ES2664783T3 - Plastic pallet consisting of two semi-pallets with visible tabs and assembly procedure for said pallet - Google Patents

Abstract

Pallet (1) formed by two plastic semi-pallets (2, 3), each presenting a rigid rectangular main panel (6, 7) that has an internal side (8, 9) and an external side (10, 11), to be assembled together in a face-to-face relationship of its internal sides by means of parallelepiped connection means (12, 13) that define openings (41) to each other for manipulation by fork, characterized in that each of the means of connection comprises on its external faces a rectangular or trapezoidal hollow groove (27) provided with lateral grooves (28), and a rectangular or trapezoidal tongue (30) in plastic material and in a color that contrasts with the semi-pallets, presenting a complementary shape to said hollow groove, inserted by being pushed into place, by means of a sliding movement and immovably locked within said grooves and said hollow groove, said groove and said inserted tongue while its substantially centered so that they are arranged to clearly indicate one of the side and level of said opening (41), said tongue presenting an external surface (31) parallel or in a withdrawn position with respect to the external surface (31 ') of said connection means.

Description

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DESCRIPTION

Plastic pallet formed by two semi-pallets with visible tabs and assembly procedure for said pallet.

The present invention relates to a pallet formed by two semi-pallets of plastic material, to be assembled together in a face-to-face relationship by connection means.

Said pallet according to the preamble of claims 1 and 13 is known from EP 2 628 686 A1. It also refers to a procedure for assembling said pallet.

The invention relates more particularly, but not exclusively, to the field of beverage transport and, for example, the transport of bottle boxes, can packages, etc. For breweries.

Pallets formed from an upper platform and a lower platform preferably of identical construction are known, so that both elements can be formed in a single mold.

With such a pallet, which involves two separate parts smaller than a complete pallet, smaller injection machines can be used.

In addition, and so that they are sufficiently solid, said pallets need reliable connection portions between the two halves strong enough to prevent disconnection.

Another problem that the plastic pallet suffers from is its destruction by forklift forks.

Most pallets are black or a dark color. Especially during the night, the forklift driver often does not immediately find the holes of the pallet with the forks. In fact, approximately 1/3 of the pallets are destroyed due to handling and repetitive damage of such misguided forks.

A main objective of the present invention is to provide an improved pallet formed by two halves and a method for assembling said pallet so that the risk of such destruction on all four sides of the pallet is limited and / or eliminated to a large extent.

This prevents the driver of the forklift from damaging the pallet, while offering the possibility to avoid changing the entire pallet, for example, in case only half of it is damaged.

Therefore, the entire pallet is not obsolete.

Furthermore, with the invention, a pallet consisting of two semi-pallets injected in two different colors may be provided.

The two colors create a very clean separation of the two halves, which makes the center of the pallet openings even more visible to the forklift driver.

This leads again to less damage caused by forklift forks.

Therefore, the present invention grants a longer duration of pallets at a lower cost.

You can also use, for example, semi-pallet components in 100% recycled material, without compromising the resistance and / or load bearing capacity of the pallet, for example, a half component in recycled material and the other connected to the recycling made of a virgin plastic material and / or a more resistant material by adding, for example, glass fibers.

For these purposes, the invention mainly proposes a pallet according to claim 1.

Advantageously, the tongue is a small plate of low thickness (for example 3 mm) and several millimeters in width and length, that is, between 1 and 4 cm by 4 cm to 8 cm, for example 2 cm x 6 cm.

The tabs that have a contrast color different from the color of the connecting means of the pallet components in which they are inserted are easily identified.

They can also be made of plastic materials other than the pallet, but they can also be of the same material, which makes the plastic of the entire pallet more recyclable.

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Different colors can also be used for the tabs depending on the customer and / or the sector of use of the pallets for the same customer.

Advantageously, the plate could be marked or injected with the logo and / or the name of the client.

In another advantageous embodiment, the different colors of the plate or tongue are of a striking color, for example pink or yellow, for example fluorescent, with half the pallet being a darker color.

Advantageously, the connection means are formed by a plurality of support legs and a plurality of corresponding hollow posts connected together by interlocking enclosed interlocking fasteners, said support legs and said hollow posts being integral and protruding from the internal side respectively of one or the other of said main panels, the distal end portions of the butt support legs being against said corresponding hollow posts by corresponding intermediate flanges when connected, each support leg comprising said hollow grooves on its outer faces, the upper periphery of said grooves aligned with the intermediate flange of said corresponding support legs, and the upper periphery of said butt tongue plates against the corresponding hollow posts, locking said tongue in position when the locking interlocks are activated by r enliquetado.

