US 11,873,717 B2
Polymer mesh with reinforcing bands for skin control in hard rock mining
John Steffenino, Homer City, PA (US)
Assigned to TENSAR CORPORATION, LLC, Alpharetta, GA (US)
Filed by TENSAR CORPORATION, LLC, Alpharetta, GA (US)
Filed on Apr. 12, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/718,694.
Application 17/718,694 is a continuation of application No. 16/862,894, filed on Apr. 30, 2020, granted, now 11,333,018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/846,080, filed on May 10, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0372876 A1, Nov. 24, 2022
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. E21D 11/00 (2006.01); E21D 11/15 (2006.01); G01N 3/20 (2006.01)
CPC E21D 11/006 (2013.01) [E21D 11/152 (2013.01); G01N 3/20 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A polymer mesh for securing to a mine strata for skin control, said polymer mesh comprising:
a plurality of polymer strands spaced from and substantially parallel with one another extending in a machine direction;
a plurality of polymer strands spaced from and substantially parallel with one another extending in a cross-machine direction and intersecting the plurality of machine direction polymer strands to create a mesh structure; and
at least one pair of substantially parallel solid bands having a length that extends in one of the machine and cross-machine directions, each of the solid bands being a band that includes a plurality of closely adjacent strands which together function as an uninterrupted single band, the pair of solid bands being separated by a distance of at least the diameter of an applicable bolt to create an elongated reinforced aperture between the bands, said reinforced aperture being traversed by the plurality of polymer strands that run transverse to the direction of the bands.