EP0152323B1 - Wheeled pallet for storing and transporting grouping-trays containing packages - Google Patents

Abstract

1. Palette trolley which supports, for storing and transporting purposes, two adjacent piles of stacked grouping trays, said trays having an overhanging skirting below the base and containing parallepipedic packings, said palette trolley having a chassis consisting of two parallel longitudinal bars (10, 12) arranged at a distance (L2) of slightly less than the internal length (L1) of the trays ; the two bars being connected by a transverse joining member (14) in the central section (Z) of the chassis ; each bar having a break (20) in the middle forming two halfbars (101 , 102 , 121 , 122 ) on each side of said break ; each half-bar having a length (12 ) slightly smaller than the interior width (11 ) of the trays so that the half-bars (101 , 102 , 121 , 122 ) can engage in the overhanging skirting.

Description

The present invention relates to a pallet trolley which supports, for their storage and transport, grouping trays, which contain parallelepipedic packages and which are stacked on top of each other.

For the grouping of parallelepipedic packages, for example packages containing milk or edible liquids, rectangular grouping trays are used which have a bottom and four side walls. In order to be able to stably stack a significant number (for example 5, which may represent a height of about one meter) of trays loaded with their packaging, it has been proposed to make the trays include an extension of the side walls below the level of the bottom so as to form a sort of skirt which can cover the top of the packages contained in an underlying tray and thus stabilize a stack of several trays. Such a type of tray has been described in French patent application No. FR-A-255 70 73, filing number 83 20 548, filed on 12/22/1983 in the name of the applicant.

Storing and transporting the stacks of trays on pallets or on standard flat-surface carts is impractical since each stack, which can weigh approximately 100 kg and measure approximately 1 m in height, rests on the edge of the tray skirt lower, which makes a small surface support and ensures insufficient stability of the stack.

Such a type of trolley comprising a loading platform having a flat surface is represented for example in document GB-A-1,326,304. Under normal conditions of storage and transport of goods on this trolley, the loading surface is flat and would not ensure the stability of stacks of goods, such as stacked trays.

The object of the present invention is to remedy this drawback by means of a pallet trolley adapted to support two adjacent stacks of such grouping trays loaded with parallelepipedic packages, with improved stability of stacks on the pallet trolley and with the possibility of independently charge or discharge the two adjacent piles, which makes it possible to carry out handling operations with manual devices, such as hand trucks or low-powered elevators.

These advantageous results are obtained thanks to a particular construction of the pallet trolley and in particular of its chassis.

The invention comprises a pallet trolley which supports for storage and transport two adjacent stacks of stacked grouping trays, said trays having a skirt projecting below the bottom and containing parallelepipedic packages, said pallet trolley having a chassis which comprises two parallel longitudinal beams arranged with a spacing slightly smaller than the internal length of the plates; the two side members being joined by a transverse connecting structure extending in the central part of the chassis; each spar having in its middle, an interruption forming, on each side of said interruption, two half-spars; and each half-beam having a length slightly smaller than the internal width of the plates so that the half-beams can engage in the projecting skirts.

Thanks to this arrangement, the two lower plates of the two stacks of plates can rest, by their bottom, on the aforementioned half-beams and on the transverse connecting structure, while their skirts fit outside the half-lengths and s 'engage in the abovementioned interruption between these half-beams.

The stack of stacked trays is thus perfectly stable and wedged on the pallet trolley. A lifting device (trolley or small elevator) can be engaged between the side members, on one side or the other of the chassis, to lift or remove one or the other of the piles.

Four rollers are mounted at the four free ends of the side members to allow the carriage to move.

• La figure 1 est une vue en élévation d'une pile de cinq plateaux de groupement chargés sur un chariot-palette.
• La figure 2 est une vue en plan d'un mode de réalisation simple du châssis d'un chariot-palette suivant l'invention.
• Les figures 3 et 4 sont des vues partielles en coupe de la partie centrale interrompue des longerons du châssis et de l'extrémité libre des demilongerons.
• Les figures 5 et 6 illustrent deux autres modes de réalisation de l'invention.
• Les figures 7 et 8 sont respectivement une vue en plan et une vue en élévation de côté d'encore un autre mode de réalisation de l'invention.

