The Tensar Corporation

Sandvik Rock Tools, Inc.

John E Steffenino

Timothy J Shean

Joseph C Zelanko

C Dempsey Holstein, Jr

A roll of grid material for mine roof support, and a mining machine in combination with such a roll, in which the roll has bands of adhering material injected or otherwise forced into the roll in spaced locations along the roll's width. The adhering material interconnects the overlapped layers within the roll and is sufficiently strong to hold the grid material in the rolled configuration for transport and storage, and yet is readily pulled apart in response to sufficient manual or mechanical pressure applied against the roll, or tension applied to the unwound portion thereof, so as to enable the grid material to be incrementally unwound and installed in the mine. The rolls can be installed using a range of mining machines without need for any specialized dispensing or other apparatus mounted on the machine and without the need for any mechanical device to control unwinding.

Free-wheeling-resistant rolls for mining roof support and the combination of a mining machine and such rolls

A roll of grid material for mine roof support, and a mining machine in combination with such a roll, in which the roll has bands of adhering material injected or otherwise forced into the roll in spaced locations along the roll's width. The adhering material interconnects the overlapped layers within the roll so that the roll is self-resistant to unrolling. Also provided is a method of making such a roll including the steps of winding a length of polymeric mesh material into a roll and applying an adhering material to the mesh material. The adhering material has sufficient strength to hold the roll in a wound configuration and prevent the roll from free-wheeling or unwinding due to the roll's own physical properties.

A mine tunnel ventilation control device and method for constructing same quickly with an easily transportable matrix material to provide a rigid flame retardant barrier wall. The air flow stopping includes a peripheral frame extending about and across a tunnel opening to which is secured a matrix material, preferably in the form of a composite including a sheet of very strong grid material, such as a biaxially oriented integral geogrid or the like, bonded to a sheet of a textile material, such as a non-woven, needle punched, geofabric or the like which spans the apertures of the geogrid. At least one side of the matrix material, and preferably both sides, are covered with a sealant composition to prevent passage of air through the mine stopping and to develop structural rigidity.

Mine stopping

A grid layout system including a grid dispenser mounted on a boom of a continuous miner for movement with a cutting drum to cut a passageway in a rock face. A roll of grid material, such as integral biaxially oriented geogrid, is fed from the dispenser and maintained under tension as it is positioned against the ceiling of the passageway to be secured thereto as a supplemental support. The tensioning device takes up any slack in the grid material during the cutting operation to preclude engagement of the grid material with the cutting drum. The edges of the grid material are longitudinally folded over the middle section and temporarily held in this manner to provide the roll of the grid material within the dispenser with a width less than the cutting drum. A spreader bar opens the grid material to its full width as it is dispensed.

Growing community of inventors

Bristol, TN, United States of America

John E Steffenino