J.C. MARTIN, Jay INTERLOCKING BRICK, APFAICATION FILED MAR 29, 1922, 1,481,318. Patented Oct. 10, 1922. gh 7 PEEL Le Gventor esse CMARTINSR. By Bremne ChefsPatented Oct. 10, 1922. UNITED STATES 1,431,318 PATENT OFFICE. JESSE C. MARTIN, JR., OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. INTERLOCKING BRICE. Application fled March 29, 1929, Toll whom it may concern: Be it known that I, Jzssn C. Marmix, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Fran- 5 cisco and State of California, have invented, certain new and useful Improvements in In- terlocking Brick, of which the following is a specification. ‘The invention relates to bricks, and has 10 as an object the provision of a briek having elements ori its surfiices adapted to interlock ‘with complemental elements upon like brieks upon which it is superimposed or which are superimposed upon it. ‘A further object of the invention is the provision. of an interlocking brick wherein the faces-of the bricks about the interlocking elements will come into close contact wit certainty and will not be held apart by con- 20 tact of the interlocking elements. ‘An illustrative embodiment of the inven- tion is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which— Fig. 1 is a plan view; Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal seetion on lino 92 of Fig, 1 showing portions of su- perposed bricks in dotted. Lines hhe brick provided by the present inven- tion may be of any desired size and shape, 80 but preferably of the usual dimensions with length twice its width, A difficulty with interlocking bricks provided. with bosses and receptacles heretofore used in laying » wall without a mortar joint, as in fire brick for 385 furnace settings, has been’ that the bosses were likely to come into contact. with the bottoms of the receptacles before the general faces of the bricks about the interlocking elements came into contact, To obviate the named difficulty the bricks embodying the present invention are made with bosses 10 extending above the gener face 11 of the brick and to interlock with the bosses of other like bricks the opposite 45 face of the brick is provided with receptacles 12 extending into the body of the brick from the general face 13 of this side of the brick. ‘The depth of the receptacles 12 is, as shown, ater than the height of the bosses 10. uring the firing, especially with bricks fired at a high temperature, the clay of which the brick is formed shrinks. ‘The shrinkage of the different parts of a kiln is not equal. ‘To make it possible to use a brick which was 16 2% 40 50 Serial Wo, 687,799, fired in the portion of the kiln where gréat- est shrinkage takes place, with a brick fired in the portion of the kiln where less shrink- age takes place, indifferently in the wall, the difference between the height of the boss'and the depth of the receptacle is made in excess of the maximum difference of shrinkage, , Moreover to ensure that the boss will not ride on the walls of the complemental re- ceptacle when the bricks are laid the hori- zontal dimensions of the boss are also made Jess than the horizontal dimensions of the receptacle a suficient amount, to allow for the difference in shrinkage with certainty. ‘When used without a mortar-joint, as is the practice in laying fire bricks in furnaces, ‘the bricks are commonly dipped in a mud of fire clay to provide a thin coating on the surface, which coating on the successive bricks may adhere. It is important that the faces of the brick come into close con- tact not only so that there shall be no cracks but also that the joint betieen them which is tho weakest portion of the wall and most susceptible to the action of the heat shail be as thin as possible. Tt is under these conditions that the value of the presexit in- vention is greatest. ‘To enable the bosses to enter the recepta- cles readily they are made as shown of ta- pering form, or in the form of the frustum of a cone, the receptacles having a corre- sponding form with the appearance above referred to. While the bosses and recepta- cles shown in the drawing for purposes of illustration are circular in’ plan, it will be understood that this showing is for purposes of illustration only, and that the form of the interlocking elements may be anything desired, c0 long as the depth of the recep- tacle is greater than the height of the boss ral with which it is to. interlock. As illustrated the bosses and also the re- coptacles are spaced equidistantly from the adjacent end of the brick from the side sur- faces and from the center line 14 thereof. ‘Minor changes may be made in the phys- ical embodiment of the invention without de- parting from its spirit. T claim as my invention: 1. A brick having a boss upon one surface and a receptacle indented in its opposite sur- face, said boss and receptacle adapted to in- terlock with a receptacle and a boss upon 55 60 65 0 80 85 90 100 10810 contiguous bricks in a wall, the height of the boss being less than the depth of re- ceptacle whereby the surfaces of the bricks surrounding the interlocking boss and re- ceptacle may be brought into close contact. 2. A brick comprising a body having a plarality of bosses upon a surface thereof, 8 plurality of receptacles upon the opposite surface thereof, said receptacles being op- posite said bosses and adapted to interlock with complemental receptacles and bosses upon contiguous bricks ina wall, the depth 1,481,818 of the receptacles being greater than. the height of the bosses, © 3. A brick having bosses upon a surface 1 thereof ‘nd receptacles indented upon the opposite surface thereof, the bosses and re- ceptacles being coaxial and each being spaced equally from an end, the sides and the center line of the brick, the depth of the 2 ree tacles being greater than the height of the. 8. JESSE ©. MARTIN, Ja.