Mortarless concrete block system having reinforcing bond beam courses

A building block having a top, a bottom wall, side walls, end walls at the ends of the side walls, and a transverse wall between the end walls;

• the block having an opening extending downwardly from the top to the bottom wall between an end wall and the transverse wall;
• the transverse wall and the said one end wall having means therein providing saddles to extend downwardly from the top edges thereof to receive and support reinforcing rods, the other end wall being normally without any saddle, whereby to present a finished face to a wall;
• the opening of the block being adapted to receive and hold grout or the like confined by the bottom, side, end and transverse walls;
• the saddles being of an elevation to support rods above the bottom wall and below the top so that the rods may be surrounded by the grout, and the end wall saddle being of a size to enable grout in its block to unite with grout in an adjacent block, the top wall being provided at its outer edges with ridges and the bottom wall being provided at its outer edges with grooves of the spacing of the said ridges, to enable the blocks to be securely disposed one on top of another.

A rectangular masonry block having an inner half portion and an outer corner half portion each half being substantially square, the block having opposite side walls, one end wall for the inner half and one essentially flat end wall for the outer half portion,

• a web spanning between the side walls and separating the inner and outer half portions,
• the web having a recess extending down from its upper edge, to provide a saddle to receive horizontal reinforcing rods,
• the recess being deep enough to enable the rods to be completely surrounded by grout,
• the inner half portion having an open top and bottom wall closing its bottom to provide a receptacle for holding grout;
• the outer portion having an open top and an open bottom, to receive vertical rods;
• the saddles enabling the block to receive a vertical rod in the outer portion that has a horizontal part extending into the inner portion by way of the saddle in the web;
• the outside surfaces of both outer portion side walls, and the two end walls having, near, but spaced from, their edges, narrow vertical grooves adapted to receive correspondingly spaced narrow tongues of an adjacent block;
• the top edges of the inner portion of the block having narrow ridges extending upwardly adjacent their outer edges,
• the edges of the outer portion being free of such ridges;
• the bottom of the block in both portions having grooves adjacent its side edges, spaced apart the same as the ridges on the top edges,
• pairs of knock-out scores on the inside of the outer section side and end walls, extending down from the top edges to points above the bottoms of the walls to provide for optionally making saddles therein, the blocks, when at a corner turning either to right or to left, presenting exposed surfaces having narrow, outside grooves that are relatively inconspicuous.

In a masonry wall, a plurality of superposed courses of rectangular blocks, the wall having a first branch, and a second branch at right angles to the first branch;

• each branch of each course incorporating a first type block having side walls and end walls and being about twice as long as it is wide, one of its end walls having two narrow vertical tongues, each one near but spaced from its side edge, and its other end having two narrow grooves, also each one near but spaced from a side edge, and each spaced and sized to receive the tongues of an adjacent block;
• each course having at its intersection between its branches a second type rectangular masonry block having an inner half portion and an outer corner half portion each half being substantially square, the block having opposite side walls, one end wall for the inner half and one essentially flat end wall for the outer half portion, a web spanning between the side walls and separating the inner and outer half portions, the web having a recess extending down from its upper edge, to provide a saddle to receive horizontal reinforcing rods, the recess being deep enough to enable the rods to be completely surrounded by grout, the inner half portion having an open top and bottom wall closing its bottom to provide a receptacle for holding grout;
• the outer portion having an open top and an open bottom, to receive vertical rods;
• the saddle enabling the block to receive a vertical rod in the outer portion that has a horizontal part extending into the inner portion by way of the saddle in the web;
• the outside surfaces of both outer portion side walls, and the two end walls having narrow vertical grooves near, but spaced from, their edges, the front type block having its correspondingly spaced narrow tongues engaged in the said vertical groove of the second type block;
• the top edges of the inner portion of the block having narrow ridges extending upwardly adjacent their outer edges, the edges of the outer portion being free of such ridges;
• the bottom of the block in both portions having grooves adjacent its side edges, spaced apart the same as the ridges on the top edges, the blocks, when at a corner turning either to right or to left, permitting exposed surfaces having narrow, outside grooves that are relatively inconspicuous, the vertical grooves on the second type block receiving the tongues of a first type block;
• the unridged tops of the second blocks enabling the second type block of one course being disposed to extend in one branch, and the second type block of the superposed course being disposed to extend in the other branch, a reinforcing rod rising vertically through the openings at the outer end of the superposed second type blocks, and being bent to extend horizontally across the upper one of the said second type blocks;
• and grout in the receptacle thereof covering the rod.

A wall of inter-locking rectangular blocks of an established depth, comprising at least two courses, one on top of the other,

• (A) full-length stretcher blocks having a pair of parallel vertical tongues at one of their ends and having at their opposite end a pair of vertical grooves at said tongue spacing, further having a pair of parallel horizontal ridges formed on their upper surfaces and a pair of parallel grooves on their lower surfaces whose spacing equals said ridge spacing,
• (B) shortened stretcher blocks whose length is substantially equal to the difference between the length of said stretcher blocks and the width of said stretcher blocks, said shortened blocks having a pair of parallel vertical tongues at one of their ends and having at their opposite ends a pair of vertical grooves at said tongue spacing, further having a pair of parallel horizontal ridges formed on their upper surfaces and a pair of parallel grooves on their lower surfaces, both at a spacing equal to said ridge spacing, and
• (C) general purpose intersection blocks of such established depth, each comprised of two portions, namely
• (i) an inner end portion having an inner end face and a pair of parallel grooves formed therein at said tongue spacing, further having a pair of parallel ridges formed on its upper surface at said ridge spacing and a pair of parallel grooves formed into its lower surface at the same spacing, and
• (ii) a corner end portion having an outer face and two opposite side faces and having upper and lower surfaces continuous with the upper and lower surfaces of said inner end portion, the upper surface of said corner end portion being without ridges and each of said two opposite side faces and said outer end face having formed therein a pair of grooves at said tongue spacing,
• the courses being superposed, so that the upper surface without ridges of the corner end portion of each intersection block accommodates the lower surface of the corner end portion of a similar intersection block of the next upper course positioned at right angles thereon, and the tongues of said stretcher blocks of a course are matingly inserted in the grooves of either or both of said opposite side faces and receive the tongues of said stretcher blocks in linear alignment therewith, thereby permitting intersection blocks of identical conformation to be used as both left and right corners and to provide both T-shaped and crossing-wall intersections.

For use in courses in a system using concrete rectangular blocks of an established depth, at least one generally I-shaped rectangular intersection block of such established depth, having side walls, an inner end wall, and an outer end wall, a bottom wall, and a transverse wall between its ends, the inner end wall having pairs of narrow vertical grooves, the transverse wall dividing the block into an inner end portion and an outer corner end portion, the two portions being of at least substantially equal length and width, the inner end portion having a channel hollow extending down between its side, end and transverse walls, to the bottom wall to provide a four-sided grout receiving compartment;

• the outer corner end portion having a vertical recess extending down from the top;
• spaced narrow vertical ribs along the lateral edges of the top of the inner portion, beside the channel hollow, the top of the outer end portion being free of such ribs;
• pairs of spaced narrow vertical grooves at the edges at the end wall of the corner portion, and equally spaced narrow grooves vertically disposed on each side of the corner portion, the grooves being thus capable of mating with equally spaced ribs on connecting blocks at the end or on either side, the the arrangement permitting the block to interfit on either side or either end with ribbed blocks, the grooves being small so that if exposed in a wall they are not excessively conspicuous.