Earth retaining wall of vertically stacked chevron shaped concrete blocks

Claim 1

A retaining wall for the limitation and containment of sloping earth banks and the like including a plurality of individual moulded blocks of concrete or the like arranged in horizontal courses vertically stacked one above the other, characterized by: (a) each block being generally chevron-shaped with a convex, angled upper surface and a concave, correspondingly angled lower surface, with the upper surfaces of the blocks in the intermediate courses being matingly received in the lower surfaces of the blocks in a course immediately above, (b) the opposite sides of each block facing towards and away from the earth bank being oriented in downwardly converging planes so that the upper surface of each block is wider than its lower surface, (c) the wider upper surfaces of the blocks in each intermediate course defining upwardly facing shoulders that project outwardly both towards and away from the earth bank from the edges of the narrower lower surfaces of the blocks in the course immediately above, and (d) the shoulders that project outwardly away from the earth bank being defined by generally horizontal surfaces disposed at an inclined angle to the adjacent upper surfaces of the blocks, to thereby provide outwardly extending steps.