A working mason heartily shook my hand and...

it hurt.

Conjugate shear planes

Conjugate shearing

is so endearing

if you happen to be me.

But since you’re not

me it’s your lot

to suffer this completely:

explanation of how

a rock breaks. Wow

conjugate shear planes

the very same things

as mold release planes,

triangular displacings

relieve stress as strains.

I claim

I claim:


1. An arcuate building structure comprised of a first five-sided building block adjacent to and abutting a first six-sided building block, a second five-sided building block, a third five-sided building block, a second six-sided building block and a third six-sided building block wherein:

(a) said first six-sided building block, is comprised of a first top side, a first front side, a first back side, a first left side, a first right side, and a first bottom side, wherein:

1. said first top side has a substantially triangular shape with at least two sides, wherein at least two of said sides of such triangular shape are equal, and said first top side is substantially parallel to said first bottom side,

2. said first front side has a substantially trapezoidal shape comprising a top edge, a bottom edge, a right edge, and a left edge, wherein said right edge and said left edge have equal lengths and form equal angles with said bottom edge,

3. said first back side has a substantially triangular shape with at least two sides equal in length to each other,

4. said first left side and said first right side have shapes which are congruent, and each of said first left side and said first right side are in the shape of a parallelogram with walls and comprise two substantially triangular-shaped recesses and two substantially triangular-shaped projections disposed between said walls of said parallelogram, and

5. said first bottom side has a substantially trapezoidal shape and is comprised of two substantially triangular recesses and two substantially triangular-shaped projections disposed between the walls of such trapezoidal shape, and

6. first left side and first right side comprise two substantially triangular-shaped plugs disposed between the walls of said parallelogram, and

7. one of each of two said triangular projections which is adjacent to said back side has a linear crest which is at a substantially right angle to said front side and said back side,

8. said projections contain one substantially obtuse angle of about 120 degrees,

9. said recesses contain one substantially obtuse angle of about 120 degrees,

(b) each of said first five-sided building block, said second five-sided building block, and said third five-sided building block is comprised of a second top side, a second front side, a second back side, a second right side, and second left side, wherein:

1. said second top side has a substantially rectangular shape and comprises two substantially triangularly shaped recesses and two triangular-shaped projections disposed within said substantially rectangular shape,

2. said second left side and said second right side are congruent with each other and are also congruent with said first left side and said first right side,

3. said second front side is congruent with both said second back side and said first back side; and

(c) one of each of two said triangular projections which is adjacent to said back side has a linear crest which is at a substantially right angle to said front side and said back side,

(d) said projections contain one substantially obtuse angle of about 120 degrees,

(e) said recesses contain one substantially obtuse angle of about 120 degrees.

and I said that said claim is the first claim (of fourteen) in U.S. patent No. 5,873,206 which I wrote and what the hell, said claim is poetry to me.

How gravity works

He cut the binder and grabbed the brick

stacked ‘em high on his hod.

Up on his shoulders, steady now.

On up the ladder, one step at a time.

Carefully places them on the ledge

“bring up more mortar” mason yells

So he does, with hardly a look.

Mason grabs the brick, takes a trowel

scooping into the mortar board,

butters the brick, eyes the placement

reaching to set it -just so- carefully

drops the brick!

Villanelle

There are those that think me daft

for wanting such a block

that keys itself together without any draft.



An undercut creates a draft

a mold won’t release its lock

on a piece and let it free like an iceberg being calved.



A two piece mold comes apart in two pieces halved

molds must slide along the block

without negative angle, or a sticking draft.



It’s a contradiction, a very tricky craft

ripe for many to try and mock:

interlock, no undercut, now they really laughed.



But symmetry both fore and aft

arranged around an interlock

allows a skilled geometer to cast it, with no troubling draft!



Many are those who think me daft

In spite of this tricky block,

they don’t understand this subtle craft

of interlocking, mass-produced, all without a draft.

Chernobyl Accident: 25 years ago today

It was on April 26, 1986 that the Chernobyl nuclear accident occurred.

What does this have to do with masonry?  I talk about it here.

A very few famous masons

Saint Patrick surely was one

Jude the Obscure struck joints

Winston Churchill laid some brick

Ivan Denisovich too

third little pig was no fool.