Block or Brick for the Construction of a Two-Shell Tile Stove

This application is a national phase application corresponding to PCT/AT80/00004 filed Dec. 30, 1980 and based, in turn, upon an Austrian application No. AT/80/00037 filed Jan. 31, 1980 under the International Convention.

This invention relates to a block or brick for the construction of a two-shell tile stove having an internal shell of refractory blocks or bricks and an external shell of tiles.

Tile stoves, which are generally made by stove fitters, consist of ceramic tiles with ribs arranged on their rear sides and running parallel to their edges. Said ribs are adapted to link the individual tiles to one another by means of connecting clamps or the like, and the joints between the tiles are closed by means of a refractory material. The internal structure, the flue gas vents, are also made by refractory blocks, which have to be processed to yield the required shape. The construction of a tile stove requires hard work, skill in the art as well as great technical skill. To facilitate assembly, efforts have been made to construct the tile stove with two shells. In this case, the internal shell and structure are made of refractory blocks, and then the outer surface is formed by tiles, either by individual tiles or by slabs consisting of tiles. This work, too, usually requires a person skilled in the art even though the work is substantially facilitated because of the external shell of tiles.

It is, therefore, the object of this invention to provide blocks of the afore-mentioned kind for the construction of a two-shell tile stove by means of which tile stoves of any size can easily be constructed without requiring any particular skill in the art. It is a particular object of the invention to facilitate the assembly of the internal shell and structure, such as flue gas vents etc.

According to the invention this is achieved by providing a block whose length and height are derived from the side length of the visible tile face with a longitudinal center rib on two faces which are intended for contact with adjacent blocks, and by providing a corresponding longitudinal groove on the two opposite faces of the block, each, and at least one first lateral groove arranged on a first side face and being equal to the longitudinal groove, at least one marginal distance of the lateral groove corresponding to the marginal distance of the longitudinal groove, the second of the two side faces being closed and planar, i.e. free from discontinuities.

Blocks having grooves and ribs on their faces in contact with adjacent blocks and on their side faces have already been described in the AT-PS No. 314.165. The blocks described therein have, however, grooves and ribs on both side faces so that they are unsuitable for the construction of the internal shell of a tile stove. In tile stoves, the side faces of the blocks directed towards the tiles must be closed and planar in order to prevent the formation of air cushions between the adjacent tiles and the blocks, which cushions would impair the heat conduction.

In a first embodiment of the invention the side faces are provided with at least two first parallel lateral grooves, the center distance of said grooves corresponding to the wall thickness of the block.

A particularly large number of positions of the blocks in respect of one another will be obtained by providing the side face with at least one second lateral groove being to the longitudinal groove, said second lateral groove intersecting the first lateral groove or grooves at a right angle, the marginal distance of said second lateral groove corresponding to the marginal distance of the longitudinal groove. This embodiment, too, preferably provides that at least two second parallel lateral grooves are arranged on the side face, the center distance of said second lateral grooves corresponding to the wall thickness of the block.

The block or brick according to the invention comprises, as already mentioned, a closed planar side face which is directed towards the tiles. Hence, the internal shell has a planar external face on which the tiles fit snuggly, and the formation of air cushions and air channels is eliminated. In spite of the fact that grooves are only provided on three sides, construction of the internal structure is facilitated, the longitudinal ribs of horizontally arranged blocks being adapted to engage the latral grooves of the blocks of the internal shell. A thin layer of adhesive mortar is preferably employed for connecting the blocks. The blocks can be prefabricated to form a construction kit and can easily be assembled without any skill by means of enclosed instructions or plans. The correct cross-sections of flue gas vents need not be determined, no particular attention is required, when bricking up the blocks etc., as the blocks have been put together correctly, when one rib provided on the block face engages one longitudinal groove or lateral groove.

The invention is described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGS. 1 through 4 are top views and side views of two embodiments of a block according to the invention,

FIGS. 5 and 6 are similar views of a third embodiment,

FIGS. 7 and 8 are views of a further embodiment,

FIG. 9 shows a part of a corner bricked up by means of blocks according to the invention, and

FIG. 10 shows a sectional view of the two shells of the tile stove.

