GLASS ELEMENT FOR FORMING GLASS BRICK WALLS, AND PROCESS

FOR FORMING WALLS WITH SAID ELEMENT

The present invention relates to a glass element for forming glass brick walls, and a process for forming walls with said element. Glass brick walls are known, i.e. walls made with hollow glass blocks, commonly called glass bricks, joined together by cement mortar to provide stability thereto.

Known glass bricks are of parallelepiped shape with two square or rectangular faces which, when the element is installed, form the inner and outer exposed surfaces, and a perimetral band of lesser width which joins the two exposed faces together and remains slightly inwards of their edge to define, when laid, horizontal and vertical channels for containing the cement mortar which securely joins the bricks together.

To form the wall, the end glass brick of the lower row is firstly laid on an underlying mortar bed, after which the glass bricks of the lower row are placed one after the other against the preceding, after interposing therebetween some mortar and a spacer provided at its ends with centering elements. After completing the first row the next row is laid, and so on, until the entire wall is formed. On termination, after the mortar has set, the centering elements of the spacers are removed, the gaps are filled and the formed wall is cleaned.

This method, which is virtually the most widespread, is substantially imposed by the shape of current glass bricks, has brought to light a series of drawbacks. One of these drawbacks is that during application of the cement mortar between one glass brick and the next, this can escape through the

gaps between them; this suggests that only the strictly necessary mortar quantity, or even less, should be used, even though this expedient has not proved satisfactory in practice and a certain quantity of mortar still has to be removed from the wall formed. Another drawback is that as mortar can often deposit between the spacers and the relative centering elements, removable only after this has set, this can result in a time loss for its removal and a difficulty in surface-finishing the wall.

Another drawback is that the slow mortar setting rate, due to lack of water absorption by the glass, means that the laying of the glass bricks has to be periodically suspended to enable the mortar to set, otherwise the wall could deform.

Another drawback, is that the need to fill the gaps between the glass bricks results in lengthy and laborious operations. All these drawbacks are eliminated according to the invention by a glass element for forming glass brick walls as described in claim 1 .

Again according to the invention, the wall is formed by at least partially dry-forming the wall as described in claim 5.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is described in detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a glass brick according to the invention, Figure 2 shows it coupled to two perpendicular profile portions to define a glass brick wall,

Figure 3 is a front view of a portion of a glass brick wall, Figure 4 is a vertical section therethrough on the line IV-IV of Figure 3, and Figure 5 is a horizontal section therethrough on the line V-V of Figure 3.

As can be seen from the figures, the glass element (glass brick) of the invention comprises two concave glass half-shells 2, 2', which are joined together along the edges of the concave portions to form a hollow glass brick of dimensions similar to those of traditional glass bricks. However in contrast to these, on its four sides forming the perimetral band, the glass element of the invention presents in proximity to each exposed face 4 a pair of steps which facilitate stable insertion-fitting of adjacent elements.

More specifically, along two adjacent sides of each exposed face 4 there is provided an outer first step 6 which projects more than an inner second step 8, while along the other two adjacent sides of the same exposed face 4 there is provided an outer third step 10 projecting less than an inner fourth step 12. In addition, each more projecting outer step 6 has a height less than the more projecting inner fourth step 12.

This greater height of the inner steps 12 compared with the outer steps 6 means that when the various glass elements are coupled together to form the glass brick wall, the adjacent elements are in contact only along the inner steps 8 and 12, whereas their outer steps 6 and 10, which in practice have their face coplanar with the exposed face 4, remain slightly spaced apart to form the gaps between the glass bricks and guide elements for their correct fitting-together. The gaps formed in this manner have their base closed by the outer side face of the more projecting inner steps 12.

In addition, the said mutually contacting inner steps 8 and 12 define, with the lateral faces of the half-shells 2, 2', laterally closed longitudinal channels 14 which intersect the perpendicular longitudinal channels to form an outwardly closed lattice to receive the cement mortar.

The said insertion-fitting system between adjacent glass elements also exists between these and the profiles 16, 18 perimetrally defining the glass brick wall.

More specifically, there are provided female profiles 16 with their outer step 20 projecting more than their inner step 22, and male profiles 18 with their outer step 24 projecting less than their inner step 26, the more projecting inner step 26 of the male profile 18 having a greater height than the more projecting outer step 20 of the female profile 16, as in the case of the glass elements. To form the glass brick wall, after arranging a horizontal male profile

18 and, at the ends thereof, two vertical profiles, namely a male 18 and a female 16, the laying of the individual elements begins, these by virtue of the insertion fitting system enabling formation of virtually the entire wall, or at least part of it, particularly in the case of large dimensions, without any loss of stability, even without using cement mortar.

When the wall has been formed, the cement mortar is inserted into the channels 14. As all these channels communicate with each other, correct and complete filling is assured, without the mortar being able to escape to the outside. The upper female closure profile 16 is then applied and the mortar then allowed to harden.

The glass element of the invention for forming glass brick walls is evidently much more advantageous than traditional elements, and in particular: - it eliminates the need to use spacers and centering elements, while ensuring high positioning regularity between adjacent elements,

it eliminates the need to fill gaps and to finish the wall when formed, it enables the bricks to be laid even by non-specialized personnel, it enables a very high laying rate to be attained while at the same time obtaining a perfect appearance, it enables the mortar to completely fill the channels between adjacent elements without any wastage, with the assurance of optimal final stability.