In another advantageous embodiment, the connection means comprise a male component and a female component, and the plates are inserted in both and at the interface between said components.

Advantageously, one of the peripheral edges of the tongue is chamfered to facilitate its introduction into the groove.

In a specific embodiment, the protruding parts are integral and are arranged on the support legs, the external face, or part of said external face, of said protruding parts, which for example have an angle with the surface of said Support legs to facilitate the insertion of the plate, and the holes are on the corresponding hollow posts.

In another advantageous embodiment, the protruding parts are integral and are arranged in the internal face of the hollow posts and the holes in the corresponding support legs (face to face).

Advantageously, the protruding parts have a polygonal shape.

The polygonal shape is, for example, square or rectangular or trapezoidal isosceles, and the protruding part is forcedly inserted, the blocking being obtained by a simple click.

In another advantageous embodiment, the protruding parts and corresponding holes are cylindrical.

In another advantageous embodiment, the two semi-pallets have different colors.

Also advantageously, the two semipale components are easily separable with an adapted tool and the tongues or plates are removable.

The adapted tool can be a thin blade that slides between the protruding part and the inner face of the hole to progressively separate them from each other.

Advantageously, the surface of each of the main panels is a grid with or without hollow parts between the connection means.

The invention further proposes a method for assembling a pallet as described above.

It also proposes a method for assembling two semi-pallets to form a pallet according to claim 13.

Advantageously, the upper periphery of said groove is aligned with the intermediate flange of said support leg and the plate is inserted to align its upper periphery with the intermediate flange of said support leg, said intermediate edges of the legs corresponding to its support being carried with the corresponding hollow posts to block said plates in position.

The present invention will be better understood from reading the following description of particular embodiments that are provided by way of non-limiting examples, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which:

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Figure 1 is a schematic axonometric view of two semi-pallets in inverted positions, that is, a lower platform above an upper platform to be assembled together in a face-to-face relationship, corresponding to a first embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of a part of Figure 1 showing a support leg and corresponding tabs before assembly.

Figure 3 shows the perspective pallet formed by the upper platform and the lower platform of Figure 1, this time in normal position, with their plates after assembly.

Figure 4 is an enlarged view of a support leg and tabs according to another embodiment of the invention.

Figures 5A to 5D are enlarged partial perspective views showing the first stages of the assembly process according to an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 1 shows (inverted) a pallet 1 formed by two plastic semi-pallets, specifically a lower platform 2 and an upper platform 3, to be assembled together in a face-to-face relationship by interlocking enclosed interlocking closures 5, 5 ' each of said semipalé components comprising a rigid rectangular main panel 6, 7 having an inner side 8, 9 and an outer side 10, 11.

The main panel of the lower platform 2 is, for example, a grid with four square openings that delimit three perpendicular sets of three crossbars that comprise the connecting parts with the other half-wall, located for example in each corner and in the center of each crossbar.

The main panel of the upper platform 3 is a complete grid constituted in a manner already known, with its connecting part facing each other with the connecting parts of the lower platform 2 to form the connecting means.

In the embodiment described more particularly herein, the half-wall 3 comprises a plurality of support legs 12 and the half-wall 2 comprises a plurality of corresponding hollow posts 13, said support legs and said hollow posts being integral and protruding from the inner side 8, 9 of the respective main panel 6, 7.

More particularly, each semipalé comprises a first lateral row 14, 15 of three hollow posts 13 disposed respectively on a first lateral side and three corresponding support legs 12 arranged on said first lateral side, two at each end and one in the center, a second lateral row 16, 17 identical to the first and a third central row 18, 19 which provides three hollow posts 13 in component 2 for connection with three support legs 12 in component 3, centered with respect to the central axis 20 of the pallet

The interlocking fasteners 5, 5 'are formed by protruding parts 5 arranged for interlocking by curling in corresponding holes 5, the protruding parts 5 being cylindrical (in the example of figure 1) and being arranged in the support legs 12 which are, for example, parallelepipedic and more particularly on the external side (s) of said support legs with respect to the inner part of the pallet.

