Spacers for use in masonry wall

Abstract

A spacer for use in constructing masonry walls of brick, block or cut stone and the like has two parallel rows of flexible beads that are connected to one another by filaments. The beads are spaced apart from one another so that when one course of bricks or the like has been laid, the spacer can be placed on top of that course so that there are four beads on top of each brick and the like, two beads in each row. The beads have a height that is slightly less than a level of fresh mortar to be placed and the spacer remains in the wall when construction is completed.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a spacer for use in constructing masonry walls using rectangular units such as bricks, blocks, cut stone and the like, the spacer having two rows of beads that are spaced apart from one another and interconnected by filaments. This invention further relates to a method of construction of a masonry wall and to a spacer and masonry wall in combination. The spacer remains in the wall when construction is completed.

2. Description of the Prior Art

It is known to use tools to assist in spacing bricks, blocks and the like a fixed distance apart from one another while laying a subsequent course upon a previously laid course. These spacers can be described as tools that are used to gauge a particular thickness for the mortar and are then removed.

The Bartram U.S. Pat. No. 2,679,745, issued on Jun. 1, 1954, describes a brick or block jointer that is used to define the joint space between successive bricks. The House U.S. Pat. No. 3,174,227 issued on Mar. 23, 1965, describes a gauge that is located on a trowel as well as a separate gauge for measuring mortar thickness. The Glaze U.S. Pat. No. 4,408,398 issued on Oct. 11, 1983, describes a gage for laying blocks where the gage is inserted before the mortar is laid in the horizontal and vertical planes and then removed after the new block has been placed in position. The holes left in the mortar from the removal of the gage are subsequently filled. The Barnett U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,633, issued on Mar. 17, 1992, describes a masonry tool or gauge for laying a block structure, which automatically determines the spacing based on the first or model course. Generally, previous devices or tools that have been used for spacing bricks and the like are removed after the spacing exercise has been completed.

None of the previous tools has gained wide spread acceptance in the construction industry and today masonry walls are usually laid without the use of spacers of any kind. The laying of masonry walls requires a significant degree of skill as the bricks or blocks must be uniformly placed and must be level. Errors made on lower courses become more significant on subsequent courses because of the cumulative effect and generally a high degree of skill and experience is required to properly construct a masonry wall. Over the last several years, new construction has been proceeding at a rapid pace and there has been a shortage of bricklayers in many areas. In these situations, the masonry portion of the construction often falls behind other portions and causes delay in completion of the structure. Sometimes, new home owners have occupied houses even though the exterior walls have not been completed.

The spacing tools that have been proposed previously require a significant level of skill in order to use them properly. Also, the previous spacing tools often slow down, rather than speed up, the constructions of the wall, thereby making the wall even more expensive to complete.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide spacers for use in a masonry wall where the spacers are left in the wall following completion of construction and result in the wall being constructed quickly and accurately by tradesman who are relatively unskilled. It is a further object of the present invention to provide spacers that are inexpensive and more than justify their costs by the speed, accuracy and cost of construction that results from their use.

A spacer is used in constructing masonry walls made of rectangular units where each unit has an identical height and footprint. The units are placed in successive horizontal courses to form a completed wall. The spacer has a plurality of beads that are spaced apart from one another, the beads being interconnected by filaments. The beads are arranged on an installed course of units to assist in supporting and placing a subsequent course of units to be laid on top of the installed course of units. There are no beads located on a joint. The beads have a height that is slightly less than the fresh mortar to be placed on the installed course of units. The beads are somewhat flexible and provide a guide to the thickness of mortar, the spacer remaining in the wall after construction.

A spacer as used in constructing masonry walls of rectangular units. The spacer has two rows of beads that are spaced apart from one another, the beads being interconnected by filaments. The spacer has a width that is narrower than a width of the unit. The beads are arranged so that when the spacer is properly placed on top of a course of units, there are four beads on top of each unit. Two beads of the four beads are in each row. The beads are not located directly above or below a mortar joint. The beads have a height that is less than a thickness of fresh mortar to be placed on the units. The beads are somewhat flexible and the spacer remains in the wall after construction.

A spacer and masonry wall in combination comprises a wall of rectangular units and a spacer having two rows of beads that are spaced apart from one another. The beads are interconnected by filaments and the spacer has a width that is narrower than a width of the unit. The beads are arranged so that when the spacer is properly placed on top of a course of units, there are four beads on top of each unit, two of the four beads being in each row. The beads are not located directly above or directly beneath a mortar joint and the spacer remains in the completed wall. The beads have a height that does not exceed a thickness of the cured mortar placed on the units.

