System of self-tamping pavement formed by two reciprocally penetrated sets of blocks substantially of truncated pyramid shape

Claim 1

A system of articulated pavement comprised of a pair of sets of identical prefabricated blocks, each block being in the form of a regular octagonal base prism and a square base prism separated by a square base truncated prism having a larger base toward the octagonal base and a smaller base toward the square base prism, the sides of the larger base of said truncated pyramid being equal to twice the apothem of the base of the octagonal prism, the sides of the smaller base of the truncated pyramid being equal to the sides of the base of said octagonal prism, whereby four edges of the larger base of said truncated prism are parallel to and join four faces of said octagonal prism, the trihedrons of the larger base of said truncated prism being removed which extend beyond the vertical secant planes of the four faces of the octangonal prism which are not parallel to edges of the larger base of said truncated pyramid, said square base prism having sides equal to the sides of the smaller base of said truncated pyramid and heights equal to the height of said octagonal prism, one set of said blocks having its octagonal bases extending downwardly and the other set of blocks being arranged with its octagonal bases facing upwardly, the blocks of said sets being inserted one into the other, whereby the upper and lower surfaces of the blocks of one set are parallel with the lower and upper surfaces respectively of the blocks of the other set, the blocks of the two sets being vertiCally overlapped whereby each square surface of a block at the surface of the pavement is surrounded by four octagonal surfaces of the blocks of the other set and vice versa.

Claim 2

A system of articulated pavement comprised of a pair of sets of identical prefabricated blocks, each block being in the form of a regular octagonal base prism and a square base prism separated by a square base truncated prism having a larger base toward the octagonal base and a smaller base toward the square base prism, the sides of the larger base of said truncated pyramid being equal to twice the apothem of the base of the octagonal prism, the sides of the smaller base of the truncated pyramid being equal to the sides of the base of said octagonal prism, whereby four edges of the larger base of said truncated prism are parallel to and join four faces of said octagonal prism, the trihedrons of the larger base of said truncated prism being removed which extend beyond the vertical secant planes of the four faces of the octangonal prism which are not parallel to edges of the larger base of said truncated pyramid, said square base prism having sides equal to the sides of the smaller base of said truncated pyramid and heights equal to the height of said octagonal prism, one set of said blocks having its octagonal bases extending downwardly and the other set of blocks being arranged with its octagonal bases facing upwardly, the blocks of said sets being inserted one into the other, whereby the upper and lower surfaces of the blocks of one set are parallel with the lower and upper surfaces respectively of the blocks of the other set, the blocks of the two sets being vertiCally overlapped whereby each square surface of a block at the surface of the pavement is surrounded by four octagonal surfaces of the blocks of the other set and vice versa.