Classifications

• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E01—CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS, RAILWAYS, OR BRIDGES
  • E01C—CONSTRUCTION OF, OR SURFACES FOR, ROADS, SPORTS GROUNDS, OR THE LIKE; MACHINES OR AUXILIARY TOOLS FOR CONSTRUCTION OR REPAIR
  • E01C23/00—Auxiliary devices or arrangements for constructing, repairing, reconditioning, or taking-up road or like surfaces
  • E01C23/01—Devices or auxiliary means for setting-out or checking the configuration of new surfacing, e.g. templates, screed or reference line supports; Applications of apparatus for measuring, indicating, or recording the surface configuration of existing surfacing, e.g. profilographs
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E01—CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS, RAILWAYS, OR BRIDGES
  • E01C—CONSTRUCTION OF, OR SURFACES FOR, ROADS, SPORTS GROUNDS, OR THE LIKE; MACHINES OR AUXILIARY TOOLS FOR CONSTRUCTION OR REPAIR
  • E01C19/00—Machines, tools or auxiliary devices for preparing or distributing paving materials, for working the placed materials, or for forming, consolidating, or finishing the paving
  • E01C19/12—Machines, tools or auxiliary devices for preparing or distributing paving materials, for working the placed materials, or for forming, consolidating, or finishing the paving for distributing granular or liquid materials
  • E01C19/15—Machines, tools or auxiliary devices for preparing or distributing paving materials, for working the placed materials, or for forming, consolidating, or finishing the paving for distributing granular or liquid materials for laying-down uncoated stone or similar materials, or for striking-off or spreading same without compacting, e.g. for crushed rock base courses, sand cushions for paving

Definitions

• This invention relates to a kit for use in the laying of groundworks including paving elements such as paving blocks, paving slabs and similar kinds of resurfacing.
• Paving elements are generally laid on to a bed of sand which in turn is laid on to hard core material. It is important that the receiving surface for the elements is level and firm so that the elements do not become relatively displaced in use.
• an improved kit for laying groundworks such as paving elements and a method for employing the kit.
• a kit for laying groundworks such as paving elements comprises a plurality of datum tubes of different lengths, and connection elements for selectively intercomiecting the tubes in alignment with one another, the datum tubes being arranged to be laid in an upper layer of sand or the like on which the paving elements are to be laid, whereby the datum tubes provide a datum for smoothing the sand surface by the use of screed bar means, the datum tubes being removed from the sand after smoothing.
• the datum tubes are metal tubes having an outside diameter in the range 10-50 mm, preferably about 20 mm, and having a wall thickness sufficient to make the datum tubes non-flexible, for example of the order of 1 mm.
• connection elements may preferably each be in the form of a tube, for example of plastics material, which has an outer diameter at or slightly larger than the inner diameter of the datum tubes to provide a close fit therein.
• the kit will preferably include a range of lengths of datum tubes, for example tubes of .25m, .5m, lm, 2m and 3 metres with several tubes in each length.
• tubes which, instead of being rectilinear have portions at right angles to one another for using in the corners of an area to be paved.
• the datum tubes will be located laid into the sand at positions spaced from one another so that tubes provide a datum for the use of a screed bar, the datum tubes of different lengths being selected according to the area to be paved and, where necessary, datum tubes being interconnected to one another and in alignment with one another to provide datum levels, and the datum tubes being removed from the layer of sand in order to lay the paving elements on the surface of the layer of sand.
• the layer of sand will be laid on a hard core material which has been compacted and, after laying, the layer of sand will also be compacted. After compaction the sand layer needs to be levelled using the screed bar and the datum tubes. Thus the datum tubes are laid into the layer of sand which should be of minimum thickness, for example more than 50 mm in thickness.
• the elements In laying the individual paving elements on to the compacted and levelled layer of sand, according to the invention, the elements should retain their selected datum level and there should be little movement of the elements after laying.
• the kit and method of the invention enable paving elements to be laid on a suitable surface in a quick and easy operation even when the area to be paved is irregular in shape.
• the use of relatively small diameter datum tubes of a plurality of lengths means that there is readily to hand datum tubes of the appropriate dimensions.
• datum tube lengths may be made up of the appropriate length to the laying operation.
• the screed bar used in association with the datum tubes may be of conventional construction.
• Figs la, lb, lc and Id show the stages in preparing a sand layer for laying the paving elements
• Fig 2 shows a kit of datum tubes and adaptors.
• the basic method involves preparing the ground surface by providing a hard core base which is generally of the level required and which is consolidated in the usual way using tamping means.
• the area to be covered is defined by edging blocks or any other system for locating the edges.
• the level of the area and the drainage arrangement is set out using levelling.
• a layer of sand preferably having a depth of 60-80 mm is laid over the hard core and the sand is raked level, Fig 1 A.
• the layer of sand is then compressed using a compactor, Fig IB.
• the components include a plurality of lengths of tube, most of which are of a rectilinear shape such as at 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 but there may also be provided tubes as at 15 and 16 which are right angled tubes.
• the rectilinear portions of the datum tubes are precisionally straight.
• the datum tubes are usually of metal, conveniently with a coloured surface finish, such as by powder coating and having an outer diameter in the range 10-50 mm but preferably around 20 mm.
• the wall thickness of each of the datum tubes may be around 1 mm and sufficient to avoid undue flexing of the datum tubes, especially those of longer length.
• Several datum tubes of each length may be provided, there being short datum tubes for irregular areas and longer datum tubes for large open areas.
• the datum tubes are used to act as datum lines for the sand level and in use they are laid into the layer of sand with their upper surface exposed and at the desired level.
• a spirit level is laid on the datum tubes to insure the correct levels and inclinations of the surface.
• a screed bar 20 is placed on the datum tubes and is moved over the sand surface to achieve a smooth flat surface of the sand layer at the correct level. Due to the different lengths of the datum tubes this may be quickly and simply achieved over whichever area of the surface levelling is being done.
• the datum tube lengths may range in length from 250 mm, 500 mm, 1 metre, 2 metres through to 3 metres but other lengths could also be provided.
• the adaptors or connection elements 17 permit individual datum tube lengths to be interconnected without significant deviation in the level of the datum tubes.
• the level of the sand layer may be checked with a spirit level and the paving elements can then be laid on to the levelled sand surface.
• the method and apparatus of the invention enables the ground to be prepared for block paving, slabbing and landscaping in a fast, precise and accurate way.
• the accuracy of the system reduces the potential for level variations, drainage problems and variable shapes and sizes of areas to be covered.
• the datum tubes and associated connection elements 17 or adaptors allow the datum tubes to be extended to cover awkward areas and angles.
• the connection elements 17 when made of flexible material allow the interconnected datum tubes to be moved relative to one another to subtend a different angle or to be aligned.
• the components are easy to assemble, store and are maintenance free.
• One suitable storage system is a large diameter tube into which the datum tubes are located.

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=9889044

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Families Citing this family (2)

Citations (3)

Family Cites Families (1)

• 2000
  • 2000-04-04 GB GB0008092A patent/GB0008092D0/en not_active Ceased
• 2001
  • 2001-04-04 GB GB0108436A patent/GB2362176A/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2001-04-04 WO PCT/GB2001/001574 patent/WO2001075232A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2001-04-04 AU AU44413/01A patent/AU4441301A/en not_active Abandoned

Patent Citations (3)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events