EP2259974B1

EP2259974B1 - Paper-based pallet for the movement of goods

Info

Publication number: EP2259974B1
Application number: EP08873679.8A
Authority: EP
Inventors: László Suda
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2008-03-28
Filing date: 2008-11-04
Publication date: 2013-05-15
Anticipated expiration: 2028-11-04
Also published as: ES2430396T3; HU3477U; PT2259974E; WO2009118573A1; EP2259974A1; HU0800059V0; HRP20130771T1

Description

The invention relates to paper-based pallet for the movement of goods, which comprises a loading body and supporting legs below the loading body, where the loading body has an upper bearing plate and a lower bearing plate attached to it, while at least a part of the supporting legs have a connection member touching and supporting the lower bearing plate of the loading body and a bordering member situated along the connection member, and the loading body has connecting pieces bending down towards the supporting legs and attached to the supporting legs.
Pallets made of different materials and having different constructions are widely used in warehouses for the handling, movement and transportation of goods intended for sale. Some of the pallets are made of wood, but due to aspects of environmental and nature protection, recently pallets made of paper, especially recycled paper have become more widely used. Such pallets are described for example in the publication document WO 95/30587 , the patent application HU P 99 00326 and the utility model description HU U 1.352 .
Further paper-based pallets, according to the preamble of claim 1, are described by document DE 90 16 754 U1 , DE 20 2004 013452 U1 and DE 20 2007 007703 U1 .
However, the disadvantage of the known paper-based pallet solutions is that due to the physical characteristics deriving from their material, during the movement of the pallets using fork-lift equipment or as a result of fixing the goods on the loading body using tie-strap, the supporting legs arranged below the loading body get easily damaged, and the moisture resistance of the supporting legs of ordinary construction is not satisfactory. Consequently the area of use of paper-based pallets cannot be extended.
Our aim with the construction according to the invention is to eliminate the above deficiencies of the known paper-based pallets and to create a version, the structural construction of which allows it to withstand increased physical demand and which, if necessary, can also be used under damp environmental conditions, therefore despite its simple structural construction it can significantly extend the are of use of paper-based pallets.
The construction according to the invention is based on the recognition that if the layers of the loading body constructed as a double-layer structure are shaped and fitted unlike the ordinary way, then the tie-strap can be attached to the pallet in a completely novel way, and if the lower part of the supporting legs and their sections allocated to the lifting forks are shaped unlike the known way and provided with special protection, then the lifting forks, the tie-straps used for fixing the goods and humidity can cause significantly less damage, and the physical characteristics can only cause insignificant deterioration, therefore the possibilities of using paper-based pallets can be significantly extended, and so the task can be solved.
In accordance with the set aim, the paper-based pallet for the movement of goods, - which comprises a loading body for accommodating the goods and supporting legs situated below the loading body, where the loading body has an upper bearing plate and a lower bearing plate attached to it, while at least a part of the supporting legs have a connection member touching and supporting the lower bearing plate of the loading body and a bordering member situated along the connection member, and the loading body has connecting pieces bending down towards the supporting legs and attached to the supporting legs, - is constructed in such a way that a guide trough is cut into the internal side of the upper bearing plate of the loading body facing the lower bearing plate and/or into the internal side of the lower bearing plate of the loading body facing the upper bearing plate.
A further feature of the pallet according to the invention may be that the connecting pieces are ears constructed from the material of the loading body, and the ears are attached to the bordering members of the supporting leg in such a way that they are bent out from the plane of the loading body.
In the case of another different realisation of the invention the supporting leg has an internal hollow, and one or more stiffening inserts are placed in the internal hollow, and the ends of the internal hollow inside the supporting leg are sealed with an end-blocking piece.
The paper-based pallet according to the invention has several favourable characteristics. The most important one of these is that the novel structure and construction of the layers forming the loading body, the geometrical form of the supporting legs unlike the known forms make the supporting legs of the loading body much stronger, and so the use of paper-based pallets can be significantly extended.
This advantage enables damage-free movement, lifting or even sliding of the pallet using a truck, even when the lifting forks are operated with less care and caution. In this way less time is required for the movement, handling and lifting of goods, which results in a significant increase in performance in material handling, and a significant amount of live labour can be saved. Furthermore, the paper-based pallets according to the invention can also be used in automated material handling systems.
A further advantage is that the elements of the specially constructed loading body and the supporting legs are easy to manufacture and assemble using the manufacturing technology of traditional paper-based pallets. In this way there is no need for converting or replacing the manufacturing process and equipment of paper-based pallets.
Another advantage is that due to the special connection between the loading body and the leg members the load-bearing capacity of the leg member itself increases to, as a result of which the are of use of paper-based pallets is extended even further, and wooden pallets can be replaced in areas of goods transportation, in the case of automated packaging and goods handling systems, where it was impossible before.
A further favourable effect deriving from this is that wide use of the pallets made of recycled paper instead of wood may have a beneficial effect on environmental protection, as the trees marked out for felling to serve as basic material are spared.
The paper-based pallet according to the invention is described below in connection with a construction example, on the basis of a drawing. In the drawing

Figure 1 is the diagrammatic view of a version of the paper-based pallet, partly in section.

