Horizontally supported planar surfaces – Industrial platform
Patent
1996-09-24
1998-09-22
Cuomo, Peter M.
Horizontally supported planar surfaces
Industrial platform
108 563, 108 561, 411466, B65D 1900
Patent
active
058099026
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an arrangement for load pallets, and includes at least two spaced rails carrying a load deck, it being also possible to provide the rails with bottom boards or runners for bearing against a substructure.
The pallets normally available on the market today have a given life span, during which they are repaired several times, in order to avoid scrapping them too soon. Such repairs have been found to be very time-consuming and expensive, thus making it cheaper in many cases to procure a new pallet instead of repairing an old one.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to achieve a load pallet that is easy to repair when it becomes unserviceable, the purchaser himself even being able to make the repair on his own premises without the need of special tools. The features distinguishing the invention are disclosed in the accompanying claims.
Due to the invention there has now been provided a pallet of the kind mentioned in the introduction, in which the drawbacks pertaining to the pallets already on the market have been eliminated. The inventive pallet is put together using fixing members and few parts that may be assembled without the use of special tools, and with the aid of fixing members. The fixing members are accommodated in grooves situated longitudinally at the end regions of the pallets, and fix the load-carrying deck boards to the rails at right angles to, and at each end of the boards. The fixing member may be made from metal, and is positionally fixed to the deck boards by impressing a corner edge or other outer portion of the member into the pallet material, or by hammering in a nail or the like, from above (for example) through the outer portions of the member for fixing it to the pallet. Since no other fasteners are required for keeping the pallet together it can be very easily disassembled, should it become damaged, by freeing the fixing member. The deck boards are morticed into the carrying rails, and this ensures an increased life span for the pallet as well as enabling it to maintain squareness, even though it may be subjected to rough treatment. Pallet stability is further increased by the mortices being implemented such as to form dovetails. Accordingly, no unnecessary play is formed between rail and boards, while at the same time upward or sideways movement of the boards is inhibited by the dovetail configuration. Finally, the fixing members that coact with the grooves in both rails and boards for keeping the pallet together also contribute in making the structure stable.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described in more detail with the aid of a pair of embodiment examples, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, where
FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic, perspective view of a first embodiment of a pallet in accordance with the invention, where one of the fixing members is shown as fitted, the other one being shown spaced from the pallets,
FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the inventive pallet in an alternative embodiment, where the carrying rails are provided with bottom boards or runners for bearing against a substructure,
FIG. 3 is a view from above of the pallet illustrated in FIG. 2, and
FIG. 4 is a side elevation of the pallet illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
As will be understood more clearly from the embodiment of the pallet 1 in accordance with the invention, and illustrated in FIG. 1, the pallet comprises a load deck 2 carried by rails 3, provided in appropriate cases (as illustrated in FIGS. 2-4) with bottom boards or runners 22. The rails 3 also serve as spacers for the deck 2. The latter comprises a plurality of boards 4, 5, which may be made from plastics, sheet metal, wood or any other suitable material, and this also applies to the rails 3, of course. The deck boards 4, 5 are morticed, and removably fitted, into the rails 3, such that when they are fitted they are positionally fixed with the aid of at least two elongate, angul
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Cuomo Peter M.
Tran Hahn V.
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