Building Unit with Cobble Top and S-Connections
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional surface coverings using manufactured pavers, bricks, and tiles lack the natural irregularity and aesthetic appeal of custom-built stone surfaces, requiring skilled labor and being labor-intensive and expensive to create.
Innovation Solution
The development of building units with multiple mating sides featuring 'S'-connections and raised regions, allowing for a natural, non-repeating pattern appearance when assembled, which can be manufactured using dry or wet cast methods to mimic the look of custom stone surfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If natural stone is used to create custom surface coverings, then aesthetic appeal and natural irregularity are improved, but labor intensity and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates manufactured building units that copy the appearance and irregularity characteristics of natural stone through molding processes. The units are designed with varied shapes, sizes, and surface textures that replicate custom stone work, allowing mass production of aesthetically pleasing units without requiring skilled stonemasons for each installation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent varies multiple parameters of the building units including length, width, thickness, shape contours, and surface textures to create natural irregularity. By controlling these parameters during manufacturing, the units achieve the appearance of custom stone work while maintaining standardized production processes that reduce labor intensity
2Shape
If manufactured pavers are laid in random patterns, then aesthetic appeal is improved, but the degree of natural irregularity deteriorates compared to custom stone
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates asymmetric design elements in the building units with varied lengths, widths, and shapes that prevent repeating patterns. Each unit is designed with unique dimensional characteristics that, when assembled, create random-looking patterns without requiring complex manufacturing processes for each individual unit
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the surface covering into multiple discrete building units with different geometries. This segmentation allows each unit to have unique characteristics while maintaining ease of manufacture through standardized molding processes, achieving random patterns through the assembly of pre-fabricated varied units
3Ease of operation
If building units have mating sides with S-connections, then assembly ease is improved, but the ability to create non-repeating patterns may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs the building units with universal mating sides that can connect to any adjacent unit regardless of orientation or position. The S-connections are standardized across all units, providing ease of assembly while the variation in unit dimensions and shapes ensures that the overall pattern remains non-repeating and aesthetically varied
Data Source
AI summary
A building unit has a substantially planar base having an outer periphery including multiple mating sides. Each mating side has at least one “S”-connection, which includes at least one outwardly extending male mating section and at least one inwardly extending adjacent female section. On the base, there are multiple cobbles or raised regions separated by false joints. A first portion of the raised regions are positioned on the male mating sections, respectively and extend to positions proximate to the outer periphery of the base. A second portion of the raised regions are positioned adjacent the female mating sections, respectively and are set back from the outer periphery. Each side of one unit can mate with any side of another like unit. The arrangement results in a surface covering that lacks a discernible pattern.