EP0564989B1 - Transport pallet - Google Patents

Abstract

A transport pallet (1) includes a support surface in the form of a plate (2) or crosspieces (20) as well as three beams (3a-3c) which are fixed below the support surface. The beams are fixed to the support plate by nuts (5) including a locking means of the bayonet type, which nuts are intended to pass through the support plate as well as an upper part of the beam before being fixed by a quarter-turn rotation. The beams according to the present invention are manufactured from injection-moulded plastic, like the nuts, it being possible for the support plate to be made from any material, including injection-moulded plastic. The beams may include straps (24) enabling the load (30) to be fixed onto the pallet (1). <IMAGE>

Description

The present invention relates to a standardized transport tool comprising a rectangular support surface having standardized dimensions as well as support beams of a dimension corresponding to a dimension of the support surface and arranged below the support surface. .

A transport tool standardized according to the characteristics as indicated in the preamble of claim 1 is known from document FR-A-2 370 646.

Commonly used today are so-called europallet transport pallets of standard dimensions such as 80 cm in width and 120 cm in length comprising a loading surface and beams arranged below this surface, the assembly being commonly made of boards. and wooden beams that are nailed together.

• 1. le montage de la palette devrait être possible d'une façon rapide sans outils spéciaux ;
• 2. la palette devrait comporter la possibilité d'être montée sur tout support ;
• 3. le démontage devrait se faire également de façon rapide ;
• 4. il devrait être facile de récupérer des pièces de l'ensemble pour une nouvelle utilisation ;
• 5. on cherche la possibilité de stocker les palettes avant usage dans un minimum d'espace, et surtout les palettes doivent présenter un poids réduit par rapport aux palettes traditionnelles pour permettre la réalisation d'économies de frais de transport notamment de frais de transport aérien sans ugmenter sensiblement leur coût. Le coût de fabrication de ces palettes devrait, au contraire, être suffisamment bas pour permettre de ne les utiliser qu'une fois.

This pallet system is relatively heavy and inflexible with regard to storage and assembly, and the aim of the present invention is therefore to remedy these drawbacks and in particular to provide a pallet system which has the following advantages:

• 1. assembly of the pallet should be possible quickly without special tools;
• 2. the pallet should include the possibility of being mounted on any support;
• 3. disassembly should also be done quickly;
• 4. it should be easy to recover parts of the assembly for new use;
• 5. we are looking for the possibility of storing the pallets before use in a minimum of space, and above all the pallets must have a reduced weight compared to traditional pallets to allow the realization of savings in transport costs including air transport costs without significantly increasing their cost. The manufacturing cost of these pallets should, on the contrary, be low enough to allow them to be used only once.

According to the invention these objectives are achieved with a tool as mentioned above which is further characterized by the characteristics indicated in the second part of claim 1.

Particular embodiments of construction of the transport tool are defined by the characteristics indicated in the dependent claims.

• la figure 1 monte un outil de transport selon la présente invention dans un état semi-assemblé,
• la figure 2 montre une partie d'une poutrelle pour illustrer le verrouillage de l'écrou,
• la figure 3 montre une autre forme de réalisation de l'invention, et
• la figure 4 montre un détail agrandi de la figure 3.

The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, in which:

• FIG. 1 mounts a transport tool according to the present invention in a semi-assembled state,
• FIG. 2 shows part of a beam to illustrate the locking of the nut,
• FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the invention, and
• Figure 4 shows an enlarged detail of Figure 3.

In Figure 1, there is illustrated a transport pallet 1 comprising a support plate 2 and three beams 3a, 3b, 3c. The beams are fixed below the plate 2 by means of a plurality of nuts 5, which comprise a retaining plate 11 and a cylindrical part 12. The nuts 5 are introduced by their cylindrical part 12 into openings 6 in the support plate 2 until the retaining plate 11 comes into contact with the upper surface of the support plate 2.

The beams 3a, 3b and 3c each have an upper plate 8 which has three openings 7 which are positioned so as to correspond with the openings 6 in the support plate 2 once the corresponding beam is positioned below the plate support 2 in its predestined position.

The openings 6 and 7 have a geometric shape which allows the introduction of the cylindrical part 12 of the lug, a cylindrical part which has two radial lugs which must pass through the holes 6 and 7 and the latter therefore have a shape which allows the passage of the pins.

The two parallel boards 8 and 9 of each beam are held at a distance from each other by a plurality of spacers 10.

Figure 2 shows, in more detail, the fixing of the nut 5 in the upper board 8 of a beam 3, and we recognize in the upper board of the beam the opening 7 having a central circular part and two recesses 15a and 15b which allow the passage of the pins 13a and 13b when the nut 5 is introduced into the opening 7.

Once the pins have passed through the opening 7, the nut is subjected to a rotation of a quarter turn, a rotation during which the pins 13a and 13b slide along the ramps 14 to finally fall into notches 16 , where they are essentially immobilized against any other rotation. The wall between the ramp 14 and the notch 16 can also be formed in a ramp in a direction opposite to the direction of the ramp 16 to allow the release of the nut by rotation in the opposite direction. This embodiment is particularly necessary for pallets which one wants to dismantle between their uses, or simply if one wishes an easy dismantling.

