Architectural Panel

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to architectural panels for building a fence, a gate or a building wall.

2. Description of the Related Art

A conventional fence is built by fixing and stacking concrete blocks side by side and one on another with readymixed concrete. It is however difficult to build fences having various appearances with such stacked blocks. To provide fences with various appearances, the structure as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Examined Utility Model Publication No. 22042/1994 may be employed. According to the structure disclosed in the publication, a groove is formed in the bed, such as a block, a projection or a weir-shaped projection is formed in the back of the face member, such as a tile, and the projection of the face member is fitted in and adhered to the groove of the bed, so that the face member is attached to the bed.

With the projection of the face member fitted in the groove of the bed, however, the projection of the face member may be broken during transportation. Particularly, to form a groove in the bed, constituted of an existing concrete block, by a concrete cutter, the groove should be made narrow (generally, about 3 mm). This requires that the projection should also be formed narrow, so that the projection becomes easier to break. Further, if a projection is formed in a brittle face member, it is easily broken when fitted in the groove in the bed. Similar problems arise when face members are attached to beds to construct the facing of a gate or the wall of a building.

Accordingly, it a primary object of the present invention to provide architectural panels, which are structured in such a way that face members, which are to be attached to beds to build the face of a gate or the wall of a building, permit the fence or gate to have various appearances, and that projections formed on the face members are unlikely to be broken during transportation or the like.

It is another object of this invention to provide an architectural panel which has an improved appearance and has an enhanced strength.

It is a different object of this invention to provide an architectural panel which has an improved appearance and has an enhanced strength.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an architectural panel which is easy to transport and handle, can relatively permit a size error between its groove and projection, and can facilitate temporal tacking at the time of construction.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide an architectural panel whose bed is supported on a support and is not therefore shifted.

Other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description.

According to the present invention, there is provided an architectural panel having a face member with a groove or a projection fitted on or in a projection or a groove formed in a bed of a fence, a gate or a wall of a building, the face member having a projection formed on a back thereof and a groove formed in a same direction as the projection in such a way that the projection of the face member is fitted in a groove of another face member which makes a pair with the former face member. It is preferable that the face member has a base made of a foam member and a mixture of an incombustible powdery material and an incombustible adhesive is coated on the surface of the base of the face member to provide a stony finish. It is also preferable that the bed is made of a synthesized resin foam member. A through hole may be formed in the bed and a support of a fence may be made of an aluminum alloy extruded shape, whereby the through hole is fitted over the support to attach the bed to the support. Further, holes may be formed in the top and bottom of the bed and vertically adjoining beds may be coupled by a coupling member fitted in the holes in the adjoining beds.

The face member of this invention is attached to the bed by fitting the projection or groove provided on the back of the face member in or on the groove or projection of the bed and adhering those projection and groove. At the time of transportation or storage, the projection and groove of one face member are fitted in and on the groove and projection of another face member so that those projections are protected between two face members.

FIG. 1A is a perspective view exemplifying a face member according to the present invention;

FIG. 1B is a side view showing two face members of this example combined together;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of this invention as adapted for a fence;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing one example of a bed according to this invention;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of an architectural panel according to this embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing another example of the bed and bed coupling means;

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing one example of a fence which uses the bed and coupling means of this invention;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing this invention as adapted for a gate post; and

FIG. 8 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing this invention as adapted for the wall of a building.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral "1" denotes a support made of an aluminum alloy extruded shape whose bottom end is buried in a concrete sill 2, reference numeral "3" denotes the bed of a fence, and reference numeral "4" denotes a face member. The bed 3 of this example is made of a synthesized foam member, and has a through hole 3a in the up and down direction, a projection 3b at the bottom and a recess 3c at the top. A groove 3d for attachment to the face member 4 is formed horizontally in one side of the bed 3 (it may be formed on both sides).

As shown in FIGS. 1A and 4, the face member 4 has a base 4a and a top layer 4b. The base 4a is made of a synthesized resin foam member, and the top layer 4b is formed by a dried uniform coat of a mixture of an incombustible powdery material, such as sand or gravel, and an incombustible, weather-resistive synthesized resin adhesive. Accordingly, the top layer 4b has a stony finish. A projection (Weir-shaped projection) 4c having substantially the same height as the depth of the groove 3d formed in the bed 3 is formed horizontally on the back of the face member 4. A groove 4d is formed in the back of the face member 4, in parallel to and adjacent to the projection 4c. The groove 4d has substantially the same depth as the height of the projection 4c and is slightly wider than the projection 4c.

