According to university newspaper the Saluki Times, mining and mineral resources engineering professor Yoginder Paul Chugh and others developed the materials for the stackable cribs, which are lighter and stronger wood braces than the historical standard.

The new products, known as Atlas Cribs, are a combination of hardwoods and are made up of a main lateral with a shorter board connected at both sides of both ends, the paper said.

The developers feel the braces have several advantages over conventional types, such as a greater ease of stacking and a different wood grain orientation that results in increased strength.

The design of the cribs, which take up 41% less space than standard units, can be up to 50% more efficient for the air circulating around them. The ventilation path advantage is very important to the design, Chugh told the Times.

“Moving air through a mine is the second largest energy consumer for a mine, next only to the transportation of coal out of the mine,” said Chugh.

“That’s a pretty substantial amount of energy you’re spending on moving air.”

Weight and strength are also vital facets of the design, he said. While a traditional crib at a height of 6ft will compress about 12–14in under a 70-ton load, Atlas Cribs compress only 6in under 150t.

Their construction also becomes much less backbreaking for workers, according to Chugh. After working with several former miners in the design process, he brought the weight down to 18 pounds, about half that of traditional cribbing timbers.

“Sometimes miners have to carry the timbers a couple of hundred feet before stacking them,” Chugh said of the braces, which are made of oak, sycamore, poplar and hickory woods.

“So this will be easier on their backs.”

The units will be available in several sizes, including Atlas 100, 200 and 300, with different contact areas that will permit for various configurations as needed underground. A six-point configuration will carry 195t and a nine-point will hold 300t.

Several mines in the area are currently testing out the technology, and regional lumber yards are working on the manufacture of the devices. Chugh said the potential is also there for job opportunities locally in the construction of Atlas Cribs.

“One local mining company uses 400,000 of these each year,” Chugh told the university news outlet.

“The total demand within Illinois, Indiana and western Kentucky is about 1.5 million a year.”

Chugh added that the university’s initial price per unit will be about 3c less than conventional types.