EP0169950A1

EP0169950A1 - A pallet enclosure sub-assembly

Info

Publication number: EP0169950A1
Application number: EP84305020A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Ladislav Stephan Karpisek
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1984-07-24
Filing date: 1984-07-24
Publication date: 1986-02-05

Abstract

A pallet enclosure sub-assembly comprising a rectangular door panel (1) hingedly connected to a rectangular fixing panel (2), with complementing half-coupling members (11 and 12) on the remote uprights of the panels (1 and 2) of the sub-assembly. Two fixing legs (8) on the bottom rail (7) of the fixing panel (2) sized and spaced apart so that the lugs (8) will pass vertically between adjacent battens of a pallet. A securing leg (9) on the bottom rail (10) of the door panel (1) having an out-turned lug to engage under a batten of a pallet.

Description

This invention provides an improved pallet enclosure sub-assembly, two such sub-assemblies can be formed into a four sided enclosure removably mounted on a pallet to contain articles loaded on the pallet.
One name for such an enclosure is a pallet cage. Pallet cages are not new. One form of pallet cage known hitherto provided two assemblies each comprised of two panels hinged together with the ends of the assemblies provided with complementary coupling means so that the two assemblies could be coupled together to form a four sided enclosure. The enclosure was assembled on a pallet and was dimensioned so as to lie close to the periphery of the pallet.
Corresponding panels of the two assemblies had like inturned lugs to engage under the top boards of the pallet at each end and in this way the pallet was secured to the pallet. This arrangement had the disadvantage that the panels with the lugs were the door panels and if one was opened to allow access to the objects within the enclosure or cage the non-lugged panels could separate by hinging relative to the other door panel and they and the other door panel could fall from the pallet. Whilst this was a disadvantage in some uses it was an advantage in others in that the cage could be stripped from the pallet without having to disturb the goods on the pallet.
In order to overcome the above disadvantage a second form of cage was developed which had lugs on panels which were not the door panels. The lugs lay parallel to the plane of the panel and pointed in opposite directions and were so positioned on the lugged panels that the panels had to be placed at an angle to the line of the bearers so that lugs could pass between the pallet battens. By then moving the panels into parallel alignment with the bearers the lugs engaged under two battens of the pallet thereby preventing the lugged panels from disengagement from the pallet when one or both of the other panels, the non-lugged door panels, were opened. This however prevented the lugged panels from being removed from the pallet whilst it had a load thereon, and this was a disadvantage.
This invention provides a pallet enclosure sub-assembly which when coupled to another like sub-assembly will have the best features of the two prior known enclosures and broadly provides a pallet enclosure sub-assembly consisting of two substantially rectangular panels one of which is a door panel and the other is a fixing panel, each panel comprising two uprights with top and bottom joining rails, hinge connections between corresponding first uprights of the two panels, complementing half-coupling members on the other two uprights allowing two such sub-assemblies to be coupled together to form a four sided enclosure for a pallet comprising at least two parallel bearers with an array of spaced battens fixed to opposite top and bottom edges of the bearers and lying transverse to the bearers, each array including end battens separated by intermediate battens, panel positioning legs on the bottom rail of the fixing panel all projecting away from said fixing panel in the same direction with a predetermined spacing therebetween allowing the legs to be inserted vertically in gaps between adjacent edges of load supporting battens of a pallet, at least one panel securing leg fixed to the bottom rail of the door panel and projecting away from the door panel, each panel securing leg having an out-turned portion which lies in a plane substantially at right angles to the plane of the door panel and is spaced from the bottom rail of the door panel by at least the thickness of a pallet load supporting end batten, the spacing of the panel positioning legs from the first upright of the fixing panel being such that when the legs are engaged between pallet load supporting battens the ) first and second uprights of the fixing panel would when the fixing panel was mounted on a pallet be substantially aligned with the distal edges of the pallet end battens.
Two presently preferred forms of the cage of this invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Fig.l is a perspective view of one pallet enclosure sub-assembly,
Fig.2 is a plan view of a pallet fitted with an enclosure made up of two sub-assemblies as shown in Fig.l,
Fig.3 is a pair of fragmentary views showing how a fixing panel of the sub-assembly of Fig.l is mounted on a pallet,
Fig.4 is a view similar to one of the views of Fig.3 showing an alternate form of fixing leg,
Fig.5 is a view similar to Fig.l showing another embodiment of the invention,
Fig.6 is an end view in section of one form of fixing leg coupled to a load supporting batten of a pallet,
Fig.7 is a view similar to Fig.6 showing another form of fixing leg, and
Fig.8 is a sectional view of a securing leg of a door panel engaged under a pallet load supporting batten.

