Concrete wall block

Abstract

A stackable concrete wall block is disclosed having a prism shaped body with front, rear top and bottom faces, in a stacked condition, and at least a pair of side walls for placement opposite a like block placed side by side to the wall block, whereby a lip protrudes from at least one of the sidewalls and is coplanar with the front face for spacing the body of the block from that of a like block placed adjacent thereto. As is the case with tapered blocks known in the art, this spacing allows the assembly of curved walls. However, a prism shaped block with parallel side walls and a lip is more easily manufactured than a tapered block with angled side walls, since no movable mold walls are required, when the block is made in a dry casting process. The front face and lip can have an embossed surface structure.

1 . A stackable concrete wall block, comprising
 a prism shaped body having front and rear faces, in a stacked orientation, top and bottom faces for placement opposite like blocks located above or below in a stacked condition of the wall block and at least a pair of side walls for placement opposite a like block placed side by side to the wall block, and   a lateral lip protruding from at least one of the side walls and coplanar with the front face for spacing the body of the wall block from the body of the like block placed side by side thereto.   
     
     
         2 . The wall block of  claim 1 , wherein the side walls are generally parallel to one another. 
     
     
         3 . The wall block of  claim 1 , wherein the front face of the block and the lip have a three-dimensional surface structure. 
     
     
         4 . The wall block of  claim 3 , wherein the surface structure is an embossed surface structure. 
     
     
         5 . The wall block of  claim 4 , wherein the lip is provided on both of the side walls to create lateral spacing between the bodies of concrete blocks stacked side by side in a straight wall, while providing the wall with a continuous front face. 
     
     
         6 . The wall block of  claim 1 , wherein the lip has a depth, which is at the maximum 50% of the overall depth of the wall block as measured from the front face to the back face. 
     
     
         7 . The wall block of  claim 6 , wherein the lip has a depth between 5% and 50% of the overall depth. 
     
     
         8 . The wall block of  claim 7 , wherein the lip has a depth between 25% and 50% of the overall depth. 
     
     
         9 . The wall block of  claim 1 , wherein the lip includes two or more staggered steps. 
     
     
         10 . The wall block of  claim 9 , wherein the protruding length of an outermost step furthest from the side wall is preferably larger than the protruding length of any subsequent step. 
     
     
         11 . The wall block of  claim 10 , wherein the protruding length of the outermost step is less than half the protruding length of the subsequent step. 
     
     
         12 . The wall block of  claim 1 , further including a connecting structure for connecting a secondary structure to the rear face of the wall block. 
     
     
         13 . The wall block of  claim 9 , wherein the secondary structure is a setback pin, a like block, a different block, or a veneer. 
     
     
         14 . The wall block of  claim 13 , wherein the different block is a filler block for covering any rearward gap created in an installed condition by the lip between the block and an adjacent like block. 
     
     
         15 . A set of wall blocks, comprising
 a wall block;   a filler block; and   a connecting structure for connecting the wall and filler blocks in a back-to-back arrangement;   the wall block having a prism shaped body with front and rear faces, in a stacked orientation, top and bottom faces for placement opposite like blocks positioned above and below in a stacked condition of the wall block and at least a pair of side walls for placement opposite a like block placed side by side to the wall block, and
 a lateral lip protruding from at least one of the side walls and coplanar with the front face for spacing the body of the wall block from the body of the like block placed side by side thereto, the front face of the block and the lip having an embossed three-dimensional surface structure; and 
   the filler block having a right angular prism shaped body with front, rear, top and bottom faces and generally parallel side walls.   
     
     
         16 . The set of wall blocks of  claim 15 , wherein the connecting structure includes complementary first and second connecting members respectively integrated into the wall and filler blocks. 
     
     
         17 . The set of wall blocks of  claim 15 , wherein the wall block has an overall width X, n protruding lips, with n=1 or 2 and each lip having a protruding width Y, the wall and filler blocks have the same depth and the overall width of the filler block is between X and X−2nY. 
     
     
         18 . The set of wall blocks of  claim 15 , wherein the wall block has an overall width X, n protruding lips, with n=1 or 2 and each lip having a protruding width Y, the wall block has a depth A, the lip has a depth B, the filler block has a depth C and an overall width of the filler block is between X and X−n(Y+YC/(A−B)). 
     
     
         19 . The set of wall blocks of  claim 18 , wherein the overall width of the filler block is X−n(Y+YC/(A−B)). 
     
     
         20 . The wall block of  claim 4 , wherein the front face includes at least one embossed false joint. 
     
     
         21 . The wall block of  claim 20 , wherein the false joint is oriented at an angle of 0 to 45 degrees to the top or bottom face. 
     
     
         22 . The wall block of  claim 21 , wherein the front face includes a top edge and a bottom edge respectively oriented towards like blocks stackable above or below the wall block and lateral edges oriented towards like blocks stackable side by side with the wall block, at least one of the lateral edges being oriented at an angle of 45 to 90 degrees to the top or bottom edge. 
     
     
         23 . The wall block of  claim 22 , wherein the front face has an irregularly shaped contour. 
     
     
         24 . The wall block of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the side walls is oriented at an angle of 0 to 45 degrees to the bottom face. 
     
     
         25 . The wall block of  claim 22 , wherein at least one of the side walls is oriented at an angle of 0 to 45 degrees to the bottom face. 
     
     
         26 . The wall block of  claim 23 , wherein the body includes a top portion adjacent the front face and a bottom portion adjacent the back face, the top portion having the irregularly shaped contour of the front face and the bottom portion having a polygonal cross section. 
     
     
         27 . The wall block of  claim 26 , wherein the top portion has lateral edges oriented towards like blocks stackable side by side with the wall block, at least one of the lateral edges being oriented at an angle of 45 to 90 degrees to the top or bottom edge. 
     
     
         28 . The wall block of  claim 26 , wherein the top and bottom portions both have lateral edges oriented towards like blocks stackable side by side with the wall block, at least one of the lateral edges being oriented at an angle of 45 to 90 degrees to the top or bottom edge.