Retaining wall
First Claim
1. A modular retaining wall of preselected height and mass per unit length for retaining loose material of equal or lesser height, consisting ofa plurality of individual concrete backer blocks individually placed against the loose material to be retained, without embedding the backer blocks into the material to be retained, and stacked into a continuous single rear wall portion of the preselected height and a first mass per unit length;
- a plurality of individual concrete facing blocks exposed on a front face of the retaining wall and individually stacked into a continuous front wall portion of the preselected height and a second mass per unit length;
a plurality of individual connectors extending between opposing back surfaces of the facing and backer blocks for connecting each concrete facing block with at least one concrete backer block in a back to back arrangement and maintaining the front and rear wall portions in a spaced apart position in which the front and rear wall portions define an intermediate space; and
a fill of loose filler material at least partially filling the intermediate space, a sum of the first and second mass being less than the total mass and the fill having a third mass per unit length constituting at least the remainder of the preselected total mass per unit length;
wherein the facing blocks, the intermediate space and the loose filler material are separated by the backer blocks from the material to be retained.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is an economical and effective way of producing a modular retaining wall for a material to be retained, using only blocks which in and of themselves are of insufficient thickness to function as retaining wall blocks. The modular wall includes backer blocks and facing blocks which are connected by separate connectors in a back to back, spaced apart arrangement, thereby forming a hollow retaining wall. The hollow wall is filled with loose filler material to increase the mass and retaining capacity of the wall. None of the wall components is embedded in the material to be retained. Further disclosed are wall components and a wall kit for a modular retaining wall. A double sided decorative wall is also disclosed. The modular wall system allows for the construction of retaining walls and freestanding, double sided, decorative walls forming both straight and curved walls.
136 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A modular retaining wall of preselected height and mass per unit length for retaining loose material of equal or lesser height, consisting of
a plurality of individual concrete backer blocks individually placed against the loose material to be retained, without embedding the backer blocks into the material to be retained, and stacked into a continuous single rear wall portion of the preselected height and a first mass per unit length; -
a plurality of individual concrete facing blocks exposed on a front face of the retaining wall and individually stacked into a continuous front wall portion of the preselected height and a second mass per unit length; a plurality of individual connectors extending between opposing back surfaces of the facing and backer blocks for connecting each concrete facing block with at least one concrete backer block in a back to back arrangement and maintaining the front and rear wall portions in a spaced apart position in which the front and rear wall portions define an intermediate space; and a fill of loose filler material at least partially filling the intermediate space, a sum of the first and second mass being less than the total mass and the fill having a third mass per unit length constituting at least the remainder of the preselected total mass per unit length; wherein the facing blocks, the intermediate space and the loose filler material are separated by the backer blocks from the material to be retained. - View Dependent Claims (2, 10, 16, 17)
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3. A modular retaining wall of preselected height and mass per unit length for retaining loose material of equal or lesser height, consisting of
a plurality of individual concrete backer blocks placed against the loose material to be retained, without embedding the backer blocks into the material to be retained, and stacked into a continuous single rear wall portion of the preselected height and a first mass per unit length; -
a plurality of individual concrete facing blocks exposed on a front face of the retaining wall and stacked into a continuous front wall portion of the preselected height and a second mass per unit length; a plurality of individual connectors extending between opposing back surfaces of the facing and backer blocks for connecting each concrete facing block with at least one concrete backer block in a back to back arrangement and maintaining the front and rear wall portions in a spaced apart position in which the front and rear wall portions define an intermediate space;
the concrete facing blocks have a first width, the concrete backer blocks have a second width, and the connectors have a length exceeding the sum of the first and second width anda fill of loose filler material at least partially filling the intermediate space, a sum of the first and second mass being less than the total mass and the fill having a third mass per unit length constituting at least the remainder of the preselected total mass per unit length;
wherein the facing blocks, the intermediate space and the loose filler material are separated by the backer blocks from the material to be retained and the connectors connect to retaining structures which are one of a retaining protrusion on a back surface of the concrete facing blocks and a back surface of the concrete backer blocks and a retaining recess in the back surface of the facing or backer blocks. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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11. A retaining wall arrangement including first and second retaining walls intersecting at a corner, each of the first and second retaining walls consisting of
a plurality of individual concrete backer blocks individually placed against the loose material to be retained, without embedding the backer blocks into the material to be retained, and stacked into a continuous single rear wall portion of the preselected height and a first mass per unit length; -
a plurality of individual concrete facing blocks exposed on a front face of the retaining wall and individually stacked into a continuous front wall portion of the preselected height and a second mass per unit length; a plurality of individual connectors extending between opposing back surfaces of the facing and backer blocks for connecting each concrete facing block with at least one concrete backer block in a back to back arrangement and maintaining the front and rear wall portions in a spaced apart position in which the front and rear wall portions define an intermediate space; and a fill of loose filler material at least partially filling the intermediate space, a sum of the first and second mass being less than the total mass and the fill having a third mass per unit length constituting at least the remainder of the preselected total mass per unit length; wherein the facing blocks, the intermediate space and the loose filler material are separated by the backer blocks from the material to be retained. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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13. A retaining wall arrangement including first and second retaining walls intersecting at a corner, each of the first and second retaining walls consisting of
a plurality of individual concrete backer blocks placed against the loose material to be retained, without embedding the backer blocks into the material to be retained, and stacked into a continuous single rear wall portion of the preselected height and a first mass per unit length; -
a plurality of individual concrete facing blocks exposed on a front face of the retaining wall and stacked into a continuous front wall portion of the preselected height and a second mass per unit length; a plurality of individual connectors extending between opposing back surfaces of the facing and backer blocks for connecting each concrete facing block with at least one concrete backer block in a back to back arrangement and maintaining the front and rear wall portions in a spaced apart position in which the front and rear wall portions define an intermediate space; and a fill of loose filler material at least partially filling the intermediate space, a sum of the first and second mass being less than the total mass and the fill having a third mass per unit length constituting at least the remainder of the preselected total mass per unit length; wherein the facing blocks, the intermediate space and the loose filler material are separated by the backer blocks from the material to be retained, wherein at least one of the backer blocks of the first wall at the corner is positioned within the interior space of the second wall and at least one of the backer blocks of the second wall at the corner is positioned within the interior space of the first wall. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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18. A retaining wall arrangement including first and second retaining walls intersecting at a corner, each of the first and second retaining walls consisting of
a plurality of individual concrete backer blocks placed against the loose material to be retained, without embedding the backer blocks into the material to be retained, and stacked into a continuous single rear wall portion of the preselected height and a first mass per unit length; -
a plurality of individual concrete facing blocks exposed on a front face of the retaining wall and stacked into a continuous front wall portion of the preselected height and a second mass per unit length; a plurality of individual connectors extending between opposing back surfaces of the facing and backer blocks for connecting each concrete facing block with at least one concrete backer block in a back to back arrangement and maintaining the front and rear wall portions in a spaced apart position in which the front and rear wall portions define an intermediate space; and a fill of loose filler material at least partially filling the intermediate space, a sum of the first and second mass being less than the total mass and the fill having a third mass per unit length constituting at least the remainder of the preselected total mass per unit length; wherein the facing blocks, the intermediate space and the loose filler material are separated by the backer blocks from the material to be retained; and at least one of the backer blocks of the first wall at the corner is embedded wholly within the filler material in the interior space of the second wall.
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Specification