According to another embodiment of the invention, illustrated in FIG. 3, the pallet 1 comprises three beams 3 ' longitudinal and a number of cross-members 20 in the form of boards which are each connected to each of the beams by a fastening means 5 'quick, such as the quarter-turn nut described above. The number of crosspieces 20 can, of course, be chosen according to the use of a pallet, it being understood that at least two crosspieces should be present to stabilize the pallet.

A stabilization means has been provided preventing the crossbars 20 from shearing with respect to the beams 3 ′, said stabilization means being able to be incorporated by lugs 22 which project either from the crossbeams 20 or from the beams 3 ′ in order to be accommodated in holes 23 provided for this purpose in the other of these two elements.

Such stabilization means creates at least a second attachment point at each intersection of a cross member with a beam in order to suppress pivoting between the two elements. The shape chosen for this stabilization means can, of course, be other than a lug, in particular a rib which is housed in a groove or the like.

The pallet according to the invention may also include a clamping means incorporated for the load to be transported.

Such a tightening means may comprise a first strap 24 of the rack type and a second strap 25 comprising a locking element 26 making it possible to pull the strap in one direction through an orifice of the locking element and to block it in the opposite direction.

One can, of course, also provide a solution where the two straps are identical and the locking element is independent and allows the passage of the two ends of the two straps through two orifices.

Preferably two straps 24, 25 are provided on one side and the other of each beam 3, 3 'and at locations to be chosen.

The arrangement of the straps 24, 25 in FIG. 3 is given by way of example only. One can also provide for fixing the straps to the crosspieces 20, their arrangement to the beams, however, seems more advantageous because one can provide inside the volume of the beams a chamber 27 in which is the wound strap 28 whose end 24a comes out of the chamber 27 through an orifice 29. The other end of the strap 24 is wedged inside the chamber 27.

The beams according to the present invention are made of an injected plastic material, and the nuts, as well as the support plate can be of any material, including injected plastic.

Claims (12)

1. Normed transport pallet comprising a rectangular support surface (2, 20) having normed dimensions, and support beams (3a - 3c), a longitudinal dimension of which corresponds to one dimension of the support surface, and being arranged beneath the support surface (2, 20), the beams (3a - 3c) are fabricated from injected plastic material and attached to the support surface (2, 20) by releasable fixation means (5, 7) beneath the support surface (2, 20), said fixation means (5, 7) comprising at least one opening (7) provided in an upper portion of the beam (3a - 3c), which opening (7) permits the insertion of a latch member (5) for latching the support surface (2) together with the beams (3a - 3c), characterized in that the latch member (5) is a bayonet nut comprising a retention plate (11) provided to engage on a side of the support surface (2) which is opposed to the one which is in contact with the beams (3a - 3c), an essentially cyclindrical portion (12) extending away from said retention plate (11) and which is provided to traverse the support surface (2) through an opening (6) provided within said support surface (2, 20) and pins (13a - 13b) extending radially outwardly from a free end portion of the cyclindrical portion (12), and in that the opening (7) in the upper portion of the beam (3a - 3c) comprises a shape having a main extending portion essentially corresponding to the essentially cylindrical portion (12) of the nut (5) and two eccentric cutaway portions (15a, 15b) which permit the passage of the pins (13a - 13b) during the insertion of the nut (5) into the beam (3a - 3c).
2. Pallet according to claim 1, characterized in that the support surface (2, 20) is constituted by a rectangular plate (2) or by at least two cross-planks (20).
3. Pallet according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the upper portion of the beam which includes the opening (7) is constituted by a plank (8), the lower surface of said plank (8) comprising in the proximity of the opening (7) a ramp (14) and a groove (16) permitting to latch said pins after introduction and rotation of the nut (5) into said plank (8).
4. Pallet according to claim 3, characterized in that each beam (3a - 3c) comprises several fixation means (5).
5. Pallet according to claim 4, characterized in that the beam (3a - 3c) comprises two planks (8, 9) which are parallel, superposed and spaced from each other by means of several spacers (10).
6. Pallet according to claim 5, characterized in that the beam (3a - 3c) comprises on its lower plank (9) an inferior surface (17) favourizing the sliding.
7. Pallet according to claim 6, characterized in that the surface (17) favourizing the sliding comprises longitudinal ridges.
8. Pallet according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the support surface (2, 20) is made of a plastic material, cardboard, wood or metal and in that the nuts are made of plastic.
9. Pallet according to claim 1, characterized in that the support surface comprises at least two cross-planks (20) which connect the beams (3) to each other and which extend perpendicularly to said beams, each cross-plank being fixed to each beam by a fixation means (5, 7).
10. Pallet according to claim 9, characterized in that at each intersection between a cross-plank (20) and a beam (3) there is further provided a stabilisation means comprising pins (21) which are received in bores (23), either the pins or the bores being disposed on the upper surface of the plank (8) of the beam (3) and the other at the lower surface of the cross-plank (20).
11. Pallet according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at each beam and/or each cross-plank there is provided a fastening means for attachment of a load to its support surface.
12. Pallet according to claim 11, characterized in that each beam (3, 3') comprises, as fastening means, a strap (24, 25) at each end of said beams, as well as blocking means (26) for the free ends of the two straps (24, 25).

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