Hydraulic and earth engineering – Earth treatment or control – Shoring – bracing – or cave-in prevention
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-26
2004-07-13
Shackelford, Heather (Department: 3673)
Hydraulic and earth engineering
Earth treatment or control
Shoring, bracing, or cave-in prevention
C405S284000, C405S262000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06761509
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention pertains to improvements in a concrete module of a type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,865, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, and to improvements in a retaining wall of a type disclosed therein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,865, supra, a concrete module useful in making a retaining wall has unitary walls including a front wall, two lateral walls, and a bottom wall. The front and lateral walls are upright. Each lateral wall has a front edge adjoining the front wall, a back edge spaced from the front edge, an upright rib extending inwardly from said lateral wall, and an upright rib extending outwardly from said lateral wall. The upright ribs are spaced equally from the front wall. A batten, which is used to anchor a geogrid to the concrete module, has two opposite ends bearing against the upright ribs extending inwardly from the lateral walls. U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,865, supra, discloses a retaining wall comprising multiple course of said concrete modules.
According to an older design, a concrete module similar to the concrete module disclosed in German Published Patent Application (Offenlegungsschrift) No. 2,537,408 and useful in making a retaining wall had similar front, lateral, and bottom walls, except that the lateral walls did not have any inwardly or outwardly extending ribs. Each lateral wall of the concrete module similar thereto had a recess opening upwardly, as a provision to receive a batten, which could extend laterally from the concrete module in either direction.
Other older designs for concrete modules useful in making retaining walls are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,169, U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,566, two “Loffelstein” publications, and other references cited on the title page of U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,865, supra.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention provides improvements in a concrete module of the type noted above. The concrete module is useful in making a retaining wall. The concrete module is similar to the concrete module disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,865, supra, in having unitary walls including a front wall, two lateral walls, and a bottom wall, the front and lateral walls being upright, each lateral wall having a front edge adjoining the front wall, a back edge spaced from the front edge, and an upright rib extending laterally from said lateral wall.
This invention contemplates each lateral wall having a provision, such as a recess opening upwardly or an opening extending through said lateral wall, which is adapted to receive a batten so that the batten can extend through said lateral wall and which is positioned where the batten if pulled backwardly can bear against the upright rib of said lateral wall. Although the upright rib of each lateral wall can extend inwardly or outwardly from said lateral wall, each lateral wall having two upright ribs aligned laterally, one extending inwardly from said lateral wall and one extending outwardly from said lateral wall, is preferred.
This invention provides a retaining wall comprising a course of concrete modules, as described above, and further comprising a batten, which is received by the provisions of the lateral walls of the concrete modules of the course so that the batten if pulled backwardly can bear against the upright ribs of the lateral walls of the concrete modules of the course. This invention provides a retaining wall stacked courses of concrete modules, as described above, and further comprising, in each of at least some of the courses, a batten, which is received by the provisions of the lateral walls of the concrete modules so that the batten if pulled backwardly can bear against the upright ribs of the lateral walls of the concrete modules of the course.
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Brochure of Loffel Retaining Walls, Inc., Carlsbad, California, “Loffelstein Retaining Walls”, 1988.
Manual of Loffel Retaining Walls, Inc., Carlsbad, California, “Loffelstein Engineering manual”, 1988.
Shackelford Heather
Singh Sunil
Wood Phillips Katz Clark & Mortimer
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