The blocks 1 according to the invention preferably have square side faces 14, 15, one side face 15 being closed and planar. When constructing the internal shell of a tile stove, the blocks 1 are staggered in such a manner that the closed planar side faces 15 form the external side of the internal shell so that the tiles 4 fit snuggly on the blocks 1 without forming air cushions or air channels. The tiles 4 obviously have planar closed rear faces without ribs. For linking the tiles 4 to one another (FIG. 10), their faces 20 being in contact with adjacent tiles are provided with circumferential grooves 18. T-shaped connecting members 19 are inserted into the the grooves of the tiles 4, the center leg of the T-shaped connecting member 19 connecting two adjacent tiles 4 and the cross bar of the connecting member 19 said two adjacent tiles with a tile 4 of the following row.

Two faces 10 of the block 1 for contact with adjacent blocks are provided with longitudinal center ribs 12, and the two opposite faces 11 are provided with longitudinal grooves 13 corresponding to the longitudinal ribs 12. As illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 6 as well as 9 and 10, the longitudinal ribs 12 and the longitudinal grooves 13 can be arranged on adjacent faces of the block or, according to FIGS. 7 and 8, on opposite faces of the block.

The construction of the tile stove is substantially facilitated by first and second lateral grooves 16, 17, which are provided on the other side face 14 of the block 1 directed towards the inside, when being bricked up.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a first embodiment with a first lateral groove 16, the marginal distances x of the lateral grooves 16 corresponding to the marginal distances of the longitudinal grooves 13 in the faces 11. The first lateral groove 16 has a breadth y, which is equal to the breadth of the longitudinal groove 13 and, hence, of the longitudinal rib 12, so that the block 1 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 forms substantially a cube. When constructing a corner, the block 1 is turned from the illustrated position by 90.degree. so that the first lateral groove 16 runs vertically. The longitudinal rib 12 of the face 10 can, hence, be inserted into the first lateral groove 16.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3 shows a block 1 having two first lateral grooves 16 in the side faces 14, said lateral grooves 16 having a marginal distance x corresponding to the marginal distance of the longitudinal groove 13 and being spaced from each other by the distance 2 x. The breadth y of the first lateral groove 16 corresponds again to the breadth of the longitudinal groove 13. As a result, the center distance z of the two lateral grooves 16 corresponds to the wall thickness d, which corresponds to half the height of the block 1.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show a preferred embodiment. Four first lateral grooves 16 are provided on the side faces 14, said grooves 16 having the breadth y being equal to the breadth of the longitudinal groove 13, the center distance z of two first lateral grooves 16, each, being equal to the wall thickness d and the marginal distance x being equal to the marginal distance of the longitudinal groove 13. Moreover, four second lateral grooves 17 are provided, which intersecting the first lateral grooves 16 at a right angle and for which the same relations are true. Elevations remain between the lateral grooves 16, 17, the surfaces of said elevations having the size x multiplied by x in the corner region, the size x multipled by 2 x in the residual marginal portion and the size 2 x multiplied by 2 x in the center portion.

Because of its great number of lateral grooves, this block can be used for all intermediate plates, partition walls for flue gas vents etc. required in the internal structure of the tile stove, as, according to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 9, any required arrangement can be formed in a simple manner.

The brick illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 shows a further variant with rectangular side faces 14, 15. Two first and two second lateral side grooves 16, 17, each, are provided on the side faces 14, said lateral grooves having the marginal distances x corresponding to the marginal distances of the longitudinal grooves 13 and longitudinal ribs 12. This embodiment shows the possibility of providing the longitudinal ribs 12 and the longitudinal grooves 13 on two opposite faces 3. This block can obviously also be provided with further lateral grooves.

By means of the blocks or bricks according to this invention, the dimensions of the individual blocks required for two-shell tile stoves can be pre-calculated and bought preferably together with the tiles 4 as a construction kit. The internal shell and the internal structure can be built according to instructions without requiring any particular skill in the art as the length of the individual blocks is clearly defined by the grooves and ribs, and, moreover, in case of several possibilities said length can be easily pre-marked.