Retaining block

Claim 1

A block used in constructing a retaining wall composed of a number of blocks and comprising; a facing wall portion of rectangular construction having a rectangular facing surface, a rectangular rear surface and top, bottom and side surfaces, said top and bottom surfaces of said facing wall portion having tongue and groove means permitting interlocking between blocks, an elongated support bar integral with the facing wall portion having a rectangular cross section and extending rearwardly from the rear surface and having a bottom surface that is substantially flush with the bottom surface of the facing wall portion, said support bar having a width greater than its height and said facing wall portion having its width greater than the width of the support bar, a pair of elongated L-shaped reinforcing rods embedded in the block, each having only one short leg of only a linear rod section embedded in the facing wall portion and only one long leg of only a linear rod section embedded in the support bar, said elongated rods disposed in parallel with each rod forming a cantilever support within the block with the ends of the rod terminating free and in orthogonal directions. a first straight long rod disposed in the facing wall portion parallel to the top surface thereof and means for welding the long rod to the L-shaped rods, a second straight long rod disposed adjacent the joining edge line between the top surface of the support bar and the rear surface of the facing wall portion and means for welding the second rod to the elongated rods at a position between the joining edge line and the bend in the elongated rods between the long and short legs, a plurality of shorter straight rods all disposed in parallel to each other within the support bar and means for welding the shorter rods to the two elongated rods.