The present invention relates to an industrial mat for use in construction sites that require heavy lifting, crane support stabilization, temporary areas for installation of pipelines or bridges, and other support structures in locations where the ground requires grading and stabilization to provide a flat support surface for such equipment or activities.
Conventional industrial mats are typically 4 feet wide and utilize beams having square or rectangular cross sections of sizes between 8×8 inch to 16×16 inch that are up to 40 feet in length. Typically, the beams are made of oak and preferably white oak as that material provides acceptable performance of the mats for a significant service life at a reasonable cost. Such mats are available from Quality Mat Company, Beaumont, Tex. These mats, which are often called timber mats or crane mats, typically utilize virgin wood that is shaped and cut to length to meet design demands. Due to weather conditions and other environmental factors, however, the availability of trees that can be harvested to make such large size and length beams is reduced, thus making it difficult to obtain suitable quantities to make large numbers of mats.
Accordingly, alternatives are needed for industrial mat constructions to conserve the amount of wood beams that need to be included. Also, the materials that may be considered as alternatives need to possess the necessary physical properties to be able to withstand harsh outdoor conditions as well as to support heavy equipment. And of course cost is a factor in determining the selection of alternate materials, as it is not cost-effective to provide a mat that is multiple times more expensive than one that can be made of wood.
Additionally, there are concerns regarding the lifting and movement of such mats. In the past, lifting, manipulation and placement of the mats were facilitated by exposing part of the joining member for grasping by a lifting hook of a crane or other heavy piece of equipment. While the exposure of the joining or connecting rod facilitated lifting or moving operations, it presented an issue in that workers could inadvertently step into over the open hole that was provided around the connecting rod. Thus, other designs are needed to provide more safely to personnel working on these mats.
The present invention now satisfies this need in the art for such alternative constructions by providing newly designed industrial mats that exhibit improved performance over total wood mats at a competitive cost. These new mats also include improved structures and arrangements for lifting and manipulation of the mats. The new mats also avoid the reliance upon long wood beams for the entire mat construction as in the past.