A method of constructing masonry walls of rectangular units where the units each have an identical height and footprint comprises using a spacer to assist in applying mortar of uniform thickness from one course of units to a successive course of units, choosing a spacer of appropriate size for the units that are to be laid. The spacer having a plurality of beads that are interconnected by filaments, the beads being somewhat flexible, the spacer being narrower than the units, after a first course of units is laid placing the spacer on top of the first course over several units as desired so that there are beads on top of each unit, applying mortar to a top of the course to embed the spacer including the beads in the mortar, placing a unit for the successive course as the mortar is applied, continuing to apply mortar and placing units for the successive course, placing the units substantially parallel to a top of the beads, adding more spacers as required, completing each course as desired and repeating the method for each subsequent course to form a wall, leaving the spacer in the wall.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In FIG. 1 there is shown a top view of a length of spacer;

In FIG. 2 there is shown a top view of a further embodiment of a length spacer;

In FIG. 3, there is shown a schematic side view of part of a brick wall including spacers;

In FIG. 4, there is shown a schematic side view of part of a block wall including spacers;

In FIG. 5, there is shown a top view of an L-shaped wall;

In FIG. 6, there is shown a perspective view showing spacers on an upper course of a brick wall;

In FIG. 7, there is shown a top view of an L-shaped wall having spacers therein; and

In FIG. 8, there is shown a partial perspective view of a cement block wall having spacers on an upper course.

In FIG. 1, a spacer has a plurality of beads 1 arranged in two parallel rows. The beads in the same row are separated by flexible filaments 2. The beads in different rows are separated by filaments 3. While the filaments 2 are flexible to allow the spacers to be rolled into a small package, the filaments 3 are preferably stiffer than the filaments 2 and are still more preferably rigid to maintain the spacing between the two rows. The spacer in FIG. 1 is sized for use on a brick wall.

In FIG. 2, there is shown a spacer that is designed for use on a cement block wall. It can be seen that the beads 1 shown in FIG. 2 are located further apart from one another than the beads of FIG. 1. The same reference numerals are used in FIG. 2 to describe those components that are similar to the components of FIG. 1. In FIG. 3, the placement of the spacer in a wall made of bricks 5 is shown. It can be seen that the mortar 4 between the two courses of bricks shown has a thickness approximately equal to the height of the beads 1. Similarly in FIG. 4, there is shown a schematic side view of a cement block wall having two courses of cement blocks 6 that are separated by spacers. The mortar 4 between the two courses again has a thickness that is approximately equal to a height of the beads 1. When placing the fresh mortar on top of the previous course of bricks, blocks, cut stones and the like, the mortar is placed at a thickness that preferably is slightly higher than the height of the beads and embeds the spacer entirely in the mortar. Then, when the next rectangular unit (i.e. brick, block, cut stone and the like) is placed on the previous course, it is tapped into a level position. The mortar will shrink as it dries and the rectangular unit will be at approximately the same level as the height of one of the beads above the previous course.

In FIGS. 5 and 6, there are two sets of spacers used on an L-shaped brick wall. It can be seen that generally, there are four beads on each brick 5. However, where a half a brick is used in the corner as shown in FIG. 5, there are only two beads on the half brick. When a short brick is used, it is fairly easy to determine the level of mortar from the guidance provided from only two beads as the length of the half brick is very short. In FIG. 6, the corner brick has two beads from one spacer, one being in a front row and one being in a back row and two beads from the other spacer. On the particular corner brick shown, there are three beads along what can be considered to be the back row and only one bead on what can be considered to be the front row. The spacers could be placed differently in FIG. 6 by cutting the spacer on the left hand side of the drawing so that the spacer does not extend onto the corner brick. Then, the spacer on the right hand side of the drawing can also be cut and moved so that the four beads that are on the second brick from the corner are moved onto the corner brick. The spacer is manufactured in continuous lengths of various distances and can simply be unrolled as it is placed onto the top of a previous course of rectangular units. The spacer can be cut at any convenient length by a user. The same reference numerals are used in FIG. 5 and 6 as those used in FIGS. 1 and 3 for the components that are identical.

In FIGS. 7 and 8, the arrangement of spacers on a wall of cement blocks 6 is shown. The same reference numerals are used in FIGS. 7 and 8 as those used in FIGS. 2 and 4 to describe those components that are identical.

Preferably, the spacer is formed from one material and various materials will be suitable for the material of the spacer. Alternatively, the filaments can be made from a different material than the beads and as a further alternative, the filaments in the same row can be made from a different material than the filaments that extend between the two rows. The material for the beads should be somewhat flexible so that the bead will compress slightly when a rectangular unit is placed above it. Plastic, rubber, neoprene, polyethylene, polypropylene and nylon (a trademark) are considered to be suitable materials. Neoprene is a preferred material. By way of example, the filaments could be formed of nylon and the beads could be formed from a flexible plastic material.

