| CPC B65D 88/30 (2013.01) [B65G 65/42 (2013.01); B60P 3/226 (2013.01)] | 30 Claims |
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29. A method of transporting proppant to a wellsite that includes one or more wells, the method comprising:
transporting a plurality of trailers to a proppant-loading site, each of the trailers comprising one or more containers;
at the proppant-loading site, loading proppant into the container(s) of each of first and second ones of the trailers;
forming a long combination vehicle that includes a truck and the first and second trailers at least by coupling:
the first trailer to the truck; and
the second trailer to the first trailer; and
driving the long combination vehicle from the proppant-loading site to the wellsite after proppant is loaded into the container(s) of each of the first and second trailers at the proppant-loading site, wherein when the long combination vehicle drives from the proppant-loading site to the wellsite less than 1% of a distance that the long combination vehicle drives is on a public road;
wherein:
the proppant-loading site is a proppant depot;
the truck of the long combination vehicle is a first truck;
when a third one of the trailers is transported to the proppant depot:
the third trailer is coupled to a second truck; and
the container(s) of the third trailer contain proppant; and
loading proppant into the container(s) of each of the first and second trailers at the proppant depot comprises:
transferring proppant from the container(s) of the third trailer to a silo while the third trailer is coupled to the second truck; and
transferring proppant from the silo to the container(s) of each of the first and second trailers while the first trailer is coupled to the first truck and the second trailer is coupled to the first trailer.
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