A combined shipping and expansion device for shipping a roll of unexpanded slit sheet material and for expanding the slit sheet material, comprising: a) a container having: a first pair of side wall members; a second pair of side wall members (102, 103); a bottom panel; and a top cover panel; b) a roll of slit sheet material wound around a core member and positioned within said container; c) said roll of slit sheet material having a slit pattern that forms open cells upon expansion, wherein said core member has a length greater than a width of said roll of slit sheet wound around the core member and has protrusions that extend beyond each side of said roll of slit sheet material; wherein the combined shipping and expansion device comprises a plurality of yoke members within said container, including at least one yoke member that rotatably receives a first of said protrusions and at least one yoke member that rotatably receives a second of said protrusions; wherein the combined shipping and expansion device comprises a friction member arranged to apply frictional pressure against at least one of said protrusions for regulating force required to rotate said roll with respect to said yoke members during unwinding of said roll of slit sheet material from said core member, wherein said yoke members each have an arcuate opening with a radius of curvature that is substantially equal to a radius of the core member, the combined shipping and expansion device further including said top cover panel being movably mounted above said roll of slit sheet material within said container and being movable to apply pressure to said friction member, and releasably affixing means for releasably affixing said top cover panel with respect to said friction member to regulate the force required to rotate said roll with respect to said yoke members during unwinding of said roll of slit sheet material from said core member, and wherein said friction member arranged to apply frictional pressure against at least one of said protrusions includes a tensioning member configured to slidingly move within said container, said tensioning member having an arcuate surface configured to be positioned against said at least one of said protrusions for applying pressure against said at least one of said protrusions, wherein said top cover panel is variably movable against a pressing surface of said tensioning member that is opposite to said arcuate surface, whereby said topcover can be moved to increase a force against said pressing surface and increase the pressure applied by said arcuate surface against said at least one of said protrusions. a) a container having: a first pair of side wall members; a second pair of side wall members (102, 103); a bottom panel; and a top cover panel; a first pair of side wall members; a second pair of side wall members (102, 103); a bottom panel; and a top cover panel; b) a roll of slit sheet material wound around a core member and positioned within said container; c) said roll of slit sheet material having a slit pattern that forms open cells upon expansion, wherein said core member has a length greater than a width of said roll of slit sheet wound around the core member and has protrusions that extend beyond each side of said roll of slit sheet material; wherein the combined shipping and expansion device comprises a plurality of yoke members within said container, including at least one yoke member that rotatably receives a first of said protrusions and at least one yoke member that rotatably receives a second of said protrusions; wherein the combined shipping and expansion device comprises a friction member arranged to apply frictional pressure against at least one of said protrusions for regulating force required to rotate said roll with respect to said yoke members during unwinding of said roll of slit sheet material from said core member, wherein said yoke members each have an arcuate opening with a radius of curvature that is substantially equal to a radius of the core member, the combined shipping and expansion device further including said top cover panel being movably mounted above said roll of slit sheet material within said container and being movable to apply pressure to said friction member, and releasably affixing means for releasably affixing said top cover panel with respect to said friction member to regulate the force required to rotate said roll with respect to said yoke members during unwinding of said roll of slit sheet material from said core member, and wherein said friction member arranged to apply frictional pressure against at least one of said protrusions includes a tensioning member configured to slidingly move within said container, said tensioning member having an arcuate surface configured to be positioned against said at least one of said protrusions for applying pressure against said at least one of said protrusions, wherein said top cover panel is variably movable against a pressing surface of said tensioning member that is opposite to said arcuate surface, whereby said topcover can be moved to increase a force against said pressing surface and increase the pressure applied by said arcuate surface against said at least one of said protrusions.