RETAINING WALL BLOCK

1 . A mold assembly for use in producing retaining wall blocks comprising:

a horizontal planar bottom member;

a compression head;

a mold box having a plurality of side walls that define a plurality of mold cavities having open mold cavity tops and open mold cavity bottoms, the horizontal planar member enclosing the open mold cavity bottoms of the plurality of mold cavities and the compression head enclosing the open mold cavity tops of the plurality of mold cavities during a block forming process, each of the plurality of mold cavities being shaped to form a single retaining wall block, each retaining wall block having opposed front and rear faces, opposed and substantially parallel top and bottom surfaces, and opposed first and second side surfaces, each of the plurality of mold cavities being oriented such that the first side surface is formed at the bottom of the mold cavity and the second side surface is formed at the top of the mold cavity, one of the side walls of each of the plurality of mold cavities being moveable from an inward block forming position to a retracted discharge position, the moveable sidewall having a three dimensional surface texture or pattern that imparts to the front face of the retaining wall block the three dimensional surface texture or pattern during the block forming process, the sidewalls of each of the plurality of mold cavities being shaped to form a vertically extending flange forming channel that provides the retaining wall block with a flange extending from the rear face downward past the bottom surface of the retaining wall block; and

a core forming member which extends vertically into at least one of the plurality of mold cavities to provide the retaining wall block formed therein with a core extending from the first side surface to the second side surface.

2 . The mold assembly of claim 1 wherein the core forming member is configured to form a plurality of cores extending from the first side surface to the second side surface of the retaining wall block.

3 . The mold assembly of claim 1 wherein the core forming member is configured to form a core having a shape selected from round, oval, rectangular and square.

4 . The mold assembly of claim 1 wherein the compression head includes a lower surface which encloses the open mold cavity tops, the lower surface being angled at an angle α with respect to horizontal such that the second side surface of the retaining wall block formed in each of the plurality of mold cavities during the block forming process forms angle α with respect to the front face of the retaining wall block, and wherein angle α is between about 5° to 20°.

5 . The mold assembly of claim 4 wherein angle α is between about 7½° to 15°.

6 . The mold assembly of claim 1 wherein the sidewalls of each of the plurality of mold cavities are shaped to form a vertically extending ridge that provides the retaining wall block with a flange receiving channel formed into a rear portion of the top surface and an upper portion of the rear face of the retaining wall block.

7 . A mold assembly for use in producing retaining wall blocks comprising:

a horizontal planar bottom member;

a compression head;

a mold box having a plurality of side walls that define a plurality of mold cavities having open mold cavity tops and open mold cavity bottoms, the horizontal planar member enclosing the open mold cavity bottoms of the plurality of mold cavities and the compression head enclosing the open mold cavity tops of the plurality of mold cavities during a block forming process, each of the plurality of mold cavities being shaped to form a single retaining wall block, each retaining wall block having opposed front and rear faces, opposed and substantially parallel top and bottom surfaces, and opposed first and second side surfaces, each of the plurality of mold cavities being oriented such that the first side surface is formed at the bottom of the mold cavity and the second side surface is formed at the top of the mold cavity, one of the side walls of each of the plurality of mold cavities being moveable from an inward block forming position to a retracted discharge position, the moveable sidewall having a three dimensional surface texture or pattern that imparts to the front face of the retaining wall block the three dimensional surface texture or pattern during the block forming process, the sidewalls of each of the plurality of mold cavities being shaped to form a vertically extending flange forming channel that provides the retaining wall block with a flange extending from the rear face downward past the bottom surface of the retaining wall block, the compression head having a lower horizontal surface which encloses the open mold cavity top of at least one mold cavity, the lower surface having a three dimensional surface texture or pattern that imparts to the second sidewall of the retaining wall block formed in the at least one mold cavity a three dimensional surface texture or pattern during the block forming process.

8 . The mold assembly of claim 7 wherein the sidewalls of each of the plurality of mold cavities are shaped to form a vertically extending ridge that provides the retaining wall block with a flange receiving channel formed into a rear portion of the top surface and an upper portion of the rear face of the retaining wall block.

