Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT (ORIGINAL) Name of Applicant: Boral Australian Gypsum Limited Actual Inventor(s): Danny Brian Taylor AND Robert John Ellis Address for Service: DAVIES COLLISON CAVE, Patent Attorneys, 1 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000. Invention Title: "Method of stacking sheet material for transport" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: P:\OPER\Axd\l2510070 provdoc-27/06/05 METHOD OF STACKING SHEET MATERIAL FOR TRANSPORT The present invention relates to a method of stacking sheet material for transport. In particular, the invention generally relates to a method of stacking building sheet material 5 for transport in a transport container. Many industries, and particularly the building industry, involve the use of sheet materials. These materials, particularly when rigid, are transported in a flat stack form. That is, laid flat one on another in a bundle. Such flat stacked bundles are generally covered and secured for transport, for example with straps on pallets to be positioned on a 10 trailer or train carriage. Building materials, such as plaster board and the like, are generally transported in this way. When transporting some materials it may be desirable to ensure that they are fully protected from the elements. In such cases, it would be preferable to transport the sheet materials in a transport container, such as regularly used on semi-trailers, trains and cargo 15 vessels. It will be understood by those in the art that these transport containers generally have a standard volume, in terms of high, depth and width of the container. The present invention advantageously provides methods of stacking sheet material for transport, for example into such a transport container, that maximise the amount of sheet material being transported so as to minimise costs and maximise profit associated 20 with the transport of material. According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a method of stacking sheet material for transport in a transport container, the method including: stacking a bundle of sheet material to a desired height; inverting the bundle of sheet material onto its side; 25 flat stacking a bundle of sheet material to a desired height adjacent the inverted bundle of sheet material; and conveying the inverted bundle of sheet material and flat stacked bundle of sheet material into the transport container lengthwise. The height to which the bundle of sheet material to be inverted is stacked will be 30 somewhat dependant on the width of the sheet material being transported. Generally, the bundle of sheet material to be inverted in stacked to a height that corresponds substantially P:\OPERAxd\l2510070 prov.doc-27/06/05 -2 to the distance that will be defined by a first longitudinal side of the flat stack bundle of sheet material and an opposing first side wall of the transport container. In that case, when the bundle of sheet material to be inverted is put on its side, the inverted bundle of sheet material will substantially fill the space defined by the flat stacked bundle of sheet material 5 in the transport container. However, in an alternative arrangement, prior to conveying the bundles of sheet material into the transport container, a further bundle of sheet material may be stacked to a desired height and inverted on an opposing side of the flat stacked bundle of sheet material relative to the initial inverted bundle of sheet material. In that case, the heights of the initial inverted bundle of sheet material and further bundle of 10 inverted sheet material should in total substantially correspond to the sum of distances between first and second longitudinal sides of the flat stacked bundle of sheet material and opposing first and second sides of the transport container respectively, assuming that the flat stacked bundle of sheet material is to be conveyed centrally into the transport container. 15 Once again, in order to maximise the amount of sheet material being transported at any one time, the flat stacked bundle of sheet material is preferably flat stacked substantially to the height of the transport container. Preferably, the flat stacked bundle of sheet material is positioned such that a second longitudinal side of the flat stacked bundle of sheet material is directly adjacent a second side wall of the transport container. In that 20 regard, the flat stacked bundle of sheet material may include adjacent flat stacked sets of sheet material, depending on the width of the sheet material. Depending on the length of the sheet material relative to the length of the transport container into which it is being conveyed, it may be possible to stack further bundles of sheet material. Therefore, in certain embodiments the invention may additionally include 25 repeating the stacking, inverting and conveying steps so that two or more sets of inverted bundle(s) and flat stacked bundle of sheet material are conveyed into the transport container end to end. Although in some instances it may not be necessary, it is preferred that the flat stacked bundle and the inverted bundle(s) of the sheet material are secured or tied together 30 prior to conveying them into the transport container. This may be achieved by any known conventional technique.
