Mortarless brick panel

Abstract

The mortarless brick panel has upper and lower horizontal metal framing tracks with vertical metal wall studs secured therebetween that forms a rectangular frame to which a sheet of expanded metal lath is secured to the face thereof. A sheet of insulation overlays the expanded metal lath and is attached to the frame with screws or other fasteners. The mortarless brick, with a mounting rod protruding from its back side is secured to the panel by hand pressing the mounting rod through the insulation and expanded metal lath and is secured to the expanded metal lath with speed washers or other mechanical fasteners, thereby forming a mortarless brick panel. Time and motion studies have concluded that this mortarless brick can be installed up tp eight times faster than mortar joint brick, providing great savings in erection costs. This savings is used to provide a minimum of four inches of thermal insulation to the exterior walls of the structure to conserve energy and provide great savings to the consumer in heating and cooling costs.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to building materials, and particularly to a mortarless brick panel with thermal insulation, expanded metal lath, and metal wall studs.

Description of the Related Art

Walls for homes, schools, hospitals and other residential and commercial buildings (hereinafter “structures”) are constructed from a variety of materials, such as wood, brick, stone, concrete block and synthetic materials. These walls are often constructed with metal or wooden studs. In order to conserve energy and to reduce heating and cooling costs, these walls are often insulated by the placement of fiberglass insulation batts between the wall studs. This method of placing the insulation between the wall studs is inferior in that it leaves the wall studs insulated and allows heat transfer through the studs. A far superior method is to place the insulation on the exterior of the studs, thereby covering the studs and creating an insulation envelope around the structure.

A brick veneer is often applied to the exterior of these structures. The brick veneer is generally for aesthetics, and does not support the structure since the brick is placed several inches from the structure and is only connected to the structure by thin metal strips known as wall ties. The prevalent method of installing this brick veneer is by highly skilled craftsmen using the mortar joint method of laying brick. Since the use of these highly skilled craftsmen is extremely expensive and time consuming, it is desirable that a mortarless brick panel be developed to save both time and money.

Several methods have been put forward to address some of the problems of mortar joint construction. U.S. Pat. No. 1,976,947 was assigned to William N. Krauss on Oct. 16, 1934 setting out a wall veneer. In his invention, Krauss calls for the veneer to be cast in place by attaching a sheet metal configuration onto the wall to which a cementatitious material is applied and thereby forms the wall veneer. While Krauss' veneer may have had some merit in 1934, Krauss is outdated by today's standards.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,956,958 to Gino P. N. Caroti on Sep. 18, 1990 discloses auto fitting blocks and bricks. Caroti complains that prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 3,534,518 to Zagray and U.S. Pat. No. 1,686,270 to Dwyer suffer from various drawbacks, i e, they are complex in design and are difficult and expensive to manufacture. However, a review of Caroti reveals that his invention suffers from the very same conditions of which he complains. Further, Caroti's auto fitting blocks and bricks have had little, if any, commercial success.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,467,229 B2 to Tony J. Azar dated Oct. 22, 2002 discloses a mortarless brick to be stacked with other like bricks. As in Caroti, Azar's stacked bricks are complex in design and are difficult and expensive to manufacture. Further, in order to simulate mortar joint construction, Azar provides a recess in the face of his brick. This simulated mortar joint, along with the slope provided in his tongue and groove joining method, renders Azar's stacked wall unstable. Due to this, and other difficulties, Azar's mortarless brick, as with Caroti's auto fitting bricks and blocks have had little, if any, commercial success.

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. U.S. 210/0031502 A1 dated Feb. 11, 2010 to James Carolan and David Cookson sets out a composite panel with tongue and groove mortise blocks whereby the blocks and the outside skin of the panel are drilled to form holes into which fasteners such as peel rivets are inserted to fasten the block to the panel in order to form a cladding. Carolan/Cookson must first bear the time and cost of holding his blocks in place while hand drilling two separate holes in each and every block and the exterior skin of the panel in order to secure each block by inserting two separate fasteners such as peel rivets into each and every block and then activating each peel rivet with a peel rivet tool.

Given the fact that the installation of Carolan/Cookson's panel is extremely complex and time consuming and is therefore very expensive, Carolan/Cookson's claim that their composite panel may be erected more quickly and cheaply than brick and block facades is highly questionable.

