FI93933C - Pallet - Google Patents

Description

93935

The present invention relates to a pallet made mainly of recyclable cardboard using tubular cardboard sleeve pieces located on a pallet so that their axes are perpendicular to the plane of the pallet.

Pallets have traditionally been made of wood, which has given the pallets a high load capacity. A wooden pallet usually lasts numerous uses, but still the pallets end up in landfills quite quickly in practice.

It is also known to make a pallet from cardboard, which after use can be recycled back to the production of recycled pulp. This avoids the waste problem caused by pallets. However, the disadvantage of the solution has been that cardboard pallets have not achieved the same strength and load-bearing capacity as wooden pallets.

"2.0 SE 356 944 discloses a pallet using cardboard sleeves which are commonly used as cores for paper rolls. The pallet according to said SE publication comprises five sleeve cores arranged over the entire surface of the pallet and the pallet being provided with legs with different lengths of cores. the fact that the number of core pieces required is large, which makes it difficult to assemble the pallet.

The object of the present invention is to provide a cardboard pallet which can be manufactured more simply and with a smaller number of cardboard core pieces than the pallet according to SE publication 35 2 93933 356 944, without having to compromise the load-bearing capacity of the pallet. The pallet according to the invention, which is entirely of recyclable material, is primarily intended to be disposable, although it may withstand several uses, depending on the intended use. The pallet according to the invention is characterized in that it comprises beams formed of parallel tubular cardboard sleeve pieces and the surrounding cardboard, which are fastened to each other in the pallet in two overlapping layers 10.

For the pallet according to the invention, the cardboard sleeves are cut into shorter pieces, which are arranged in a row and surrounded by cardboard so as to obtain elongate beams from which the pallet can be assembled in the same way as conventional wooden pallets. The assembly of said beams can be implemented as an automated process.

According to the invention, the height of the sleeve pieces used for said beams is preferably approximately the same or slightly smaller than their outer diameter. Such dimensioning is advantageous both in terms of the load-bearing capacity of the resulting pallet and its processability.

According to the invention, the cardboard surrounding the cardboard core pieces in the beams is preferably corrugated cardboard with alternately corrugated layers and straight liner layers. From the point of view of the stiffness of the beam, it is advantageous if the waves travel in the longitudinal direction of the beam.

30

If the goods to be loaded are self-supporting, eg rigid boxes or similar packages corresponding to the size of the pallet, the pallet may consist of only beams cross-fastened to each other. However, it is advantageous to provide the pallet according to the invention with a top plate of rigid cardboard attached to the beams, whereby the pallet is also suitable for loading smaller or loose goods, such as sacks.

3,93933

In order to facilitate the movement of the pallet, it is advantageous to arrange the parallel beams in at least one layer of the pallet at a distance from each other so that the pallet can be lifted by a lifting fork 5 inserted between the beams.

The pallet according to the invention can be assembled using only glue, which is separated from the pulp in the material recycling process. Such are e.g. known so-called.

10 hot melt adhesives and cold adhesives. On the other hand, it is also possible to use rivets to secure the glue joints of the pallet.

According to the invention, the pallet may be attached to a package which it supports. The pallet and the packaging, such as a paper-15 big bag, then form a disposable packaging unit, the material of which is completely recyclable after use.

The invention will now be described in more detail by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a pallet of cross beams and a top plate according to the invention, Figure 2 shows a single beam belonging to the pallet seen from above and partly in section, Figure 3 shows the same beam from the side seen and partially cut, Fig. 4 shows a semi-finished beam with carton pieces arranged in a row around them on corrugated board, Fig. 5 shows a single core piece belonging to the beam, Fig. 6 shows the end of a finished single beam, Fig. 7 shows on an enlarged scale a beam the corner of the corrugated cardboard piece used and Fig. 8 shows the filling of a large bag glued to the pallet.

4,93933

Figure 1 shows a pallet 1 according to the invention, mainly intended for single use, which consists entirely of recyclable material. Pallet 1 comprises a top plate 2 of rigid corrugated cardboard and beams 3 formed of cardboard below it, arranged crosswise in two layers. The top plate 2 and the beams 3 are glued together with a hot melt adhesive that separates during the pulping step of the recycling process. The size of the pallet 1 is of the order of 0.5-1.5 m x 0.5 x 1.5 m and it is intended to carry 10 large bags weighing several hundred kilograms, for example. The parallel beams 3 are located in the pallet 1 at a distance from each other so that the pallet can be moved between the beams with a lifting fork inserted.