9 . A mold assembly for use in producing retaining wall blocks of a first type and wall blocks of a second type comprising:

a horizontal planar bottom member;

a compression head;

a mold box having a plurality of side walls that define a plurality of mold cavities having open mold cavity tops and open mold cavity bottoms, at least one of the plurality of mold cavities being configured to form the first type block and the remainder of the mold cavities being configured to form the second type block, the horizontal planar member enclosing the open mold cavity bottoms of the plurality of mold cavities and the compression head having one or more horizontal surfaces for enclosing the open mold cavity top of the at least one mold cavity configured to form the first type block and the compression head having one or more angled surfaces for enclosing the open mold tops of the remainder of the plurality of mold cavities used to form the second type block during a block forming process, each of the plurality of mold cavities being shaped to form a single retaining wall block, each of the first and second block types having opposed front and rear faces, opposed and substantially parallel top and bottom surfaces, and opposed first and second side surfaces, each of the plurality of mold cavities being oriented such that the first side surface is formed at the bottom of the mold cavity and the second side surface is formed at the top of the mold cavity, one of the side walls of each of the plurality of mold cavities being moveable from an inward block forming position to a retracted discharge position, the moveable sidewall having a three dimensional surface texture or pattern that imparts to the front face of the retaining wall block the three dimensional surface texture or pattern during the block forming process, the sidewalls of each of the plurality of mold cavities being shaped to form a vertically extending flange forming channel that provides the retaining wall block with a flange extending from the rear face downward past the bottom surface of the retaining wall block; and

a core forming member which extends vertically into each of the remainder of the plurality of mold cavities used to form the second type block to provide the second type block formed therein with a core extending from the first side surface to the second side surface.

10 . The mold assembly of claim 9 wherein the one or more horizontal surfaces of the compression head have a three dimensional surface texture or pattern that imparts to the second sidewall of the first type block a three dimensional surface texture or pattern during the block forming process.

11 . A method of making a plurality of retaining wall blocks comprising:

providing a mold assembly including a pallet, a compression head, a mold box having a plurality of side walls that define a plurality of mold cavities having open mold cavity tops and open mold cavity bottoms, and a core forming member that extends vertically into each of the plurality of mold cavities from the mold cavity top to the mold cavity bottom, each of the plurality of mold cavities being shaped to form a single retaining wall block, each retaining wall block having opposed front and rear faces, opposed and substantially parallel top and bottom surfaces, a flange extending from the rear face downward past the bottom surface, opposed first and second side surfaces and a core that extends between the first and second side surfaces, each of the plurality of mold cavities being oriented such that the first side surface is formed at the bottom of the mold cavity and the second side surface is formed at the top of the mold cavity, the sidewalls of each of the plurality of mold cavities being shaped to form a vertically extending flange forming channel, one of the side walls of each of the plurality of mold cavities being moveable from an inward block forming position to a retracted discharge position, the moveable side walls having a three dimensional surface texture or pattern;

positioning the pallet beneath the mold box to enclose the mold cavity bottoms;

filling the mold cavities with dry cast concrete while the moveable side walls are in the inward block forming position;

lowering the compression head to enclose the open mold cavity tops and compress the dry cast concrete within the plurality of mold cavities;

moving the moveable side walls from the inward block forming position to the retracted discharge position; and

lowering the pallet and the compression head to strip the dry cast concrete from the plurality of mold cavities.

12 . The method of claim 11 wherein the core forming member is configured to form a plurality of cores extending from the first side surface to the second side surface of the retaining wall block.

13 . The method of claim 11 wherein the core forming member is configured to form a core having a shape selected from round, oval, rectangular and square.

14 . The method of claim 11 wherein the compression head includes a lower surface which encloses the open mold cavity tops, the lower surface being angled at an angle α with respect to horizontal such that the second side surface of the retaining wall block formed in each of the plurality of mold cavities during the block forming process forms angle α with respect to the front face of the retaining wall block, and wherein angle α is between about 5° to 20°.

15 . The method of claim 14 wherein angle α is between about 7½° to 15°.

16 . The method of claim 11 wherein the sidewalls of each of the plurality of mold cavities are shaped to form a vertically extending ridge that provides the retaining wall block with a flange receiving channel formed into a rear portion of the top surface and an upper portion of the rear face of the retaining wall block.