Numerous patents have been issued for insulation panels. However, none of these panels contain the expanded metal lath necessary and required to secure the mortarless brick to the panel, and are therefore not applicable to this application.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention pertains to a mortarless brick panel to be used in the construction of the walls of homes and other residential and commercial buildings. The panel is fabricated with a framework of upper and lower metal framing tracks into which metal wall studs are placed there between and secured with metal framing screws, pop rivets, or other fasteners. A sheet of expanded metal lath overlaying the length and width of the framework is affixed to the framework by sheet metal screws, rivets, and/or spot welding. A sheet of thermal insulation material overlaying the expanded metal lath is then secured to the framework by means of screws, metal pins and speed washers, or other fasteners. In this manner a panel is formed.

The panel is then attached to the perimeter of the structure by securing the lower metal track to the footing or flooring of the structure with pins, screws, or anchor bolts. Once the first panel is secured in place, a second panel is placed alongside the first panel and is secured to the footing or flooring in the same manner as the first panel. The first and second panels are joined together by screwing the panels' outside mating studs together with metal framing screws. A third panel is then secured alongside the second panel, and then a fourth panel, a fifth panel, and so on, until the panels are secured in place around the perimeter of the structure. Headers and footers for windows and doors are fabricated in the same manner as the wall panels and secured in predetermined locations around the perimeter of the structure.

The mortarless brick, with a mounting rod protruding from its back side, is then installed by hand pressing the mortarless brick mounting rod through the insulation and expanded metal lath and securing the brick by placing a speed washer onto the end of the mounting rod and pressing it tight against the expanded metal lath. In this manner, the first brick is secured in place. A second brick is placed adjacent to the first brick and secured in the same manner as the first. A plurality of bricks are secured in this manner until a row of bricks is formed. In the same manner as the first row, a second row is formed on top of the first row, then a third row on top of the second row, and like rows are thus formed until the desired brick veneer is in place.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top view of the panel

FIG. 2 us a top view of the mortarless brick

FIG. 3 is an end view of the mortarless brick

FIG. 4 is a front view of the panel

FIG. 5 is a rear view of the panel

FIG. 6 is an isometric view of the panel with the upper track removed for clarity

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to the drawings, and in particular FIG. 1, the mortarless brick panel is comprised of mortarless bricks 10 and insulation board 16 whereby the mortar-less bricks 10 are secured to the insulation board by hand pressing mounting rod 12 through the exterior of the insulation board and expanded metal lath 18 and securing the mounting rod on the interior side of the expanded metal lath by way of speed washer 14. A metal frame is formed by metal wall studs 20 and upper and lower tracks 22 and is attached to the insulation by screws and washers.

FIG. 2 details the mounting rod 12 embedded in the back of mortarless brick 10. Mortar-less brick 10 may be comprised of standard common bricks, queen sized bricks, king sized bricks, or other sized brick or block with the texture and appearance of the brick and block used throughout the building industry in the construction of homes and other residential and commercial buildings.

FIG. 3 is an end view of mortarless brick 10.

FIG. 4 is a view of the exterior side of the mortar-less brick panel showing the mortar-less brick 10 attached to the insulation board 16.

FIG. 5 shows the interior side of two mortarless brick panels secured together with metal framing screws 26 and secured to wooden or concrete flooring 28 by mechanical fasteners or concrete anchors 24.

FIG. 6 is an isometric view of the panel with the upper track removed for clarity.

DRAWINGS

FIG. 1

FIG. 2

FIG. 3

FIG. 4

FIG. 5

FIG. 6

Claims

1. A mortarless brick panel comprising a rectangular metal frame with upper and lower horizontal framing tracks and a plurality of vertical framing studs, with a sheet of insulation overlaying the metal frame and a sheet of expanded metal lath sandwiched between the frame and insulation with a plurality of mortarless brick mounted to the outer surface of the insulation by way of a mounting rod.

2. The panel as claimed in claim 1 wherein the mortarless brick has a mounting rod protruding from its back side in order to mount the brick to the panel by hand pressing the mounting rod through the exterior side of the panel and securing the mounting rod to the metal lath with a speed washer or other fastener.