Hydraulic and earth engineering – Earth treatment or control – Ground stabilization or reinforcement
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-02
2004-11-30
Lagman, Frederick L. (Department: 3673)
Hydraulic and earth engineering
Earth treatment or control
Ground stabilization or reinforcement
C405S302600, C405S015000, C256S012500
Reexamination Certificate
active
06824332
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not Applicable
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable
MICROFICHE APPENDIX
Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of soil erosion control. More specifically, the invention comprises a new method of manufacturing and packing sections of silt fence.
2. Description of the Related Art
Soil erosion is a constant problem in construction work, where the bare soil must often be left exposed to rain for considerable periods. Traditionally, hay bails were staked to the ground in order to slow water run-off down bare slopes. While effective, this technique was labor intensive and had inherent shipping and storage problems—owing to the weight of the bales. The more modem approach is to use silt fencing.
A silt fence is a porous barrier fabric which is attached to and stretched between a number of stakes. The stakes are driven into the ground in positions needed to stretch the fabric across the anticipated direction of water flow. The fabric is designed to allow the passage of water, but to encourage the deposition of any sediment being carried in the water. The result is that sediment builds up on the upstream side of the fabric, with the silt fence ultimately tending to bury itself.
Numerous prior art patents pertain to silt fences and methods of producing and installing them. These prior art patent include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,158,923, 6,053,665, 5,944,114, 5,921,709, 5,915,878, 5,622,448, 5,345,741, and 4,756,511.
FIG. 1
illustrates a typical prior art silt fence. A plurality of evenly spaced stakes
12
are provided. Silt fabric
10
is placed over stakes
12
, then affixed to stakes
12
by staples or other fastening means. The user places the fence in position by driving points
16
of stakes
12
into the ground, with the lower portion of silt fabric
10
being buried in a shallow trench.
While
FIG. 1
illustrates the components of a silt fence, it does not accurately reflect how such fences are typically manufactured.
FIG. 2
shows roll
28
, which is formed by a plurality of stakes
12
attached to silt fabric
10
. A silt fence is typically made by chucking center stake
36
in a rotating carriage, then attaching the starting end of silt fabric
10
to it. Center stake
36
is then rotated to wind silt fabric
10
around itself. At fixed intervals, another stake
12
is brought in and stapled to silt fabric
10
. The winding continues until a complete roll
28
is formed. It is then taped, tied, or banded to lock it in position for transportation and storage.
FIG. 2
illustrates roll
28
having eight stakes
12
. Roll
28
can be made larger or smaller. Those skilled in the art will realize that the prior art manufacturing process described is an intermittent one; i.e., once a roll is formed, the process is stopped to remove that roll and start forming a new one. This represents a disadvantage, in that it limits the speed of production. It also causes problems with any printing performed on silt fabric
10
. Many purchasers want to have their names and logos printed on the silt fabric itself The best printing methods for this purpose are those using a wet printing plate. The printing dyes employed are dissolved in a liquid carrier, which must be quite volatile (in order for the printing to dry rapidly). Thus, the wet printing process is very sensitive to any pauses in the production. If the feed of silt fabric
10
is halted for significant periods, the dye solutions will dry on the printing plate and the print quality will deteriorate. The prior art intermittent production process therefore compromises printing quality on silt fabric
10
.
The roll method has two additional drawbacks. First, rolls
28
do not stack efficiently, since their circular cross section inherently produces wasted space. Second, roll
28
is cumbersome to install. Those skilled in the art will realize that roll
28
—as illustrated in FIG.
2
—is modestly sized. Often these rolls will be 100 feet long. A typical installation would be in the range of 100 feet to 10,000 feet long. It is very cumbersome to unroll many hundreds of feet of silt fencing packaged in the roll form.
It is also fairly common to need a length which is less than the entire roll. In such a case, the user must lift roll
28
by its ends and unroll the needed amount. The user then cuts the needed amount free from the rest of the roll. As roll
28
can be heavy, this approach often means that two people are needed.
Alternatively, the user can unroll roll
28
by rolling it along the ground until the needed amount is laid flat. The user then removes the needed amount and re-rolls roll
28
. This approach requires the user to lift a heavy object (roll
28
) off the back of a truck, perform the operation, and then lift it back on to the truck.
Accordingly, the prior art methods of packing silt fencing are limited in that they:
1. Typically require an intermittent manufacturing process, thereby limiting production speed and compromising print quality;
2. Do not lend themselves to efficient packing; and
3. Render the silt fence cumbersome to deploy.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention eliminates the disadvantages inherent in the prior art by placing the silt fence in a flat-pack configuration. With reference to
FIG. 4
, stakes
12
are evenly spaced and silt fabric
10
is evenly draped over them by any suitable means to form a series of loops
14
. Silt fabric
10
is then attached to each stake
12
at the point where it drapes over each stake
12
.
Stakes
12
are then moved closer to each other as shown in
FIG. 6
, with the result that loops
14
grow longer and more narrow.
FIG. 7
shows stakes
12
bunched tightly together, with the result that loops
14
are now very long and very narrow. As stakes
12
are held in position, loops
14
are then wrapped around stakes
12
as indicated by the arrow.
FIG. 8
shows stakes
12
—still being held in position—with loops
14
wrapped around them. In
FIG. 9
, securing straps
24
have been placed around the assembly to create flat pack
26
. This entire process can be carried out on a linear assembly line without intermittently stopping the motion.
The objects and advantages of the present invention are:
1. To provide an improved method of packing and storing silt fence which can be carried out on a linear assembly line without intermittently stopping the linear motion;
2. To provide an improved method of packing and storing silt fence which does not waste storage space; and
3. To provide an improved method of packing and storing silt fence which enables the user to easily pull off a short section of silt fence without having to lift the entire pack.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4606070 (1986-08-01), Schachter
patent: 4756511 (1988-07-01), Wright, III
patent: 4969500 (1990-11-01), Makosa
patent: 5029819 (1991-07-01), Kane
patent: 5039250 (1991-08-01), Janz
patent: 5054507 (1991-10-01), Sparks
patent: 5865355 (1999-02-01), Camara
patent: 5937883 (1999-08-01), Camara
patent: 6053665 (2000-04-01), Richardson
patent: 6092792 (2000-07-01), Camara
patent: 6142704 (2000-11-01), Coyne
patent: 6158923 (2000-12-01), Wheeler et al.
Horton J. Wiley
Lagman Frederick L.
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