Said protruding parts are located at the top or distal end 21 of the support legs and are arranged so that they cooperate with the inner part 22 of a corresponding hollow post (in a complementary parallelepipedic manner).

In this embodiment, the holes 5 'are located on the outer face 23 of the hollow posts 13, with respect to the inside of the pallet, and are arranged so that they are connected with said corresponding protruding portions 5.

In accordance with the embodiment of the invention described more particularly herein (see also Figure 2), the distal ends 24 of the support legs comprise intermediate flanges 25 for support with the periphery 26 (see Figure 1 ) of a corresponding hollow post 13.

Each support leg 12 comprises on its outer face / s with respect to the inside of the pallet, a rectangular hollow groove 27 which provides vertical lateral grooves 28.

Obviously, the inner faces are not equipped with said hollow recesses (and plates).

The upper periphery 29 of the groove is aligned with the intermediate flange 25.

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Pallet 1 comprises twelve rectangular plates or tabs 30 of a strong yellow (and / or fluorescent) color in a complementary manner with the hollow groove 27 inserted in the grooves 28 of each groove and having an external surface 31 in a withdrawn position with respect to the outer surface 31 'of the support leg 12, the upper periphery 32 of the tongue 30 being aligned with the flange 25 and the upper periphery 29 of the groove (when it is fully inserted in said groove), said upper part being of the periphery 32 butt against the periphery of the hollow post when the locking interlocks are activated by encliquetado, blocking said tongue in position.

In the following, the locking interlocking closure 5, 5 'between the lower platform 2 and the upper platform 3 is detailed.

The support leg 12 provides a distal end 24 comprising an upper part 33 that is parallelepipedic, for example with a square section and comprising internal stiffening panels to provide a resistant and suitable support leg, said upper part 33 presenting a outer surface 34 arranged to slide along and inside the opening of the corresponding hollow post 13, said opening being therefore connected so that it can slide with said upper part of the support leg 12.

The opening comprises on its two external corner panels 35 (see Figure 1 for the hollow post located in the corner of the semi-wall), respectively in each panel, a circular hole 5 '.

On the corresponding surface 34 of the support legs 12, and more particularly in its upper part, the projected portions 5 are provided have the shape of a cylindrical tablet and are arranged so that they fit with the holes 5 'when the support leg they are introduced into the opening of the hollow post, and they are pushed until the edge or flange 25 of the upper part 24 comes into contact with the periphery 26 of the hollow post opening 13.

Meanwhile, the protruding parts 5 will slide along until they are ignited with the corresponding holes 5 '.

Figure 3 shows the pallet after complete assembly.

The plates 30 are centered or substantially centered with respect to the openings. As the plate has, for example, about 20 mm high and the opening between 86 mm and 105 mm, the fork, which is 20 mm thick, does not run the risk of damaging the main panel and damaging it.

Next, the same reference numbers will be used to designate the same or similar elements.

Figure 4 shows an enlarged view of another embodiment of the support leg 36 with a tongue 30 inserted in the hollow groove 27 in a manner similar to that described with reference to Figure 2.

Here, however, the enclosure locking interlocks are different and comprise a hollow parallelepiped recess 37 connected to the intermediate flange 25 and having, for example, a thickness similar to the thickness of said flange, for connection with a corresponding protruding part of the same dimensions provided on the inner face of the hollow post (not shown).

Figures 5A to 5D show the first steps of an embodiment of the method of the invention for assembling a pallet, which more particularly illustrate the introduction of the tongue.

An operator (not shown) manually tabs tab 30 to support leg 12 (Figure 5A).

Next, it is pushed into place by a sliding movement of the peripheral side 40 of the tongue in the grooves 28 (Figure 5B) of the hollow groove 27.

Here, the protruding part 5 is located at the distal end part of the support leg, the plate 30 is for example slightly flexible, so that it is more easily inserted.

However, when the hollow grooves are in the support legs, the tabs are inserted directly without the need for flexibility.

Next, the tongue is finally pushed into place, the upper peripheral edge 32 rising and aligned with the intermediate flange 25 formed by a small, narrow horizontal edge of a thickness of, for example, between 3 mm and 5 mm (Figure 5C ).

Next, the hollow post 13 is inserted so that it can slide into the distal end of the support leg 12, thereby locking the tongue 30 in place, which will then clearly indicate one of the sides and the level of the hole. 41 of the pallet, for use with a fork to support and move the pallet.

