Masonry units having removable flanges

Claim 1

In a masonry block for constructing a wall having a plurality of overlapping courses with the masonry blocks being arranged in the same direction and in which said masonry blocks have front faces which simulate cooperating multiple units and rear faces having generally vertically aligned flanges for supporting sheet material, the improvement comprising, a generally rectangular masonry block having front and rear faces and end walls, said front face of each block having designs and partial designs which cooperate with the designs of contiguous blocks to form an overall design on the wall, the design on each of said masonry blocks being arranged so that said masonry blocks of one course are overlapped a predetermined amount relative to the blocks of adjacent courses, said rear face of each masonry block having a pair of generally parallel vertically disposed flanges extending rearwardly therefrom, one of said flanges being spaced from one end of said masonry block a distance corresponding to the distance to be overlapped, the other of said flanges being spaced from said one flange a distance substantially equal to the distance to be overlapped, and each of said flanges being connected to said rear face by a reduced neck defining a weakened portion, whereby when a plurality of masonry blocks are arranged in overlapping courses said one flange of one masonry block is vertically aligned with said other flange of said masonry blocks of adjacent courses after which the non-aligned flanges are removed.