The invention will be better understood on reading the detailed description which follows and on examining the appended drawings which represent, by way of nonlimiting examples, several embodiments of the invention.

• Figure 1 is an elevational view of a stack of five group trays loaded on a pallet cart.
• Figure 2 is a plan view of a simple embodiment of the chassis of a pallet trolley according to the invention.
• Figures 3 and 4 are partial sectional views of the interrupted central part of the frame rails and the free end of the semi-longitudinal members.
• Figures 5 and 6 illustrate two other embodiments of the invention.
• Figures 7 and 8 are respectively a plan view and a side elevation view of yet another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a stack of five rectangular grouping trays P _1. P _2. P ₃ , P ₄ , P5 each loaded with a plurality of parallelepipedic packages E ₁ , E ₂ , E ₃ , E ₄ , E ₅ , for example twenty packages grouped in four rows of five. The four walls of trays are extended, below the level of the bottom of the tray, by a skirt 2 which is continuous on the two short sides of the trays but which has a notch 4 on the two long sides of the tray. The internal length of a tray (therefore of the skirt) is L ₁ , its internal width is I ₁ .

As can be seen in FIG. 1, the chassis 6 of the pallet carriage engages in the skirt 2 of the lower plate P, of the stack of plates. The the pallet truck rests on the ground by means of wheels 5 mounted under the chassis 6.

The chassis shown in plan in Figure 2 is adapted to receive two stacks side by side of grouping trays, that is to say that, in the view of Figure 1, the second stack, identical to the first, is located behind this first stack and is therefore not visible.

The chassis comprises two parallel longitudinal beams 10, 12 which are arranged with a spacing L ₂ slightly smaller than the internal length t ₁ of the plates.

These beams can be constituted by a tubular metal profile with square or rectangular section. The two longitudinal members 10, 12 are joined together by a transverse connecting structure 14 extending in the central part Z of the chassis. This structure may include a frame formed by two crosspieces 16, 16 'which are welded to the side members 10, 12 and which are joined by welded spacers 18, 18'.

Each spar 10, 12 has, in its middle, an interruption 20 dividing the spar 10 into two half-spars 10 ₁ , 10 ₂ and the spar 12 into two half-spars 12 ₁ , 12 ₂ , each of these half-spars having a length 1 ₂ slightly less than the internal width 1 ₁ of the trays.

On each cut end 22 of the half-beams is welded an inclined flat iron 24 whose other end is also welded to the corresponding spacer 18 or 18 '. FIG. 3 shows on a larger scale the interruption zone 20 of the two half-beams 12 ₁ , 12 ₂ .

At the free end of each of the half-longitudinal members is mounted one of the four wheels 8 of the carriage of which the mounting center has only been shown in FIG. 1. At each of these same free ends, a tilted flat iron 28.28 ′ is preferably welded, which is shown in more detail in FIG. 4, and which has the function of centering and retaining the portion of the skirt 2 of a tray. P ₁ extending one of the long sides 30 of this plate. The two flat bars 28, 28 ′, on the same side of the chassis, leave between them a free gap 1 which is greater than the extension of the notch 4 of the skirt 2 (see FIG. 1).

The chassis which has just been described is therefore suitable for receiving two lower plates P ₁ , P ₁ ′ of a stack of plates, the internal outline of these plates having been shown in broken lines in FIG. 2.

As can be seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the bottoms 32, 32 'of the plates P ₁ , P ₁ ' rest on the upper face of the profiles constituting the frame, while the skirts 2, 2 'of the plates cover and embrace the periphery of the chassis components. Each tray is thus securely wedged and centered on the pallet trolley which gives good stability to the stack of trays.

The inclined edges 24, 28, 28 'facilitate the nesting of the plates on the chassis.

As seen in Figure 3, the interruption 20 between the side members allows the engagement of the skirt portions 2, 2 'of the plates P ₁ , P ₁ '. It should be noted that the spacing J between the spacers 18, 18 ′ is smaller than the extension of the notch 4 of the skirt 2.

