Mould filling method
AssigneeOldcastle Architectural, Inc.
InventorsRonald J. Scherer, Leonard Browning, Robert J. Lundell, Steven E. Hinde
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Abstract
A method of filling a mold with a settable material, such as a cementitious mixture, is disclosed. The mold includes a plurality of cavities that open to a top face of the mold, and is suitable for forming building elements, such as pavers, for covering surfaces. The method includes providing an additional volume per unit area of settable material to at least part of selected ones of the cavities, and compacting the settable material in at least part of all of the cavities, including the additional volume per unit area of settable material provided to the selected ones of the cavities, to substantially the same thickness. A mold and a scraper suitable for use in the method are also disclosed.
Claims13
A method of filling a mould with a settable material using an apparatus that includes the mould comprising at least a first cavity and a second cavity, each cavity being open to a top face of the mould, a scraper comprising at least a plurality of displaceable segments, and a mechanism that produces selective upward displacement of at least one segment of the scraper while simultaneously not displacing other segments of the scraper, the method comprising:
- over filling the first cavity and the second cavity with the settable material, the first cavity being smaller than the second cavity;
- moving the scraper across the top face of the mould;
- upwardly displacing at least one first segment as the first segment passes over the first cavity while simultaneously not upwardly displacing at least one second segment as the second segment passes over the second cavity so that a height of a bottom edge of the first segment is above a height of a bottom edge of the second segment;
- and
- achieving a desired material density and thickness of the settable material in the first cavity and the second cavity by a selective use of vibration or tamping or both.
A method of filling a mould with a settable material using an apparatus that includes the mould comprising at least a first cavity and a second cavity, each cavity being open to a top face of the mould, a scraper comprising at least a plurality of displaceable segments, and a mechanism that produces selective upward displacement of at least one segment of the scraper while simultaneously not displacing other segments of the scraper, the mechanism comprising at least one rail arranged on the top face of the mould adjacent an edge of the first cavity;
- the method comprising:
- over filling the first cavity and the second cavity with the settable material;
- moving the scraper across the top face of the mould;
- upwardly displacing at least one first segment as the first segment passes over the first cavity while simultaneously not upwardly displacing at least one second segment as the second segment passes over the second cavity so that a height of a bottom edge of the first segment is above a height of a bottom edge of the second segment, the first segment deforming as the first segment passes over the at least one rail;
- and
- achieving a desired material density and thickness of the settable material in the first cavity and the second cavity by a selective use of vibration or tamping or both.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.