GB1243017A - Building panel and the manufacture of such panel - Google Patents

Abstract

1,243,017. Moulding building assemblies. SOUTH AFRICAN BRICK ASSOCIATION Ltd. 24 Sept., 1968 [29 Sept., 1967], No. 45329/68. Heading B5A. [Also in Divisions B8 and E1] In the manufacture of building panels comprising an assembly of bricks or blocks of clay or cementitious material bonded together by a settable bonding slurry, the liquid content of the slurry is reduced, between zones of relatively high and low gas pressure, after the introduction thereof into voids between an assembly of the blocks. The blocks 30 are assembled on a movable endless template 22 supported by a table 20 and provided with locating partitions 24 whereby voids 34 are defined between adjacent blocks. The assembly of blocks is transported to a mould 46, 60 upon a wheeled carriage 38 including a mechanism 36 (see Division B8) which is vertically reciprocable, by a fluid pressure cylinder 50, whereby "U"-shaped clamping elements 48 therein, which are deformable by fluid pressure, clamp each block of the assembly. The mould comprises a dismantable side frame assembly 46 located on a base comprising the top 60 of a vertically pivotable table 44, and may contain a cementitious slurry into which the blocks 30 are lowered by the mechanism 36. The slurry is vibrated and the water content thereof lowered by employing differential gas pressure zones on either side thereof The table 44 is then tilted to a vertical position by a cylinder mechanism 54 whereby the successive frames 46 and panels 62 are deposited in a frame 18 which is intermittently winched over rollers 78 whereby the panels are cured by steam 82 admitted to an enclosure defined by a covering sheet 84. The water content of the slurry in the mould 46, which slurry may also be introduced therein after the blocks 30, is lowered by the application of suction within chambers (108), Fig. 3 (not shown), defined between wooden slats (102) on the table top (60) covered over by a screen comprising a copper gauze screen (106), a sheet of porous foamed rubber or plastics, and a sheet (110) of canvas, the screen being configured over metal strips (104) to locate between adjacent blocks (30). The mould may also be covered by a pressure vessel (118), Fig. 4, not shown, whereby gas pressure may be simultaneously applied to the upper surface thereof. The building panels may comprise decorative ends of blocks projecting from one face thereof with the other face covered by slurry, or both faces thereof covered by slurry. The application of the panels in building construction is referred to (see Division E1).