P:\OPER\Axd\l2510070 prov.doc-27/06/05 -3 According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of stacking sheet material for transport in a transport container, the method including: flat stacking a bundle of sheet material to a desired height; conveying the flat stacked bundle of sheet material into the transport container 5 lengthwise; stacking another bundle of sheet material to a desired height; inverting the other bundle of sheet material onto its side; and conveying the inverted bundle of sheet material into the transport container lengthwise, wherein when both the flat stacked bundle of sheet material and the inverted 10 bundle of sheet material are inside the transport container, the inverted bundle of sheet material is positioned between a first longitudinal side of the flat stacked bundle of sheet material and an opposing side wall of the transport container, and wherein the flat stacked bundle of sheet material is conveyed into the transport container before or after the inverted bundle of sheet material. 15 So that the amount of sheet material being transported can be maximised for a particular transport container, the flat stacked bundle of sheet material is preferably flat stacked substantially to the height of the transport container. On conveying the flat stacked bundle of sheet material into the transport container, the flat stacked bundle is preferably positioned such that a second longitudinal side of the flat stacked bundle of sheet material 20 is directly adjacent a second side wall of the transport container. That is, so as to maximise the distance between the first longitudinal side of the flat stacked bundle of sheet material and the opposing first side wall of the transport container. Again, the flat stacked bundle of sheet material may include two or more adjacent flat stacked sets of sheet material. Preferably, the flat stacked bundle of sheet material is conveyed into the transport 25 container first. The other bundle of sheet material is then stacked to a desired height. Preferably, the other bundle of sheet material is stacked to a height that is substantially the distance between the first longitudinal side of the flat stacked bundle of sheet material and the opposing first side wall of the transport container. It will be appreciated that if this is the case, on inverting the other bundle of sheet material onto its side, the inverted bundle 30 of sheet material will substantially fill the space remaining in the transport container following conveyance of the flat stacked bundle of the sheet material into the transport P:\OPER\Axd\12510070 prov.do.27/06/05 -4 container. It will be appreciated that in an alternative, non-preferred embodiment the flat stacked bundle of sheet material may be conveyed centrally into the transport container so that spaces are left between the first and second longitudinal sides of the flat stacked 5 bundle of sheet material and opposing first and second side walls of the transport container respectively. Then two other bundles of sheet material may be stacked and inverted onto their sides and conveyed into the spaces on either side of the flat stacked bundle of sheet material. Clearly, this would involve more effort and is therefore not preferred. However, this arrangement would still provide for advantageous over the prior art as described 10 above. Once again, depending on the length of the sheet material and that of the transport container, it may be possible to convey one or more additional sets of flat stacked bundle and inverted bundle of sheet material. The method may therefore include repeating the stacking, inverting and conveying steps so that two or more sets of flat stacked bundle and 15 inverted bundle of sheet material are conveyed into the transport container and to end. It will be appreciated that the methods of the invention may be equally suitable for stacking sheet material for transport in a transport vehicle where a transport container is not defined. For example, the methods may be equally applicable to a trailer unit or the like that does not include defined side walls, but which may be provided with material that 20 can be pulled down over the sides of the trailer unit. As such, as used herein the term "transport container" is intended to include within its scope not only solid transport containers, but also transport units having a defined volume that is generally rectangular where sheet material to be transported can be flat stacked in a bundle and side stacked in a another bundle, in accordance with the invention, to maximise the amount of the material 25 being transported at one time. The methods of the invention is particularly suitable for the transport of building materials. More particularly, a specific embodiment of the invention involves the transport of plasterboard materials which generally have a standard dimension of slightly less width than one third the width of standard transport container. Thus, the amount of the material 30 that could be normally transported without the methods of the invention corresponds to three flat stacked bundles of plasterboard sheet material, and the amount of material that C:\NRPobDCC\EJLU6154S6_1 DOC-27A4/2011 -5 can be transported in addition to that transported by conventional methods corresponds to the amount of material in the rotated bundle(s) of plasterboard sheet material. The invention has been described by way of non-limiting example only and many modifications and variations may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and 5 scope of the invention described. The reference in this specification to any prior publication (or information derived from it), or to any matter which is known, is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or admission or any form of suggestion that that prior publication (or information derived from it) or known matter forms part of the common general 10 knowledge in the field of endeavour to which this specification relates. Throughout this specification and the claims which follow, unless the context requires otherwise, the word "comprise", and variations such as "comprises" and "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or step or group of integers or steps but not the exclusion of any other integer or step or group of integers or 15 steps.