U.S. patent number 3,906,665 [Application Number 05/488,018] was granted by the patent office on 1975-09-23 for brick planter building units.
Invention is credited to Rosa M. Medlin.
United States Patent |
3,906,665 |
Medlin |
September 23, 1975 |
Brick planter building units
Abstract
In a preferred embodiment there are provided a plurality of
building units all in a generic common shape in that circumscribing
walls of the brick have a high wall at one portion and a low wall
at an opposite extreme portion of the circumscribing walls thereof,
with each brick having both male and female structures in the
nature of an uprightly extending female groove and an uprightly
extending male flange of corresponding cross-section, spaced-apart
from one another such that spaced-apart portions are connectable to
different other building blocks, typically the blocks having four
upright walls differing in shape from one another in the definition
of rectangular through-spaces, trapezoid through-spaces, squared
through-spaces, and the like, the rectangular-space brick planter
having a high rearward wall and low forward wall, and similarly the
trapezoid-shaped brick planter having a high rearward wall and a
low forward wall and the squared brick planters one squared planter
being for the right hand corner and the other squared planter being
for turning the left hand corners by virtue of these two types
differing from one another in the opposite locations of their
corresponding female grooves and male flange of each respectively.
As a result of these combinations, unique designs may be build
including also the decorating of peripheral area such as along a
sidewalk and/or side-rail edging to steps between different
levels.
Inventors: |
Medlin; Rosa M. (Columbus,
GA) |
Family
ID: |
23938024 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/488,018 |
Filed: |
July 12, 1974 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
47/86; 52/590.1;
52/284 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E04B
2/14 (20130101); A01G 9/027 (20130101); E04B
2002/0234 (20130101); E04B 2002/0263 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A01G
9/02 (20060101); E04B 2/14 (20060101); E04B
2/02 (20060101); A01G 009/02 (); E04B 002/18 () |
Field of
Search: |
;47/34.12,34
;52/DIG.2,284,286,594,608,609 ;61/39 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Sutherland; Henry C.
Claims
I claim:
1. A planter brick comprising in combination circumscribing walls
of brick composition defining a circumscribed space having at least
an open top, one wall portion of the circumscribing walls defining
on an outer surface thereof an uprightly-extending female slot
having an upper open end, and spaced-therefrom another wall portion
thereof defining on an exterior surface thereof a male flange
extending uprightly of a size having a horizontal cross section
substantially the same as the female slot, a rearward portion of
the circumscribing walls having a predetermined height greater than
a forward portion of the circumscribing walls, and intermediately
between the rearward wall portion and forward portion there being
intermediate wall portions having an upper surface thereof angled
downwardly from the rearward wall portion to the forward wall
portion, the circumscribing walls including a plurality of separate
upright walls with adjacent upright walls extending angularly to
one another interconnected with one another to define a corner, one
wall portion containing the female slot separate in an upright wall
apart from a male flange contained in another wall portion, each of
the one wall portion containing the female slot and the other wall
portion defining the male flange being each respectively one of
said plurality defining said corner, and at least one of the
plurality being one of the intermediate wall portions having an
upper surface thereof angled downwardly.
2. The brick planter of claim 1, in which the circumscribing
interconnected upright walls are four in number.
3. The brick planter of claim 2, in which the forward upright
defined four right-angle corners.
4. The brick planter of claim 2, in which the four upright walls
define two rearward acute angled corners and two forward obtuse
angled corners such that a trapezoid-shaped space is defined by the
circumscribing walls.
5. The brick planter of claim 2, in which two diametrically opposed
corners defined by the circumscribing four upright walls are high
and low corners and the remaining intermediate diagonally opposed
corners are of intermediate heights.
6. The brick planter of claim 5, in which the one wall portion
containing the female groove and the other wall portion defining
the male flange are respectfully the upright walls adjacent to one
another and adjacent the corner of lowest height.
7. The brick planter of claim 6, in which the one wall portion
containing the female groove is located in one lateral direction
from the lowest corner and the other wall portion defining the male
flange is located in a different lateral direction from the lowest
corner.
Description
This invention relates to brick-like units for use in the brick
structures as well as for use as planters for vegetation, flowers,
and the like.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
Prior to the present invention, there do not appear to have existed
any building units of the general type to which the present
invention is directed, previously there having been either solely
planter containers possibly shaped for, various ornamental designs
and/or for stacking one relative to the other and in a separate and
distinct technology therefrom there have existed merely standard
brick forms of more or less conventional shapes for the
construction of walls and the like.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, objects of the present invention are directed toward
the obtaining of new and novel construction units in the nature of
bricks for use during the building of sidewalks, steps, buildings,
and the like when used in combination with other units of the
present invention and/or other units of conventional types of
bricks or blocks.
