US2315448A - Reticulated mat assembly - Google Patents

Description

March 30, 1943. 4 H. NAGIN Erin; 2,315,443

RETICULATED MAT ASSEMBLY Filed Oct. 18, 1940 s Shetseat 1 March 30, 1943; H, NAGIN ETAL; 2,315,448

RETICULATED MAT ASSEMBLY Filed Oct. 18, 1940 -s Sheets-Sheet 2 ,Marchso, 1943. H. mam AL 2,315,448

RETICULATED- MAT ASSEMBLY Filed 00%..18, 1940 s SheetS SheQt s lea)? M Patented Mar. 30, 1943 RETICULATED' MAT ASSEBELY Harry Nagin and Leon Nagin, Pittsburgh, Pa., as-

signors to Reliance Steel Products Company, McKeesport, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application October 18, 1940, Serial No. 361,806

6 Claims.

This invention relates to the construction of reticulated mat assemblies and, more specifically, to the construction of landing mats for use as aeroplane landing fields on otherwise unuseable terrain.

It has been heretofore proposed to construct landing fields by assembling a plurality of reticulated units to form a landin stage. All such devices, however, with which we are familiarhave the disadvantage of being difficult to assemble, and in event of destruction of one of the units of the mat in any way, its replacement either requirs considerable time and labor or is substantially impossible.

An important object of this invention is the provision of a mat of this character which may be very readily and cheaply manufactured, and rapidly assembled and disassembled.

' A further and more important object of the invention is the provision in a construction of thi character of an arrangement such that any individual unit of the mat may be removed and replaced immediately without disturbing any of the surrounding units.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a novel and improved method of interconnecting the units of the completed mat.

These-and other objects'we attain by the construction shown in the accompanying drawings wherein, for the purpose of illustration, we have shown a "preferred embodiment and wherein: 7

Fig. 1 i a send-diagrammatic perspective view showing "a landing mat constructed inaccordance with our invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of a mat illustrating themethod of assembly;

Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail plan view of aportion :of the mat structure showing the method of aligning and connecting the units;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective view showing two adjacent units and. illustrating the construction of the side and end members;

, Fig. .6 .is a fragmentary perspective view showing the construction of the opposite end of the mat from that illustrated in Fig. 5;

Fig. '7 is a perspective view of one of the wedge fasteners employed;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail sectional view illustrating the manner of uncoupling or coupling the mat units in event of damage to one thereof;

Fig. 9 is a section on line '9-9 of Fig. '4; and

Figs. 10 and 11 are detail perspective views of our invention illustrating various methods of reinforcing the bars at the wedge-receiving slots thereof.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the numeral it generally designates an individual unit of the completed mat, a portion of which is illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 1 of the drawings. Each unit i preferably rectangular in form and comprises a side and an end member, I I and I2 respectively, formed of flat bar steel and which are, at spaced intervals, offset inwardly, as indicated at is, these offset portions being formed to provide a fiat seat H! which is perforated, as at l5, to receive the shank Id of a wedge element which is permanently located in the opening of the seat and has at one end a fixed polygonal head I! for engagement by a wrench and at its opposite end a wedge head It, the extent of the offsets [3 being such that the wedge head I8 may be completely located within the offset, for a purpose presently to appear. The wedge head I 8 has flat parallel sides I 9 which are preferably substantially co-planar with the walls of the shank, while its end faces 20 diverge sharply and oppose the polygonal head H.

The remaining side and end members, indicated at 2! and 22 respectively, are likewise composed of fiat bars, and these end members have .slots 23 of a width to receive a wedge head [8 of the opposed side or end member I6 or I l of associated units. The shank I6 of the wedge element is of such length that when the head I i is seated upon seat i l, the wedge surfaces 20 are positioned to have wedging engagement with the side edges of slot 23 when the Wedge element :is rotated, this wedging causing a slight spring- 'ing of the bars H and 21, or l2 and 22 and affording a secure connection between the sides and ends of the adjacent units. In order to avoid too extensive springing of the bars 2! and 22, which naturally will be weakened by the formation of the slots 23 therein, these bars may be suitably reinforced at or adjacent the slot in any suitable manner. In Fig. 10 we have shown the edges of the slot as slightly swedged at 23a to provide a reinforcing rib about the edges of the slot, while in Fig. 11 we have shown the bars 2| and 22 as pressed at 2% to form longitudinal ribs thereon paralleling the slots at opposite sides thereof.

To assist in aligning mat sections i0 during assembly so that the wedge elements of one section will be properly related to the slots of associated sections, an end bar of each section is formed in its upper edge with a notch 24, and the side bars of the section have their terminals,

at the opposite end from the notched end bar, formed as projecting hook portions 25 to engage in the notches 24 of an associated section. The bills of the hook portions 25 have their inner faces curved outwardly, as indicated at 26 so that these hook portions may be disengaged for a purpose presently to appear.

The end members l2 and 22 of each unit are connected by a series of parallel bearing bars 21 which may well be formed of the same material as that from which the side and end members are formed. The side members H and 2| are connected to one another and to the bearing bars 21 by transversely extending cross bars 28 which may be conveniently formed from round bar stock, as shown. These cross bars have their upper surfaces substantially coplanar with the upper surfaces of the bearing bars and side and end bars; and the bearing bars, cross bars, and side and end bars are welded to one another at all points of contact, as indicated. The lower edges of the side members and bearing bars may be bonded to one another by tie rods 29, these tie rods being installed in the same manner as the cross bars 28 and serving to further rigidify the structure.

