1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sand or soil bag structures and, in particular, to an interconnecting member for interconnecting sand or soil bags in a sand or soil bag structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 7,452,164 which issued on Nov. 18, 2008 to Kim and which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/842,620, which issued to U.S. Pat. No. 7,083,364 on Aug. 1, 2006 to Kim, discloses a retaining wall structure built of wall-building units such as sand or soil bags or hardenable building units such as clay bricks. The retaining wall structure has interconnecting members placed between adjacent courses of units to attach the adjacent courses to one another. The interconnecting members are plates having projections on both sides which protrude into the wall-building units of the adjacent courses. Sheets of geogrid preferably extend from between some of the courses of wall-building units into the fill retained by the wall-building units. Projections on the interconnecting members protrude through holes in the geogrid sheet, anchoring the wall side to the reinforced soil structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,371,772 which issued on Feb. 12, 2013 to Chang discloses a retaining wall structure which includes a number of bag units piled to form a wall and interconnecting units disposed between vertically adjacent bag units. The interconnecting units each has a plate and protrusions protruding from upper and lower sursides of the plate. A reinforcing layer is provided between the plate of a relative interconnecting unit and a relative bag unit. The reinforcing layer is selected from cement or adhesive (such as glue). The reinforcing layer between the plate of the interconnecting unit and the bag unit is used to enhance the entire stability of the retaining wall adapted for operation in different circumstances.
United States Patent Application Publication Number 2012/0027528 which published on Feb. 2, 2012 in the name of Alfreds discloses retaining wall systems and methods of making retaining wall systems. In one embodiment, the retaining wall system includes a first horizontally-extending course of sand or soil bags and a second horizontally-extending course of sand or soil bags positioned vertically adjacent to the first course of sand or soil bags. An interconnecting member attaches the first course of sand or soil bags to the second course of sand or soil bags. The interconnecting member has an upper side and a lower side. At least one of the upper side and the lower side has a first projection that includes a notch therein to engage geogrid.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved interconnecting member for interconnecting sand or soil bags in a sand or soil bag structure.
It is another object of the present invention to provide improved sand or soil bag structures including, but not limited to, artificial slopes, bridge abutments, dams, dykes, retaining walls and seawalls.
There is accordingly provided an interconnecting member for a sand or soil bag comprising a plate having a first side and a second side. There is a projection on the first side of the plate and a projection on the second side of the plate. There is a serration including a plurality of teeth arranged in a row on the first side of the plate. The plurality of teeth extends away from the plate in a first direction. There is a tooth on the first side of the plate which extends away from the plate in a second direction which is opposite the first direction.
There is also provided an interconnecting member for a sand or soil bag comprising a plate having a first side and a second side. There is a plurality of projections on the first side of the plate and a plurality of projections on the second side of the plate. There is a pair of spaced-apart serrations on the first side of the plate. The serrations each include a plurality of teeth arranged in a row and extending away from the plate in a first direction. The serrations also each include an end tooth disposed at an end of the row and extending away from the plate in a second direction which is opposite the first direction.
The projections on the first side of the plate may be hollow and the projections on the second side of the plate may be hollow. Each said projection in the plurality of projections on the first side of the plate may be cone shaped. The plurality of projections on the first side of the plate may be aligned in a single row and may be disposed between the pair of spaced-apart serrations. Each said projection in the plurality of projections on the second side of the plate may be cone shaped. The plurality of projections on the second side of the plate may be aligned in two parallel rows. The teeth may be wedge shaped and the end tooth may be wedge shaped. The plate may be elongate. The serrations may each extend transversely along the first side of the plate. The plurality of projections on the first side of the plate may be aligned in a single row along a longitudinal axis of the plate. The plurality of projections on the second side of the plate may be aligned in two parallel rows aligned parallel to the longitudinal axis of the plate.
There is further provided a sand or soil bag structure comprising a first sand or soil bag, a second sand or soil bag and an interconnecting member disposed between the first sand or soil bag and the second sand or soil bag. The interconnecting member includes a plate with a first side and a second side. There is a first projection on the first side of the plate and a second projection on the second side of the plate. There is a plurality of teeth on the first side of the plate. The plurality of teeth extends away from the plate in a first direction. There is a tooth on the first side of the plate which extends away from the plate in a second direction which is opposite the first direction. The first projection on the first side of the plate engages the first sand or soil bag and the second projection on the second side of the plate engages the second sand or soil bag. There may be a geogrid which engages the tooth on the first side of the plate. The plurality of teeth on the first side of the plate may be arranged in a row. The tooth may be aligned with the plurality of teeth arranged in a row.
The invention will be more readily understood from the following description of the embodiments thereof given, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring to the drawings and first to
The interconnecting member 10 as thus far described is generally conventional. However, as best shown in
The interconnecting member 10 shown in
It will also be understood by a person skilled in the art that many of the details provided above are by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention which is to be determined with reference to the following claims.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CA2014/050187 | 3/6/2014 | WO | 00 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61773800 | Mar 2013 | US |