The structure of the beams 3 belonging to the pallet 1 according to Figure 1 is shown in Figures 2-7. The bellows use tubular cardboard sleeve pieces 4 according to Fig. 5, which are cut, for example, from cardboard cores used as cores for paper rolls. The inner diameter d of the sleeve pieces 4 varies "20 generally between about 75-150 mm, the outer diameter D between n.

85-180 mm, sheath wall thickness between approx. 2-15 mm and height h between approx. 30-100 mm. Optimally, the height h of the sleeve body 4 is somewhat smaller or at most approximately the same as the outer diameter D.

25

The sleeve pieces 4 can be arranged in the beam 3 in the row according to Fig. 4. The number of sleeve pieces 4 in the beam can vary depending on the length of the beam, i.e. the dimensions of the pallet 1 to be manufactured. If the desired beam length is not a multiple of the outer diameter D of the core body 30, an opening can be left in the middle of the row formed by the core body 4. Otherwise, the pieces in the queue are preferably glued side by side to each other.

The sleeve pieces 4 are surrounded in a beam 3 by a corrugated cardboard sheet 6 wrapped around them, with folds corresponding to the edges of the beam 6. The outermost strips of the sheet 6 are superimposed on the sleeve pieces 4 as shown in Figure 6 and sealed together with said hot melt adhesive. The same adhesive has also been used on all the contact surfaces between the core bodies 4 and the corrugated board 6.

Alternatively, the corrugated sheet 6 may be dimensioned so that the width of its outermost strips is only half the width of the beam 3. In this case, a simple corrugated cardboard layer is obtained in the beam 3, in which the edges of the sheet 6 are located against each other without overlapping according to Fig. 6.

The corrugated board 6 used for the beams 3 consists, according to Fig. 7, of five overlapping layers, the middle and outermost of which are straight liner layers 7 and the other two corrugated layers 8. The waves of the layers 8 run in the longitudinal direction of the beams 3.

15

From the point of view of the load-bearing capacity of the pallet 1, it is essential that the axes 9 of the tubular sleeve pieces 4 (cf. Fig. 4) are in the pallet in the direction of the load, i.e. perpendicular to the plane of the pallet (top plate 2).

•• 20

Fig. 8 shows the pallet 1 according to Fig. 1, which supports a large paper bag 10 to be filled with powdered product or granulate. The bag 10 is filled while it is on the pallet 1, and the bag can be glued to the pallet. The pallet 1 and the sack then together form a disposable packaging unit which is available as a raw material for the recycled pulp after the sack has been emptied.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the various embodiments of the invention are not limited to the examples set forth above but may vary within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (9)

93933 Pallet (1) made mainly of recyclable cardboard using tubular cardboard sleeve pieces (4) located in the pallet so that their axes (9) are perpendicular to the plane of the pallet, characterized in that the pallet (1) comprises parallel beams (3) formed of tubular cardboard sleeve pieces (4) and surrounding cardboard (6), which are fastened to each other on the pallet in two overlapping layers. Pallet according to Claim 1, characterized in that the height (h) of the sleeve pieces (4) is substantially equal to or smaller than their outer diameter (D). 15 Pallet according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that corrugated cardboard (6) is used for the beams (3) so that the corrugations run in the longitudinal direction of the beam. Pallet according to Claim 3, characterized in that the corrugated board (6) has alternately corrugated layers (8) and straight liner layers (7). Pallet according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the pallet (1) comprises, in addition to the layers of beams (3), a top plate (2) of rigid cardboard. Pallet truck according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that in at least one layer the mutually parallel beams (3) are spaced apart so that the pallet (1) can be lifted by a lifting fork inserted between the beams. Pallet va according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the parts of the pallet (1) are fastened to one another during the material recycling process with an adhesive which separates from the pulp. 93933 Pallet according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the pallet (1) is fastened to the package (10) which it supports. Pallet according to Claim 8, characterized in that a large paper bag (10) is glued to the pallet (1).