Figure 1 shows a paper-based pallet 1, which has supporting legs 20 and a loading body 10 connected to them. The loading body 10 consists of the upper bearing plate 11 and the lower bearing plate 12, where the upper bearing plate 11 and the lower bearing plate 12 are attached together to form one single unit with the help of an adhesive layer 70 between the internal side 11a of the upper bearing plate 11 and the internal side 12a of the lower bearing plate.
The supporting legs 20 have a prism-shaped case 21. The case 21 is formed by the connection member 23 facing the external side 12b of the lower bearing plate 12, the bordering members 24 situated on both sides of the connection member 23, and the lower supporting member 25 situated in between the bordering members 24 and opposite the connection member 23. The case 21 encloses the internal hollow 22. The stiffness of the supporting leg 20 is enhanced by the stiffening inserts 40 situated inside the internal hollow 22 of the case 21, and by the end-blocking pieces 50 sealing the one end 22a and the other end 22b of the internal hollow 22. Practically the elements of the supporting leg 20 are made from one single paper plate, by folding.
Furthermore, figure 1 shows a possible version of attaching the loading body 10 and the supporting legs 20 together. Both the upper bearing plate 11 and lower bearing plate 12 of the loading body 10 have connecting pieces 13, with the help of which the loading body 10 is attached to the supporting legs 20. Practically the connecting pieces 13 are ears 13a, some of which are made from the material of the upper bearing plate 11, and they are bent out from the plane of the internal side 11 a of the upper bearing plate 11 towards the supporting leg 20. At the same time the rest of the ears 13a are made from the material of the lower bearing plate 12, and they are also bent towards the supporting legs, and out of the plane of the external side 12b of the lower bearing plate 12. The ears 13a shaped in this way surround a part of the bordering members 24 of the supporting leg, and they are attached to them with the help of the adhesive layer 70. The adhesive layer 70 is also applied between the connection member 23 of the supporting leg 20 and the external side 12b of the lower bearing plate 12 of the loading body 10. Consequently the ear 13a, the connection member 23, the bordering members 24 and the adhesive layer 70 applied between them all contribute to attaching the loading body 10 and the supporting leg 20 to each other.
Figure 1 also shows the guide trough 14 between the upper bearing plate 11 and lower bearing plate 12 of the loading body 10, in which the tie-strap 60 - suitable for fixing the goods not shown in figure 1 - can be placed. In the present case the guide trough 14 consists of two half dents situated between the internal side 11a of the upper bearing plate 11 and the internal side 12a of the lower bearing plate 12. However, it must be pointed out here that the guide trough 14 can also be constructed in such a way that it is only cut into either the internal side 11a of the upper bearing plate 11 or in the internal side 12a of the lower bearing plate 12.
Due to this completely novel construction of the guide trough 14, when the tie-strap 60 is pulled through the guide trough 14, it does not deform either the supporting legs 20 or the loading body 10, which improves the availability of the pallet 1.
When assembling the paper-based pallet 1 according to the invention, an adhesive layer 70 must be applied onto the internal side 11a of the upper bearing plate 11 of the loading body 10 and/or the internal side 12a of the lower bearing plate 12, and the upper bearing plate 11 and the lower bearing plate 12 must be joined together in such a way that the guide trough 14 is created.
The supporting legs 20 can also be made by folding the preformed base plate, and practically by applying the end-blocking pieces 50 and stiffening inserts 40 inside the internal hollow 22 of the case 21, and by applying an adhesive on the connection member 23, the bordering members 24 and the lower supporting member 25, if necessary.
Finally, by applying an adhesive layer 70 onto the ears 13a protruding from the loading body 10 in the same direction, more precisely from the external side 12b of the lower bearing plate 12, and onto a part of the external side 12b of the lower bearing plate 12, the loading body 10 can be attached to the connection members 23 and bordering members 24 of the supporting leg 20.
When the pallet 1 is used, the goods are placed on the external side 11 b of the upper bearing plate 11 of the loading body 10, and then they can be fixed with the help of tie-straps 60 driven through the guide troughs 14 of the loading body 10. In this way the goods positioned safely on the paper-based pallet 1 can be moved and transported.
The paper-based pallet according to the invention can be used favourably in numerous areas of packaging and material handling, even at places where automated packaging equipment is operated, the pallets are sitting on wet ground covered with water or maybe some other fluid, or due to the less precise contact and higher speed of the material handling machines the pallets are exposed to more significant physical effects.

List of references

1 pallet
10 loading body	11 upper bearing plate
	11a internal side
	11 b external side
	12 lower bearing plate
	12a internal side
	12b external side
	13 connecting piece
	13a ear

	14 guide trough
20 supporting leg	21 case
	22 internal hollow
	22a end
	22b end

	23 connection member
	24 bordering member
	25 lower supporting member
40 stiffening insert
50 end-blocking piece
60 tie-strap
70 adhesive layer

Claims

Paper-based pallet for the movement of goods, which comprises a loading body (10) for accommodating the goods and supporting legs situated below the loading body, where the loading body has an upper bearing plate (11) and a lower bearing plate (12) attached to it, while at least a part of the supporting legs (20) have a connection member (23) touching and supporting the lower bearing plate (12) of the loading body (10) and a bordering member (24) situated along the connection member (23), and the loading body (10) has connecting pieces bending down towards the supporting legs (20) and attached to the supporting legs (20), characterised by that a guide trough (14) is cut into the internal side (11a) of the upper bearing plate (11) of the loading body (10) facing the lower bearing plate (12) and/or into the internal side (12a) of the lower bearing plate (12) of the loading body (10) facing the upper bearing plate (11).
Pallet as in claim 1, characterised by that the connecting pieces (13) are ears (13a) constructed from the material of the loading body (10), and the ears (13a) are attached to the bordering members (24) of the supporting leg (20) in such a way that they are bent out from the plane of the loading body (10).
Pallet as in claims 1 or 2, characterised by that the supporting leg (20) has an internal hollow (22), and one or more stiffening inserts (40) are placed in the internal hollow (22).
Pallet as in any of claims 1-3, characterised by that the ends (22a, 22b) of the internal hollow (22) inside the supporting leg (20) are sealed with an end-blocking piece (50).