In a pallet trolley according to the invention, the transverse connecting structure 16, 16 ′, 18, 18 ′ only extends over a central zone Z that is not very wide in the chassis, for example around 25% of the total length of the chassis, so as to leave accessible from below most of the underside of the bottoms 32, 32 'of the trays which can thus be easily lifted by means of a hand truck or other simple handling device.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, half-longitudinal members 10 ₁ , 10 ₂ , 12 ₁ , 12 _{2 are shown} with a cross section larger than that of the sections forming the structure 14, but it is quite obvious that each half spar such as 12 ₁ could be lightened and reinforced by an additional half-spar 34, parallel to the first, which would be welded between the crosspiece 16 and the inclined plate 28, as shown schematically in Figure 5. In this case , all the constituent elements of the chassis can be identical, for example tubes with a square section of 20 × 20 mm.

The embodiment shown in Figure 6 is similar to that of Figure 5, except that each half-spar, such as. 10 ₁ , is bent along a branch 24 'which replaces the welded plate 24 of the previous embodiments and which is welded to the spacer 18 or 18'. As in the previous cases, there is therefore an interruption 20 between two half-beams (10 ₁ , 10 ₂ , 12 ₁ , 12 ₂ ).

Likewise, the additional half-beams 34, 34 'can be bent in a U so that the bottom of the U constitutes the crosspiece 16 or 16'.

The embodiment shown in Figures 7 and 8 is similar to that of Figure 2, that is to say that it does not have an additional half-spar but, unlike Figure 2, the half-spars 10 ₁ , 10 ₂ , 12 ₁ , 12 ₂ have the same section (for example 20 x 20 mm square tube) as the elements 16, 16 ', 18, 18' of the transverse structure. In this case, the chassis is stiffened by means of two reinforcing plates 36, 36 ′, for example made of sheet metal of 2 or 3 mm, which are fixed, by screwing or welding, below the free ends of the half-lengths, which leaves below the bottoms 32, 32 ′ of the plates P ₁ , P ₁ ′ (see FIG. 8) sufficient free space for the engagement of a handling device such as a hand truck.

The same plates 36 and 36 'can be used for fixing the mounts 38, 38' of the wheels 8, 8 'of the carriage, the wheels 8 being, for example, steerable wheels.

Preferably, there is provided at the front of the plates 36, 36 'a curved edge 40, 40' forming a hooking member for pulling the carriage towards front or rear.

Claims (6)

1. Palette trolley which supports, for storing and transporting purposes, two adjacent piles of stacked grouping trays, said trays having an overhanging skirting below the base and containing parallepipedic packings, said palette trolley having a chassis consisting of two parallel longitudinal bars (10, 12) arranged at a distance (L2) of slightly less than the internal length (L1) of the trays; the two bars being connected by a transverse joining member (14) in the central section (Z) of the chassis; each bar having a break (20) in the middle forming two halfbars (10₁, 10₂, 12₁, 12₂) on each side of said break; each half-bar having a length (1₂) slightly smaller than the interior width (1₁) of the trays so that the half-bars (10₁, 10₂, 12₁, 12₂) can engage in the overhanging skirting.

2. Palette trolley according to claim 1, characterized in that the transverse joining member (14) forms a frame consisting of two crossbeams (16,16') and two braces (18,18') said frame extending over a central area (Z) of the chassis corresponding to approximately 25 % of the overall length of the trolley.

3. Palette trolley according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that each half-bar (10₁, 10₂, 12₁, 12₂) is doubled by an additional half-bar (34, 34') connected to the transverse joining member (14).

4. Palette trolley according to one of the above claims characterized in that each end of the halfbars (10₁, 10₂, 12₁, 12₂) has inclined guide plates (24, 28, 28') for positioning the trays (P₁, P'₁) on the chassis.

5. Palette trolley according to one of claims 1, 2 or 4 characterized in that a transverse joining plate (36, 36') is fixed below the free end of the halfbars (10₁, 12₁) and that each plate supports two wheels (8 or 8') of the trolley.

6. Palette trolley according to one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that the distance (J) between the braces (18, 18') of tne joining structure (14) is less than the distance (L₂) between the halfbars (10₁, 10₂, 12₁,12₂).

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