Interlocking laminated support mat

Abstract

A laminated one-ply support mat comprised of a plurality of individual wood hat includes means for transferring load and interlocking with an adjacent one-ply The laminated one-ply support mat may be suitable for the construction of ads, flooring, or platforms to support heavy equipment. The laminated one-ply ay include a non-laminated member fastened to each side to prevent damage to the laminated support mat. The laminated one-ply support may be comprised of a individual wood laminations fastened together by a plurality of nuts and bolts support mat to be disassembled and repair in the field.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 011,724, filed Dec. 14, 2004, entitled “Laminated Support Mat,” which is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 377,099, filed Feb. 28, 2003, entitled “Method of Making Laminated Wood Beams With Varying Lamination Thickness Throughout the Thickness of the Beam,” which claims priority to U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 394,814, filed Jul. 10, 2002, each of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates generally to an improved laminated one-ply support mat that may interlock with adjacent one-ply support mats to form a temporary road, platform, or flooring. The improved laminated one-ply support mat may be used as a support surface or pathway for heavy equipment to access remote areas to conduct ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0027] The load transfer slot of the mat unit may be wider that the load transfer tab to facilitate insertion of the load transfer tab into a load transfer slot of an adjacent mat unit. The number and configuration of the load transfer structures may be varie

Problems solved by technology

These conditions often make it difficult to access with vehicles and equipment necessary for the exploration and drilling operations.

The nails however can lead to flat tires of equipment, which are often difficult to have repaired due to the remote location of the site.

These systems thus require large amounts of time and manual labor to install and remove.

Additionally, individual boards are often damaged during removal such that they are unsuitable for reuse.

The wood panels are typically untreated with preservative chemicals because of environmental concerns.

Because the timber used to form the panel 10 is expensive, the panel 10 is very costly.

Further, the roadway formed by the panels 10 is very costly because tens of thousands of the panels 10 may be needed for a single construction project.

The use of multiple layer mats has been able to decrease the amount of labor and have been a benefit to the exploration and drilling for oil and gas, but some difficulties do exist in the construction of temporary roads and flooring.

The use of nails to fasten the mat layers together may lead to flat tires on equipment used in these remote areas.

This can be a difficult and frustrating problem because of the remote locations may make it difficult to have the tires repaired.

The weight of each individual multiple layer mat can also present a number of difficulties.

Additionally, the addition of a layer increases the overall size of the mat.

Increases in weight and size may increase both the transportation and the installation costs.

As the road is built, the distance between the storage location and the end of the road increases causing the equipment to travel farther between trips.

Thus, larger mats require the equipment to make more trips to install the mat potentially increasing the cost to install the temporary road.

This space between individual boards can however be problematic.

The installation and removal of the sacrificial layer of wood increases both the installation and material costs associated with the construction of temporary roads, flooring, and platforms.

The ice may clench the bottom layer of the multiple layer mat causing the bottom layer to break off if the operator attempts to remove the map during the winter.

If damaged, the mat can no longer be reused unless it is repaired.

Because of the complex construction of the typical multiple layer mat, the damaged multiple layer mat must often be sent to a repair shop located offsite.

Further, the damage done to the multiple layer mat often leaves fasteners such as nails at the work site, which may cause a flat tire to work equipment as discussed above.

Typical multiple layer support mats used in the industry cannot be repaired in this fashion because layers may need to be removed to fix an underlying board.

Further, the removal of the fasteners (i.e. nails) often may cause individual boards to crack or split.

Although the laminated support mats are generally stronger than multiple layer support mats, the laminated beams forming the outer, longitudinal edges are susceptible to damage if heavy equipment is driven over or along the edge of the support mat.

The individual wood laminations may actually peel away or break off of the laminated support mats when heavy equipment is driven over an exposed edge.

The presence of the counter sunk bore may weaken the laminated beam compromising the strength of the laminated one-ply support mat.

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