GB2222619A - Coping for walls - Google Patents

Abstract

Coping for walls comprises an assembly of standard bricks 11a, 11b cemented together. The bricks can be cut and assembled in desired format in a mould, the assembly then being filled with cement 12. Reinforcing rods 18 can be included. <IMAGE>

Description

COPING This invention relates to coping for walls, especially, but not exclusively, brick walls.

Coping is realised in numerous ways, ranging from simple flat slabs e.g. of concrete or of brick-type clay to elaborately designed systems involving specially shaped units with provisions for accommodating corners and angles, comprising decorative and utilitarian profiles and having, often, provision for reinforcement as well as weather proofing and protection for the wall.

There are some disadvantages with commercially available coping systems.

For one thing, the S.ndividual building blocks are limited in size by the nature of their production, which is extrusion - moulded coping units could be made to larger sizes, but would not have the required weather proof properties.

Because they are made differently from - and usually separately from - bricks, the choice of colour and texture is limited, so that manufacturers offer their range of coping as being suitable to "match or complement" most brick structures, which is a way of saying, of course, that they cannot match everything.

The present invention provides coping which does not suffer from these disadvantages yet which offers the possibility of a wide range of interesting and attractive designs.

The invention comprises coping comprising an assembly of standard bricks cemented together.

By "standard brick" is meant primarily the common type of building brick based on a 3 x 2 x 1 module, traditionally 9 x 4.5 x 3 inches, but nowadays stated as 215 x 105 x 65 mm. It is not excluded, however, that other modular arrangements could be used, and the invention applies equally well to them.

In coping according to the invention, at least some of the bricks may be cut and the coping may comprise an assembly of bricks cut in different ways.

In one such assembly, bricks may be cut to leave one complete long face and one end face and other bricks cut to utilise one complete end face only.

By "long face" is meant, in the standard 3 x 2 x 1 module, a 3 x 1 face. The end face is clearly a 2 x 1 face. The 3 x 2 face is always, in conventional brickwork, bonded to another such face.

Bricks cut in these ways can be assembled, for example, in pairs consisting of one of each kind of cut brick, with the complete long face extending downwardly from a ridge formed by the edge between the long face and the end face of that brick, the end face of the brick and the end face of the other brick of the pair extending downwardly on the opposite side of the ridge.

Long faces and pairs of end faces may alternate along each face of the coping.

In another possible arrangement, the coping comprises groups of three bricks side by side with their long faces extending downwardly from the ridge formed from the edges between their long faces and end faces, the end face of the bricks and the long faces of two further bricks extending parallel to the ridge forming the other side of the Coping.

In these two arrangements a coping unit will be one standard brick long and it will have a base which spans a double skin wall. The units can, of course, be made longer and or wider and deeper, so as, for example, to be able to span a cavity wall.

When the ridge is formed by the natural edges between long and end faces of the bricks of the assembly, it will, of course, be a 900 ridge. Different ridge angles can be obtained by cutting the bricks and flat-topped arrangements are also possible both with inclined side faces and of completely rectangular cross section.

The invention also comprises a method for making copying from standard bricks by assembling the bricks in desired format in a mould with the ridge of the coping lowermost and filling the assembly with cement.

The mould may have spacer fillets for locating the bricks and defining pointing gaps therebetween.

The invention also comprises a mould for making coping from standard bricks comprising a mould shell adapted to receive bricks in desired format and having spacer fillets for locating the bricks and defining pointing gaps therebetween.

Coping according to the invention can be reinforced by provision of means interconnecting adjacent coping units. Such means may for example comprise steel rods bridging adjacent units.

Embodiments of coping, methods of making the same and moulds therefor according to the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of one coping unit according to the invention; Figure 2 is a view of a mould suitable for making the unit of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a view of another coping unit according to the invention; Figure 4 is a view of a third such unit; and Figure 5 is a view of a further such unit.

The coping illustrated in Figures 1 and 2-5 comprises assemblies of standard bricks 11 cemented together.

Each assembly comprises a brick casing on a cement or concrete core 12.

In the embodiments of Figures 1, 3 and 4 at least some of the bricks 11 are cut. Brick cutting is an operation which can be performed, for straightforward cuts, by a skilled bricklayer using a trowel blow.

However, specialist machinery is used to cut standard bricks into more complicated shapes and in quantity.

The units shown in Figure 1 comprises bricks 11 cut in two different ways. Bricks lla are cut to leave one complete long face lla(l) and one end face lla(e), while bricks llb are cut to leave essentially only an end face llb(e).

The bricks are assembled in pairs lia and lib.

