Nested mine roof supports

Abstract

This invention is directed to a means for transporting a mine roof support set including a plurality of nested containers. Each container in the set has a progressively smaller cross-sectional dimension, or a tapered, frusto-conical shape, to allow the containers to be nested one within the other. The plurality of nested containers allows more efficient transportation of the mine roof support set to a mine site. The containers can be separated at the mine site and filled with a load-bearing material. The containers filled with the load-bearing material are then placed with their longitudinal axis between a mine roof and a mine floor.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This patent application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 13 / 684,773 having a filing date of Nov. 26, 2012, entitled “NESTED MINE ROOF SUPPORTS”, which application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 563,976 having a filing date of Nov. 28, 2011, entitled “NESTED MINE ROOF SUPPORTS”; and of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 13 / 091,849 having a filing date of Apr. 21, 2011, entitled “PUMPABLE SUPPORT WITH CLADDING”, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 326,847 and having a filing date of Apr. 22, 2010, entitled “PUMPABLE SUPPORT WITH CLADDING”, all of which applications are hereby incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates generally to mine roof supports and, more particularly, to a set of mine roof supports designed to be nested.[0004]2. Description of Related Art[0005]Various roof sup...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Deep mining results in removal of material from the interior of a mine, thereby leaving unsupported voids of various sizes within the mine.

These unsupported voids are conducive to mine roof buckling and / or collapse.

It is not economical to transport such containers for a mine roof support from the manufacturing site to the mine because of their overall size, which can be up to 15 feet in length and 72 inches in diameter, and weight.

Therefore, the number of these containers which may be placed on a truck or railcar for transportation is limited by the volume of space that they occupy and not by their weight.

Transportation costs are usually computed based on the distance that a load travels and not how efficiently it uses the available capacity of the transportation vehicle.

Thus, the inefficient utilization of the available transportation capacity due to the combination of the high volume and low weight of the containers for the mine roof support results in high transportation costs relative to a load which more efficiently utilizes the capacity of the transportation vehicle.

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