In building this fence, first, the through hole 3a of the bed 3 is fitted on the support 1 secured to the sill 2, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. Next, the projection 3b at the bottom of an upwardly adjoining bed 3 is fitted in the recess 3c at the top of the lower bed 3 so that both beds 3 are properly positioned and placed one on the other. Then, the projection 4c of the face member 4 is fitted and adhered into the groove 3d of the surface of the bed 3 by an adhesive 5. FIG. 2 shows the face member 4 adhered only to a part of the bed 3. In this example, a total of six face members 4 are attached to a single bed 3, in two rows horizontally with three face members 4 arranged in the vertical direction in each row. The correlation between the quantities of the bed 3 and the face members 4 may however be changed in various ways; for example, a single face member 4 may be attached to a single bed 3. In adhering the face member 4 to the bed 3 by the adhesive 5, the groove 4d in the face member 4 holds the adhesive 5, thus preventing the downward flow of the adhesive 5. The top of the support 1 may be designed to protrude above the bed 3, so that another member, such as coping or mesh fence, can be attached to the protruding portion to build a fence.

The face members 4 are joined with the projections 4c protected therebetween by fitting the projection 4c of one face member 4 into the groove 4d of the mating face member 4, as shown in Fig. 1B. Accordingly, the projections 4c are protected and prevented from being broken during transportation. Sand, gravel or the like are adhered on the top layer 4b of the face member 4 by an adhesive, yielding the stony-finished face member 4, and the bed 3 is covered with those face members 4 so that the face members 4, though being light, have an increased strength. The bed 3 and the face member 4, if made of a foam member to reduce their weights as in this embodiment, facilitate the construction and transportation of the architectural panel. Further, even if the bed 3 is broken down and falls on a pedestrian at the time of an earthquake, the pedestrian is less likely to be injured.

In the example shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a coupling member 6 of a foam member, which becomes thinner toward the top and bottom ends to have a tapered shape, is fitted in the through holes of vertically adjoining beds 3 to connect those beds 3. The beds 3 are joined in this manner to build a fence. The through hole 3a has tapered top and bottom ends 3e to match with the taper shape of the coupling member 6. This example has such an advantage that the support 1 should not necessarily be provided so that a fence is built easily and at a low cost. In this example, one side or the other side of the through hole 3a or the coupling member 6 may be designed to have a polygonal or elliptical cross section.

In the example shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the projection 4c of the face member 4 is fitted in the groove 3d provided in the bed 3 and the groove 4d of the face member 4 is fitted and adhered onto a projection 3f provided on the bed 3 by the adhesive 5, thereby enhancing the bonding strength of the face member 4. With the projection 3f provided on the bed 3, the fitting of this projection 3f into the groove 4d may serve to position the face member 4 or enhance the coupling strength, while the projection 4c of the face member 4 may be loosely fitted in the groove 3d of the bed 3.

FIG. 7 shows an example wherein a gate is built. In building this gate, first, a support 7 made of an aluminum alloy extruded section is secured to the sill 2. A bed 8 made of a foam member is attached to the support 7 by fitting its hole 8a over the support 7. Then, the projection 4c of the face member 4 is fitted in a groove 8b provided in the outer surface of the bed 8 and is secured to the groove 8b by an adhesive. In this example, the beds 8 are fitted over the support 7 one on another, facilitating the construction, and the beds 8 are supported by the support 7 to be prevented from being shifted. Further, the built gate has an enhanced strength.

FIG. 8 shows an example in which the wall of a building is constructed by the panels of this invention. In this example, a bed 11 made of a foam member or the like is attached to a stud 9 by a securing member 10 or an adhesive and the projection 4c of the face member 4 is fitted and secured in a groove 11a of the bed 11 by the adhesive 5 so that the bed 11 and the face member 4 are attached together.

As another example, a groove may be formed in a concrete block already placed in position so that the projection 4c of the face member 4 can be securely fitted in that groove. The face members 4 of this invention may be attached to such existing concrete blocks to build a fence. The specific shapes of the bed 3 and the face member 4 and the attachment therebetween are not limited to the illustrated ones and may be modified in various other forms. For example, two or more projections 4c may be provided in the face member 4 and two or more grooves 4d may be formed in the face member 4. The ends of the beds 3 may be butted against each other at right angles or in an inclined manner.