The complete long face lla(l) extends downwardly from the ridge R formed from the edge between the long face lla(l) and end face lla(e) and the end face llb(e) of the other brick llb of the pair extending downwardly on the opposite side of the ridge. The next pair of bricks along is similarly but oppositely arranged with respect to the ridge R.

Each unit consists of three such pairs. Adjacent units could be laid so as to maintain the alternation, or not as desired.

In another arrangement, of course, all of the long faces could be on one side of the ridge. Units could be laid then so that groups of three long faces would alternate with groups of three pairs of end faces along the same side of the coping, or so that long faces were all to one side, end faces to the other.

The bricks are cut to leave thin strips of one cut face so as to form drip edges 13 where the coping overlays the wall 14 atop which it is sited.

The coping units illustrated in Figure 1 is assembled in a mould 21 as shown in Figure 2. The mould 21 comprises inclined side walls 22 and end walls 23.

The side walls 22 have fillets 24 defining the locations of the bricks which are simply laid in after they have been cut, as shown. The fillets 24 serve not only to locate the bricks but also to define pointing gaps therebetween.

When the bricks, or cut bricks, are in place in the mould 21, cement or concrete is powered in to bond the bricks together and form a core 15 with a flat base 16 as shown in Figure 1. The cement or concrete only extends part way into the spacss between the bricks, as shown at 17 in Figure 1, because of the presence of the fillets 24 in the mould 21.

When the coping units are laid on a wall, it may be desirable to reinforce them by connecting adjacent units with steel rods 18, which can be embedded during the moulding operation through e.g. a collar in one end face of the mould. A bore to receive a rod can be drilled in the set cement or concrete or made during moulding by a removable peg. Or a tube to receive a reinforcing rod can be incorporated passing all the way through the unit from one end to the other.

Coping on low walls can be liable to attack by vandals. If the units are coupled together, the total mass of masonry is more difficult to dislodge than individual units.

The usual dampproof courses can of course be incorporated during laying.

Figures 3 to 5 illustrate different assemblies of bricks in coping units.

In Figure 3, three bricks 31a cut like the bricks ila of Figure 1 are arranged side by side to face one side of the ridge R, the other side being completed by two cut bricks 32 laid lengthwise.

Figures 4 and 5 illustrate flat-topped arrangements. In Figure 4, the flat top is formed from bricks 41 with their end faces cut at an angle, the sloping sides formed from whole bricks 42. These whole bricks 42 might also, however, be cut as shown in dashed lines the better to key into the core 43.

Figure 5 shows a rectangular-section coping comprising whole bricks 51 assembled around a core 52.

Again, these whole bricks could be cut to key better into the core.

The cement used to bond the bricks together could be a standard mortar or, especially when smooth bricks are used which do not provide apertures and recesses for "dovetailing" the mortar bond, an adhesive mortar such as an expoxy grout.

There are clearly many different possible functional and attractive arrangements. The coping can be made of the same brick as the wall it tops, or, if a contrast is required, of a different brick selected from a wider range - the whole range, to be exact, of available standard brick stock - then is available for specially made coping units. Of course, regard will be had to the scitahili+8.y of the brick chosen for ;?xsernal use. The fact that the coping uses only standard brick stock means that no special extrusion equipment is required, the only machinery (apart from the mould and, of course, cement or concrete mixing machinery) required being for cutting standard bricks.

Claims (10)

1. Coping comprising an assembly of standard bricks cemented together.

2. Coping according to claim 1, in which at least some bricks are cut.

3. Coping according to claim 2, comprising an assembly of bricks cut in two different ways.

4. Coping according to claim 3, comprising an assembly of bricks cut to leave one complete long face and one end face and bricks cut to leave one complete end face only.

5. Coping according to claim 4, in which said bricks are assembled in pairs consisting of one of each kind of cut brick, with the complete long face extending downwardly from a ridge formed from the edge between the long face and the end face of the brick, the end face of the brick and the end face of the other brick of the pair extending downwardly on the opposite side of the ridge.

6. Coping according to claim 5, in which long faces and pairs of end faces alternate along each face of the coping.

7. Coping according to any one of claims 1 to 3, comprising groups of three bricks side by side with their long faces extending downwardly from a ridge formed from the edges between the long faces and end faces, the end faces of the bricks and the long faces of two further bricks extending parallel to the ridge forming the other side of the coping.

8. A method of making coping from standard bricks by assembling the bricks in desired format in a mould with the ridge of the coping - lowermost and filling the assembly with cement.

9. A method according to claim 8, in which the mould has spacer projections for locating the bricks and defining pointing gaps therebetween.

10. A mould for making coping from standard bricks comprising a mould shell adapted to receive bricks in desired format and having spacer fillets for locating the bricks and defining pointing gaps therebetween.