The spacer is relatively inexpensive and, if properly used, can easily pay for itself. The spacer is left in place after construction is completed. It is suggested that the spacer not be used when the first course of rectangular units are laid. The first course is preferably laid by a skilled craftsman and the spacer is then used by a relatively unskilled craftsman for each subsequent course. In this way, a team can be formed of one skilled bricklayer and several unskilled bricklayers, whereby the skilled bricklayer starts the masonry wall by laying the first course. Members of the team with lesser skills are then employed to use the spacers of the present invention to lay the subsequent courses. In this way, a team, with only one skilled bricklayer can complete several walls relatively quickly. The spacers can be placed in position fairly rapidly and can be cut to any desired length. The spacers are lightweight and do not take a great deal of space when stored or shipped before use. When the spacers are used, a wall can be constructed much more quickly and accurately largely by relatively unskilled craftsman. Further, the spacers can improve the efficiency and accuracy of a skilled craftsman as well.

Claims

1. A spacer for use in constructing masonry walls of rectangular units, said spacer having two rows of beads that are spaced apart from one another, said beads being interconnected by filaments, said spacer having a width that is narrower than a width of said unit, said beads being arranged so that when said spacer is properly placed on top of a course of units, there are four beads on top of each unit, two beads of said four beads being in each-row, said beads not being located directly above a mortar joint of said course of units or directly beneath a mortar joint of a next course of units to be placed, said beads having a height that is less than a thickness of fresh mortar to be placed on said units, said beads being somewhat flexible, said spacer remaining in said wall after construction.

2. A spacer for use in constructing masonry walls made of rectangular units where each unit has an identical height and footprint, said units being placed in successive horizontal courses to form a completed wall, said spacer having a plurality of beads that are spaced apart from one another, said beads being interconnected by filaments, said beads being arranged on an installed course of units to assist in supporting and spacing a succeeding course of units to be laid on a top of said installed course of units, there being no beads located at a joint, said beads having a height that is slightly less than the thickness of fresh mortar to be placed on said installed course of units, said beads being somewhat flexible and providing a guide to said thickness of mortar, said spacer remaining in said wall after construction.

3. A spacer as claimed in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein said spacer is long enough to extend over several units.

4. A spacer as claimed in any one of claims 1 or 2 said spacer is long enough to extend over a previously laid course of units.

5. A spacer as claimed in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein said spacer has a continuous length relative to the units on which the spacer is to be placed, said spacer being severable to create a particular length.

6. A spacer as claimed in claim 2 wherein there are two rows of beads, said rows being parallel to one another.

7. A spacer as claimed in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein said spacer has two parallel rows.

8. A spacer as claimed in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein said beads are arranged in a front row corresponding to said beads in a back row, said beads in said front row being located in alignment with said beads in said back row.

9. A spacer as claimed in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein said spacer has segments which are connected to one another, each segment having four beads, two in a front row and two in a back row with said filaments extending between said beads to form a rectangular shape, there generally being one segment on top of each unit of a previous course.

10. A spacer as claimed in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein said beads are located so as not to contact any joints of a previously laid course or of a successively laid course of said units.

11. A spacer as claimed in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein said spacer is formed in continuous lengths to extend over several units from material selected from the group of plastic, rubber, neoprene, polyethylene and polypropylene.

12. A spacer as claimed in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein said spacer is formed from one material.

13. A spacer as claimed in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein said beads and said filaments are made from different material.

14. A spacer as claimed in any one of claims 1 or 2 wherein said beads are arranged in a front row corresponding to said beads in a back row, said filaments that connect said beads and said front row to said beads in said back row being stiffer than said filaments connecting said beads in the same row.

15. A spacer and masonry wall in combination, said combination comprising the masonry wall of rectangular units, said spacer having two rows of beads that are spaced apart from one another, said beads being interconnected by filaments, said spacer having a width that is narrower than a width of said unit, said beads being arranged so that when a spacer is placed on top of a course of units, there are four beads on top of each unit, two beads of said four beads being in each row, said spacer remaining in said wall after completion, said beads not being located directly above or directly beneath a mortar joint, said beads having a height that does not exceed a thickness of cured mortar between said units, said beads being somewhat flexible.

16. A spacer and masonry wall in combination as claimed in claim 15 wherein each unit has an identical height and footprint.

17. A spacer and masonry wall in combination as claimed in any one of claims 15 or 16 wherein said spacer is long enough to extend over several units.

18. A method of constructing masonry walls of rectangular units, said units each having an identical height and footprint, said method comprising using a spacer to assist in applying mortar of uniform thickness from one course of units to a successive course of units, choosing a spacer of appropriate size for the units that are to be laid, said spacer having a plurality of beads that are interconnected by filaments, said beads being somewhat flexible said spacer being narrower than said units, after a first course of units is laid placing said spacer on top of said first course over several units as desired so that there are four beads on top of each unit, applying mortar to a top of said course embed said spacer including said beads in said mortar, placing a unit for a successive course as said mortar is applied, continuing to apply mortar and placing units for said successive course, placing said units substantially parallel to a top of said beads adding more spacers as required, completing each course as desired and repeating said method for each subsequent course to form a wall, leaving said spacer in said wall.