In I . 1 a pair of panels 1 and 2 each having first and second uprights joined by upper and lower rails are shown connected at their first uprights by hinge means 3. The panel 2 has lugged clips 4 removably attached thereto by means of bolts 5 through body parts 6 around the bottom rails 7 of the panel 2. The clips can be non-removable. The lugs 8 out-turned from the bodies of the clips 4 are in a plane parallel to the plane of the panel 2, are aligned and project below the rail 7 by an amount at least equal to the thickness of a pallet batten. The length of the lug indicated X is slightly less than the gap between battens on a pallet so the lugs can pass vertically downwardly between two battens on a pallet and the spacing of the lug assemblies corresponds to the spacing and pitch of battens of a pallet and so that when mounted as shown in Fig. 2 there is substantial peripheral alignment between the cage comprised of two inter-connected panel pairs and the pallet. The door panel 1 has a lugged clip 9 mounted on the bottom rail 10. Further clips 9 can be mounted on the door panel if desired.
There are bolts and sockets 11 and 12 respectively comprising complementary coupling means to allow another panel pair to be end coupled to a first panel pair to form a cage or enclosure as shown in Fig. 2 on a pallet 13. It will be seen that the lugs 8 are engaged under cage securing battens 14 of the pallet 13 which are breadth oriented and the lugs 9 are engaged under the pallet edge battens, one of which is also a pallet securing batten. There are other breadth oriented load supporting (upper) battens and pallet supporting (lower) battens with length oriented bearers therebetween.
The assembly of a locking panel on the pallet can be seen from Fig. 3 and 4. The panel 2 is located with the lugs 8 over the gaps between the upper battens, the panel 2 is then lowered to allow the lugs to pass between the battens, the panel 2 is then moved to the right to cause the lugs 8 to engage under the battens 14. The location of the clips 4 is such that when the lugs are under the battens 14 the hinged uprights of the panels are aligned with the front edges of the pallet edge battens. By closing the door panel 1 and engaging the lug 9 under the pallet edge battens (as shown in Fig. 3) movement of the locking panel to the left is prevented. When the other door 1 is closed all four panels are locked to the pallet battens.
When access is required to articles on the pallet the left end door in Fig. 2 can be opened and the other three panels remain securely locked to the pallet. If the cage has to be removed this can be readily done by the reverse of the mounting procedure given above, without having to disturb the load on the pallet. Thus this cage has the advantages of the two earlier types of cage, firstly a door can be opened without the other cage sides unintentionally disengaging from the pallet and if desired the cage can be removed from the pallet without having to disturb the pallet load.
Several features should be noted. The clip assemblies 4 need not be demountable, see the fixed clips of Fig. 4. The clips 9 can be permanently mounted or demountably attached to the panel rail 10. The number of clips 9 can be greater than one, although one is sufficient for most applications. The half couplings 11 and 12 are representative and can be replaced by other means if desired. The clips 8 do not have to engage under the specific battens as illustrated and can engage under other battens if desired. The drawings are representative of a presently preferred arrangement and are not to be considered as other than illustrating the concept of the invention.
In Fig.5 it will be seen that the clips 4 of Fig.1 have been replaced by simple straight legs 4a and that for the sake of further illustration two lugs 9 are shown on the door panel.
The illustrations Figs.6 to 8 are self explanatory and illustrate how the members 4 and 4a can be cranked to allow the bottom rail of the fixing panel to be aligned with the outer edge of the pallet. With straight legs 4 or 4a the bottom rail would be located inward fromthe outer edge of the pallet by the thickness of the bearer 13.

Claims

1. A pallet enclosure sub-assembly consisting of two substantially rectangular panels one of which is a door panel and the other is a fixing panel, each panel comprising two uprights with top and bottom joining rails, hinge connections between corresponding first uprights of the two panels, complementing half-coupling members on the other two uprights allowing two such sub-assemblies to be coupled together to form a four sided enclosure for a pallet comprising at least two parallel bearers with an array of spaced battens fixed to opposite top and bottom edges of the bearers and lying transverse to the bearers, each array including end battens separated by intermediate battens, panel positioning legs on the bottom rail of the fixing panel all projecting away from said fixing panel in the same direction with a predetermined spacing therebetween allowing the legs to be inserted vertically in gaps between adjacent edges of load supporting battens of a pallet, at least one panel securing leg fixed to the bottom rail of the door panel and projecting away from the door panel, each panel securing leg having an out-turned portion which lies in a plane substantially at right angles to the plane of the door panel and is spaced from the bottom rail of the door panel by at least the thickness of a pallet load supporting end batten, the spacing of the panel positioning legs from the first upright of the fixing panel being such that when the legs are engaged between pallet load supporting battens the first and second uprights of the fixing panel would when the fixing panel was mounted on a pallet be substantially aligned with the distal edges of the pallet end battens.

2. A pallet enclosure sub-assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein each positioning leg on the fixing panel has an out-turned lug with all the lugs aligned and extending in the same direction and lying substantially parallel to the bottom rail of the fixing panel with a minimum spacing between the lugs and the fixing panel bottom rail not less than the thickness of the pallet load supporting battens, the combined width of each positioning leg and its lug not exceeding the gap between pallet load supporting battens, the spacing of the panel positioning legs from the first upright of the fixing panel being such that when the legs are engaged between pallet load supporting battens with the lugs thereof below adjacent pallet load supporting battens the first and second uprights of the fixing panel would when the fixing panel was mounted on a pallet be substantially aligned with the distal edges of the pallet end battens.

3. A pallet enclosure sub-assembly as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said hinge connections are disengagable to allow separation of the door and fixing panels.

4. A pallet enclosure sub-assembly as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 3 wherein the legs on the door and fixing panels are demountable.