Horizontally supported planar surfaces – Industrial platform
Patent
1992-10-16
1994-08-02
Chen, Jose V.
Horizontally supported planar surfaces
Industrial platform
108 561, B65D 1900
Patent
active
053335554
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention concerns pallets. More particularly, it concerns a pallet made from steel and wood without the use of nails. Such a pallet can be manufactured using relatively inexpensive wood, nevertheless it will be strong and capable of withstanding the usual treatment to which pallets are subjected.
BACKGROUND
The conventional pallet is made entirely of hardwood. The conventional pallet comprises bearers, aligned parallel to each other and connected to each other by two linear arrays of cross-planks or slats. Each slat of one of the linear arrays is nailed, at each end, to the upper surface of a respective one of the bearers. Each slat of the other linear array is nailed, at each end, to the bottom face of a respective bearer. Usually, each slat is also nailed to a central bearer which is located between the main bearers. Hardwood has to be used for the cross-planks (slats) and bearers of such pallets, even though it is considerably more expensive than softwood timber such as pine, because nails are used to assemble the pallet.
In addition to the cost factor in the manufacture of a wooden pallet (which is partly related to the increasing difficulty in obtaining suitable hardwood), the conventional wooden pallet has a number of disadvantages. The disadvantages include: the operators of fork-lifts, particularly (i) when the tynes of the fork-lift strike an end slat and dislodge it from its associated nails, and hence from the bearers, and (ii) when a fork-lift tyne is pushed into the end grain of a bearer during movement of the pallet by the fork-lift prior to the lifting of the pallet by the fork-lift, thus splitting the timber of the bearer; or loading dock and lands on a corner, the pallet is distorted diagonally; have been bagged or packed in cartons, by any nails protruding from the pallet; through the ends of the slats - often causing the wood of the slat to split; and badly damaged pallet cannot readily be used as low-cost firewood in view of the expense incurred in the labour-intensive task of removing the nails to make the timber suitable for firewood.
It has long been recognised that it would be advantageous if a nail-free pallet could be provided in place of the conventional wooden pallet.
A number of alternative pallet constructions have been tried, but none has been successful. For example, pallets have been made entirely of metal. One example of such a metal pallet is described in the specification of West German patent application No P 21 11 135.3. Unfortunately, when that type of pallet is lifted on the metal tynes of a fork-lift, the slats of the pallet tend to slide on the tynes as a result of the lack of friction, with potentially disastrous results.
Other types of nail-free pallet have been described in (i) the specification of my Australian patent application No. 32537/84, (ii) the specification of West German patent No 912317, and (iii) the specification of my International patent application No PCT/AU89/00017 (WIPO publication No 89/06625). Those pallets, however, are either not strong enough to withstand the structural stresses to which pallets are subjected in normal use, or they are too expensive to manufacture to be commercially viable.
DISCLOSURE OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a nail-free pallet which avoids, or minimises, the above-noted disadvantages of the conventional wooden pallet, and which is nevertheless able to be produced at a cost which makes the pallet commercially attractive.
This objective is achieved by a pallet which has two bearers fabricated from metal (preferably steel), between which two linear arrays of wooden slats or planks extend. Each bearer has a hollow rectangular cross-section. A series of rectangular openings are cut into the corners of the bearers at the top and bottom of their opposed faces (that is, into the upper and lower inner corners of the bearers). The openings have dimensions such that the ends of the slats are width-wise a close fit within them. A pair of slots are forme
REFERENCES:
patent: 2634931 (1953-04-01), Weitzel
patent: 2817485 (1957-12-01), White et al.
patent: 2933339 (1960-04-01), Bror et al.
patent: 3878796 (1975-04-01), Morrison
patent: 4062301 (1977-12-01), Pitchford
patent: 4220099 (1980-09-01), Marchesano
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