Board mat construction

Claim 1

A board mat construction for soft ground, said mat construction including a plurality of rectangular, panel-like first and second mat structures, said mat structures each including opposite transverse end margins and opposite side longitudinal margins and defining a first rectangular surface, a second rectangular surface facing opposite and paralleling said first surface, said second surface including a pair of opposite end portion elongated long structures disposed transverse to the corresponding mat structure having remote longitudinal sides generally flush with said end portions and opposite ends generally flush with said longitudinal margins, the area of said second surface between each pair of log structures being substantially rectangular and of a length, taken longitudinally of said mat, substantially equal to one-half the length of said mat, the width of said log structures being substantially equal to one-fourth the length of said mat, the surfaces of said log structures facing in the direction of said second surface being generally co-planar and spaced a predetermined distance outward of said second surface, said first mat structures being arranged in a first row of end abutted and aligned first mat structures with said first surfaces thereof facing upwardly, said second mat structures being arranged in a second row of end abutted and aligned second mat structures with said second mat structures disposed in one-half lengthwise staggered relation relative to said first mat structures and with said first surfaces of said second mat structures facing downwardly and the end log structures of adjacent ends of said second mat structures snugly received upwardly into the spacing of the first mat structure disposed thereabove between the end log structures thereof and the end log structures of adjacent ends of said first mat structures being snugly received downwardly into the spacing of the second mat structure disposed therebelow between the end log structures thereof.