Process for producing masonry block with roughened surface

A mold assembly for producing a plurality of molded units from a single mold cavity which rests on a pallet when the mold is filled with moldable fill material, each molded unit having at least one roughened texture side surface, comprising:

• a) a mold having an open top and an open bottom to receive moldable fill material by way of its open top, and to discharge molded fill material in the form of a plurality of molded units of predetermined height by way of its open bottom, said mold comprising a plurality of side walls defining a mold cavity open at its top and bottom;
• b) a generally vertically-oriented division member spanning between two of said side walls to define two subcavities of the mold, said division member being affixed to at least one of said side walls so as not to be discharged from the mold when molded units are discharged from the mold, and said division member further comprising a grate, each of said subcavities having an open top and an open bottom;
• and
• c) a stripper shoe plate corresponding with each of the subcavities, each stripper shoe plate being sized and shaped so as to be relatively moveable through the corresponding subcavity from its top to its bottom and from its bottom to its top.

A mold for producing at least two molded concrete units from a single mold cavity while creating a roughened textured surface on at least one of the sides of each of said concrete units, said mold being designed to be filled with a moldable concrete fill material from the top of the mold and to discharge molded concrete units from the bottom of the mold, said mold comprising:

• a plurality of generally vertical side walls defining a single mold cavity which is open at its top and bottom, said top opening for introducing moldable concrete fill material into the mold cavity and said bottom opening being suitable for discharging at least two molded concrete units from the same mold cavity;
• a generally vertical division member located within and bridging the mold cavity and being affixed directly or indirectly to at least one of said side walls, thereby defining two subcavities of the mold, each of which sized for said concrete units, said division member comprising a grate portion that includes a panel of raised expanded metal;
• the grate portion of the division member having openings therein to permit moldable fill material to flow through the openings during the molding process so that a single molded article is formed in the single mold cavity during the filling and molding process;
• and
• said division member being retained within the mold when the single molded article is discharged from the mold so that the single molded article will be separated by the division member into at least two molded concrete units with each of the two units being on a different side of the division member, each molded concrete unit having at least one generally vertical surface which has been given a roughened texture by the grate portion of the division member.