In assembling a landing mat from units of this character, a single unit is placed upon the ground, following which two units are placed against the (previously laid unit with the end members l2 thereof in engagement with the end member 22 of the original unit, the hooks 25 at adjacent sides of the last-laid units being engaged in the notch 24 of the originally laid unit. This will bring the wedge fasteners of the last-laid units along adjacent side members thereof into alignment with the slots 23 in which they are to engage, it being understood that during the assembly the wedge elements are withdrawn into the offsets [3 so that they will not interfere with proper laying of the units. Similarly, portions of the wedge fasteners at the ends of the lastlaid sections will be aligned with the slots in the end member 22 of the originally laid section. The sections are then fastened together by the wedge fasteners and other Sections similarly positioned until the landing mat is complete.

In event a unit of the landing mat is damaged to an extent requiring its removal, this may be readily accomplished by releasing the wedge fasteners of the damaged unit and then elevating that end of the unit having the end member 12. The bills of the hooks of the units engaged with the opposite end of the damaged unit will then serve as pivots about which the unit may be rotated to disengage the same by continuing the elevation until the damaged unit is completely disengaged from the hook, following which it may be removed by shifting the same in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 8. Through a reversal of this process, a fresh section may be inserted in the gap thus formed.

Obviously, a mat of this character is subjected to rough usage, being subjected to impact in the landing and launching of aeroplanes and in many cases to the necessary passage thereover of laden vehicles, such as ambulances, fuel supply trucks, etc. The resultant vibration may, in some cases have a tendency to cause loosening of the wedge locks employed, and for this reason some means is preferably provided for resisting rotation of these looks from their locking position. This may be readily accomplished by providing seats H with projecting shallow ribs Ma which will oppose a facet of the head when the locking member is in its locking position and, accordingly, prevent rotation of the locking member which will be held in engagement with the surface of the head through the spring action resulting from the pressure engagement of the wedge head 18. These ribs may be made sufficiently shallow so that they will not offer undue resistance to rotation of the wedge locks to their operative position.

Since the construction illustrated is obviously capable of considerable modification without departing from the spirit of our invention, we do not wish to be understood as limiting ourselves thereto except as hereinafter claimed.

We claim:

1. A landing mat comprising a series of detachably connected units, each unit comprising a polygonal grate having side members and having an adjacent pair of said side members provided with coves in their outer faces, quick-detachable rotatable fastener elements permanently associated with said side members and each including an irregularly shaped fastener head disposable in one of said coves and within the confines of the unit, the remaining side members of each unit having openings for the passage of the heads of the fasteners of associated units, a side member of each unit having at the upper portion thereof a rigid downwardly facing projecting hook portion adapted for engagement in a notch in a side member of an associated unit, said hook portions having rounded bill elements permitting disengagement of associated units by rotation of a given unit about the bill portion of the hook of an associated unit as a pivot.

2. A landing mat comprising a series of detachably connected units, each unit comprising a polygonal grate having side members and having an adjacent pair of said side members provided with coves in their outer faces, quick-detachable rotatable fastener elements permanently associated with said side members and each including a wedge-shaped transversely elongated fastener head disposable in one of said coves and within the confines of the unit, the remaining side members of each unit having elongated slots for the passage of said heads, and means on each unit detachably engaging an associated unit for aligning the fastener elements of each unit with the coacting means of associated units.

3. A landing mat comprising a series of detachably connected units, each unit comprising a polygonal grate having side members and having an adjacent pair of said side members provided with coves in their outer faces, quick-detachable rotatable fastener elements permanently associated with said side members and each including a wedge-shaped transversely elongated fastener head disposable in one of said coves and within the confines of the unit, the remaining side members of each unit having elongated slots for the passage of said heads, a side member of each unit having at the upper portion thereof a rigid downwardly facing projecting hook portion adapted for engagement in a notch in a side member of an associated unit. said hook portions having rounded bill elements permitting disengagement of associated units by rotation of a given unit about the bill portion of an associated unit as a pivot.

4. A landing mat comprising a series of detachably connected units, each unit comprising a polygonal grate having side members and having an adjacent pair of said side members provided with coves in their outer faces, quick-detachable axially rotatable and longitudinally shiftable fastener elements permanently associated with said side members and each including a wedge-shaped transversely elongated fastener head disposable in one of said coves and within the confines of the unit by longitudinal shifting of the element, the remaining side members of each unit having elongated slots for the passage of said heads, and means for yieldably maintaining said heads in position when the same have been rotated to a position transverse to the associated opening.

5. A landing mat comprising a series of detachably connected units, each unit comprising a polygonal grate having side members and having an adjacent pair of said side members provided with coves in their outer faces, quick-detachable axially rotatable and longitudinally shiftable fastener elements permanently associated with said side members and each including a Wedge-shaped transversely elongated fastener head disposable in one of said coves and within the confines of the unit by longitudinal shifting of the element, the remaining side members of each unit having elongated slots for the passage of said heads, means for yieldably maintaining said heads in position when the same have been rotated to a position transverse to the associated opening, and means on each unit detachably engaging an associated unit for aligning the fastener elements of each unit with the coacting means of associated units.

6. A landing mat comprising a series of detachably connected units, each unit comprising a polygonal grate having side members and having an adjacent pair of said side members provided with coves in their outer faces, quick-detachable rotatable fastener elements permanently associated with said side members and each including a wedge-shaped transversely elongated fastener head disposable in one of said coves and within the confines of the unit, the remaining side members of each unit having elongated slots for the passage of said heads, and means for yieldably maintaining said heads in position when the same have been rotated to a position transverse to the associated opening, a side member of each unit having a projecting hook portion adapted for engagement in a notch of a side member of an associated unit, said hook portions having rounded bill elements permitting disengagement of associated units by rotation of a given unit about the bill portion of an associated unit as a pivot.

HARRY NAGIN. LEON NAGIN.

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