Claims (13)

5 10 fifteen twenty 25 30 35 40 Four. Five fifty 55 60 65 1. Pallet (1) formed by two semi-pallets of plastic material (2, 3), each presenting a rigid rectangular main panel (6, 7) that has an inner side (8, 9) and an outer side (10, 11 ), to be assembled together in a face-to-face relationship of its internal sides by means of parallelepipedic connection means (12, 13) that define openings (41) to each other for manipulation by fork, characterized in that each of the connection means comprises on its external faces a rectangular or trapezoidal hollow groove (27) provided with lateral grooves (28), and a rectangular or trapezoidal tongue (30) in plastic material and in a color that contrasts with the semipalés, presenting a complementary form to said hollow groove, inserted when pushed into place, by a sliding movement and immovably locked within said grooves and said hollow groove, said groove and said tongue being inserted substantially centered so that they are arranged to clearly indicate one of between the side and the level of said opening (41), said tongue having a parallel external surface (31) or in a position withdrawn with respect to the external surface (31 ') of said connection means. 2. Pallet (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the different color of the tongue is pink or yellow, and / or fluorescent, the semipalés being darker colors. 3. Pallet according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the connection means are formed by a plurality of support legs (12) and a plurality of corresponding hollow posts (13) connected together by means of enclosure locking interlocks (5). , 5 '; 37), said support legs and said hollow posts being integral and protruding from the inner side respectively of one or the other of said main panels, the distal end portions (21) of the butt support legs being against said corresponding hollow posts by corresponding intermediate flanges (25) when connected, each support leg comprising said hollow grooves (27) on their outer faces, the upper periphery (29) of said groove being aligned with the intermediate flange (25) of said support leg and the upper periphery (32) of said tongue (30) butting against the hollow post (13) blocking in position said tab when the locking interlocking closures are activated. 4. Pallet according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that one of the peripheral edges of the tongue is chamfered to facilitate its introduction into the groove (27). 5. Pallet according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the protruding parts (5) are integral and are arranged on the support legs (12) and the holes are on the corresponding hollow posts. 6. Pallet according to claim 5, characterized in that the outer face or part of said outer face of said protruding parts has an angle with the surface of said support legs to facilitate insertion of the tongue (30), and the holes they are on the corresponding hollow posts. 7. Pallet according to any of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the protruding parts are integral and are arranged on the inner face of the hollow posts and the holes on the corresponding support legs. 8. Pallet according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the protruding parts have polygonal shapes. 9. Pallet according to any of the preceding claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the protruding parts (5) and the corresponding holes (5 ') are cylindrical. 10. Pallet according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the two semi-pallets (2, 3) have different colors. 11. Pallet according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the two semi-pallets are easily separable with an adapted tool and that the tongues are removable. 12. Pallet according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the surfaces of each of the main panels are a grid. 13. Procedure for assembling two semi-pallets to form a pallet (1), each of said semi-pallets comprising a rigid rectangular main panel (6, 7) having an internal face and an external face, a plurality of support legs (12) and a plurality of corresponding hollow posts (13), said support legs and said hollow posts being integral and protruding from the inner side respectively of one or other of said main panels, the distal end portions (21) of the support legs of a semipalé arranged to engage with the corresponding hollow posts of the other semipalé by means of interlocking fasteners (5, 5 ') and butt to each other by the corresponding intermediate flanges (25), characterized in that the support legs (12) comprise on their external faces a rectangular or trapezoidal hollow groove (27) having lateral grooves (28), the upper periphery (29) of said groove being aligned with the intermediate flange (25) ) of said support leg, a tongue (30) being inserted when pushed into place by a sliding movement within said grooves (28) of said groove to present a parallel external surface or in a withdrawn position with respect to the external surface of said support leg and to have its upper periphery (32) aligned with the intermediate flange of said support leg, and because said semi-pallets (2, 3) are assembled by coupling the distal end portions (21) 10 of the support legs of a semi-pallet with the corresponding hollow posts of the other semi-pallet by means of said enclosure locking interlocks (5, 5 '; 37), said intermediate flanges (25) of the corresponding legs being abutted against the corresponding hollow posts (13), thereby blocking in position said tabs (30) when the locking interlocks are activated by Enclosed