Another object is to obtain planters for flowers while at the same
time obtaining interlocking building structures of varying
types.
Another object is to obtain improved building brick planters of a
variety of differing location of their respective interlocking
devices thereof in order to obtain flexibility in the shape and
appearance of structures to be built.
Another object is to take one or more of the preceding objects
together with a unique show-case effect by virtue of differing
heights of four walls for better visually disclosing the contents
of the planter portion of the brick.
Another object is to obtain the above-noted show-case effect
together with suitably-located interlocking devices for turning
either of right or left corners.
Another object is to provide and interlockable building unit having
spaced apart male and female locking elements thereof, together
with a vegetation planting space defined therein.
Other objects become apparent from the preceding and following
disclosure.
One or more objects of the present invention obtained by invention
as defined herein.
Broadly the invention may be defined as one or more open top
vessels or annuluses, as might be desired, having spaced-apart
female uprightly-extending one or more grooves spaced from
uprightly-extending one or more male flanges shaped for mating
slidable-in and lockably into any one of the females grooves of
other adjacent substantially similarly units of the invention, the
male and female interlocking elements being located on and defined
by exterior circumscribing wall surfaces of the respective brick
planting unit and providing the container or annulus space within
the circumscribing walls for the planting of plants, grass, or
other vegetation as generally might be desired. Additionally the
utility as planter is improved, as well as the utility as
prescribing the possibility for unique structure to be built from
the bricks in their use as bricks being also improved, by virtue of
one overall side of the surface-circumscribing walls being a much
higher typically rearward wall of predetermined height greater than
another wall which is much lower in height, a lower wall typically
being a forward wall portion of the circumscribing walls. Although
squared and/or four sided units are not the essence of the
invention necessarily, it being possible they have 6 or 5 or 3 or
the like side upright wall making up the circumscribing walls of
the vessel, in typical and preferred embodiment of the present
invention there are included units such as typically rectangularly
shaped defined spaces of the planter within the circumscribing
walls, with the rear wall being elevated and the forward wall being
a short wall, and the intermediate interconnecting two
short-lengthed end side walls being downwardly-sloping on their
upper surfaces from the high rear walls to the low forward walls,
and with the female grooves being uprightly extending in one end
side wall and the male flange being defined on the exterior of the
other interconnecting end side wall. Another such preferred
embodiment is typically the same as that described for the
above-noted rectangularly shaped unit, except for the forward wall
being shorter than the rearward wall thereby resulting in typically
a trapezoid shape. Similarly, another preferred embodiment include
a corner-turning building unit in which it is diametrically
opposite squared corners of a squared space that have one wall
portion shorter than the other, with the remaining diametrically
opposite corners serving as the intermediate height portions of the
circumscribing walls, there being typically one unit of this type
with the female groove in one of left wall for example and with the
male flange structure in an adjacent right wall, these left and
right walls being the lower two of the four walls. In an alternate
squared corner-turning unit, the left slanted short wall is the
male flange-containing wall whereas the female groove-containing
slanting wall is the right adjacent wall for turning a corner in a
opposite direction, or alternately the higher slanted left and
right walls have the groove and flange respectively, or the
like.
As a result of these varying types of units which basically are of
a common generic type there may be formed a variety of unique
shapes and structures all interlocking one into the other for
secure and rigid combination structures, while achieving a variety
of diversified and possible designs and structures therefrom in
which vegetation may be planted in each of the units thereof.
The invention may be better understood by making reference to the
Figures as followed.
THE FIGURES
FIG. 1 illustrates a front-side perspective view of the
rectangularly-shaped unit of the present invention.
FIG. 2 illustrates a trapezoid unit of substantially corresponding
structures, having a trapezoid shape, shown in forward perspective
view thereof.
FIG. 3A illustrates in side perspective view a corner-turning
squared unit.
FIG. 3B illustrates an alternate embodiment to that of FIG. 3A,
also shown in side perspective view for the turning of a corner in
a different direction.
FIG. 4 illustrates in diagrammatic elevation plan view a typically
appearing ornamental design of construction produced in circular
form from building block units typically of the types illustrated
in FIGS. 1 and 2 above.
FIG. 5 illustrates in diagrammatic elevation plan view typically a
wall-space of planter units together with steps having other
planter units thereof as edging units for steps, utilizing brick
planting units of typically the types illustrated for FIGS. 1, 3A
and 3B.
