of the support rods 1 determine a first gap E1 (
A third type of rods comprises reinforcement rods 3 which extend in the flexible plate 10 parallel to the first edges 4a of the bricks (
As can be seen in
According to an alternative embodiment (not shown), the fastening shapes of the bricks could be formed in the edges corresponding to the longest dimension of the bricks, in which case the rods herein referred to as “positioning rods” would act as support rods and the rods herein referred to as “support rods” would act as positioning rods. Alternatively, the fastening shapes could be formed in the four edges of the bricks, such that all the rods, except the reinforcement rods, would act as support and positioning rods. These alternative embodiments are less preferred because it would be difficult or impossible to manufacture bricks suitable for them by extrusion, making it necessary to use other more expensive techniques for manufacturing bricks.
As is shown in
Referring now to
Given that in the absence of binding agent both the rods 1, 2 and the bricks 4 of the brick plate 30 will be in contact with the surrounding atmosphere when in use, the rods 1, 2 are made of a material resistant to external agents or have a treatment resistant to external agents, and likewise the bricks 4 are made of a material resistant to the external agents or have a treatment resistant to external agents. Furthermore, since the brick plate 30 will be used without a binding agent, such as concrete, mortar or cement puddle, the reinforcement rods are not necessary and accordingly have been omitted, such that only the support rods 1 and the positioning rods 2 are present. In the embodiment of
The bricks 4 of the plate 30 of
A significantly dense brick plate 30, i.e., in which opaque or closed surfaces predominate over the hollows, can be obtained by using, as in the example of
With reference to
Finally,
A person skilled in the art will be able to make modifications and variations from the embodiment shown and described without departing from the scope of the present invention as it is defined in the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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P200701342 | May 2007 | ES | national |
P200703379 | Dec 2007 | ES | national |
This application is a U.S. National Phase Application of PCT International Application No. PCT/ES2008/000295, filed Apr. 30, 2008.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/ES2008/000295 | 4/30/2008 | WO | 00 | 8/31/2010 |