Portable beam mat with recessed lifting pockets
This is a modular temporary flooring mat made from side-by-side elongate beams bolted together with transverse connectors and tensioners. Two adjacent beams have matching end notches that form a recess holding a through-connector in a rigid sleeve, and pockets in beam tops house rotatable couplers so the mat can be lifted with slings or hooks; intended for supporting heavy equipment on soft ground and for use by contractors, oilfield crews and rigging suppliers.
(57) What the patent covered
The main independent claim covered a mat made of multiple side-by-side elongate beams where two adjacent beams have contiguous notches at an end forming a recess through the mat, transverse connectors pass through all beams, and releasable tighteners control the fit between adjacent beams. The claim requires the notches be formed only in part of the upper surface and contiguous with the beam ends, and connectors extend transversely through each beam.
The distinctive part: The detail that set it apart was the contiguous end notches that create a recessed bore lined by a rigid sleeve around a transverse connector, combined with top-surface pockets holding rotatable couplers for lifting.
Novelty 3/5. This is a practical improvement on familiar timber or composite mat systems and removable lifting eyes, the unique feature was the notched recess with a sleeved transverse connector rather than a simple embedded lifting loop.
Making it
Injection-mold or extrude beams (plastic) or mill beams (wood/metal), stamp/forge steel sleeves and coupler hardware, drill or mold transverse holes, assemble by inserting connectors through beams, add sleeves and washers, then fit nuts/tensioners by hand.
Materials: HDPE or other structural plastic (likely), Steel for transverse connectors and sleeves, Stamped or forged steel for couplers/eyes, Nyloc nuts or threaded tension bolts (steel)
Manufacturability 4/5. Beams are repeated molded/extruded parts with common stamped/forged hardware; assembly requires several fasteners and sealing of pockets but no electronics or precision machining beyond drilled/transverse holes.
Is anyone buying?
We haven't run a demand check on this one yet. Shoppers would likely search for portable rigging mat lifting eye, beamed ground mat with lifting pockets, temporary flooring mat for heavy equipment; the links on the right open those searches.
Who buys it: contractors, oilfield rigging crews, equipment movers
Before you make it
We didn't find any related continuation or divisional patents still in force, although that doesn't rule out design patents, trademarks or unrelated patents covering the same product.
Claims are fairly specific to the notched recessed connector and pocketed couplers, and the market is crowded with timber and plastic mat suppliers, check material strength and coupling hardware ratings for lifting/certification concerns.
Owners occasionally revive lapsed patents (about 1.5% are), and this page is a research lead rather than legal advice, so get a freedom-to-operate opinion before you manufacture anything.