FIG. 6 illustrates in diagrammatic elevation plan view a still
other typically variations in construction design, this combination
making use of units such as those illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3A and
3B.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In greater details, the invention embodies a plurality of building
planter units such as 7, 8, 9 and 10 of FIGS. 1, 2, 3A and 3B
respectively. All of the planter units are basically similar in
structure and accordingly have been assigned similar numbers
corresponding parts such as for example the back wall 14 of unit 7
having a substantially common designation for unit 8 as wall 14a,
and such as for the unit 9 the wall 28a corresponding to or being
substantially mateable with and/or substantially a mirror image of
the unit 10 wall 28b, except for embodiments 7 and 8 for example
illustrating different mating arrangements, and the like for other
numeral designations which in such cases will not be repeated
because of mere redundancy in doing so.
Accordingly, the unit 7 includes the high rear wall 14 and the
short forward wall 15 interconnected by the intermediate walls 16
and 18 having the planted or angular upper surfaces 17 and 18
respectively, with the wall 16 having the uprightly-extending
groove 19 being opened end at its upper end through the surface of
upper slanted face 17. Accordingly, male flange members such as
member 23 located on the exterior surface of side walls 24, with
the male flange 23 extending axially uprightly, is of the shape and
cross sectional area such that it is in the lockingly matable wiih
another units female groove corresponding to that of the groove 19.
There is defined within the circumscribing unit-interconnected
walls 14, 24, 15 and 16, the enclosed space 20 of the brick
planter, which space optionally may or may not be a through space
such as would be the situation when the brick structure is an
annulus. In the unit 7, it is noted that the upper surfaces of 22
and 21 of walls 14 and 15 respectively extends substantially
horizontally across while the planter walls upper surfaces 17 and
18 interconnect the elevated rearward upper-surface 22 with the
forward lower upper surface 21.
In the unit 8 embodiment of FIG. 2, the structures are
substantially the same as those of the unit 7 embodiment except for
the fact that the wall 15a as the forward wall is much shorter
length than the rearward wall 14a, and accordingly that the unit be
symmetrically shaped pairs the interconnecting walls 16a and 24a
angled inwardly to define acute angles with the wall 14a and to
define obtuse angles with the forward walls 15a. The unit 8 would
be utilized together with other units of also unit 8-type, and/or
with units such as the unit 7 and/or with corner-turning units such
as units 9 and/or 10 for the gradually-turning or sharp-turning
respectively of corners, while concurrently providing slanting face
with the visibility of the vegetation therein being forwardly
directed by virtue of the elevated rearward wall and the short
forward wall, whereby the dirt or soil therein may be also on slant
within the container if desired.
The typical alternate units of FIGS. 3A and 3B, namely units 9 and
10, are for turning corners in opposite directions and are
otherwise basically similar to one another, each defining a planter
space or enclosure such as 32a and 32b respectively and each having
two elevated walls such as walls 33a and 34a of unit 9 and walls
33b and 34b of unit 10, and two lower walls such as 35a and 36a and
of unit 9, and 35b and 36b of unit 10. All walls in these
embodiments have slanted upper faces such as upper faces 28a and
29a and upper faces 30a and 31a of unit 9, and upper slanted faces
28b and 29b, and 30b and 31b respectively, resulting in the high
corner 25a of unit 9 and 25b of unit 10 and the low corner 39a of
unit 9 and the lower corner of 39b of unit 10, with the
intermediate-height corners 26a and 27a of unit 9 an
intermediate-height corners 27b and 26b of unit 10. Otherwise the
units 9 and 10 are similar except for the alternate positioning of
the female groove 37a as compared to the female groove 37b and the
alternate position of the male flange 38 a as compared to the male
flange 38b, relative to the location of the lower and higher
corners thereof.
The finished constructions for structures 11, 12 and 13 illustrates
typical structures that may be built from the above-noted inventive
units 7, 8, 9 and 10. The composite unit 11 as illustrated
illustrates the united consecutive and alternate units 7 and 8
forming in a circular configuration. The composite structure 12
having the inventive edging to steps, with edging utilizing the
units 7 and 9 and 10 as illustrated. In like manner, the composite
structure 13 as illustrated in FIG. 6 utilizes the units 7 and 9
and 10.
It is to be noted that the essence of the present invention does
not reside in the particular nature of the composition out of which
the brick planters are constructed, it being entirely within the
scope of the invention and contemplated to make the walls thereof
in the illustrated unitary manner out of conventional brick
materials and/or concrete or cinder block compositions and/or of
any suitable plastic material such as preferably polypropylene, or
the like. Also, the methods of manufacture may utilize any of
conventional methods for the manufacture of brick blocks, or other
such structures, for the manufacture of the units of the present
invention.
It is within the scope of the present invention to make such
variations and modifications and substitution of equivalents as
would be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in this particular
field of art.
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