FR2503670A1 - Cardboard pallet made from three rectangular blanks - has incisions forming interlocking tongues, joining two supports to load bearing panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The pallet made from cardboard consists of three elements each in the form of a flat rectangular blank, one (1) forming the load carrying surface. The other two elements are identical and have parallel fold lines so that they form a base, each half (24,25) having a flat panel (33) between two channels (31,41). The upper panel (1) has fold lines across two ends, forming an overhanging section (3) at each end, to support loads of different sizes. The upper panel has nine incisions in three rows of three, each with a central slot across it. These form nine rectangular tongues (5,6 etc) which are bent downwards to interlock with similar tongues (46) formed by incisions on the other two panels after folding, to secure them underneath.

Description

 The invention relates to a cardboard pallet, and in particular a cardboard pallet for transporting objects of variable dimensions.

 The technical field of transport pallets is well known and there are many types of pallets using cardboard. In general, these pallets include one or two sheets of cardboard capable of defining housings for the feet or the support pads, and in these housings are introduced mandrels or pads made of various materials, in particular wood, plastic or even cardboard-based. Usually these studs are glued or screwed.

 These embodiments have a number of drawbacks. First of all, these pallets are made up of elements made of different materials, which poses problems of storage and manufacturing price due to the high cost of certain materials.

Second, some of these materials are not recyclable. In addition, their size makes their storage more difficult. In addition, the diversity of existing formats makes inventory management more complex, and finally, in terms of safety, pallets containing wood are subject to criticism.

 One of the aims of the present invention is to provide a pallet avoiding the above drawbacks, and made entirely of cardboard from sheets which can be delivered flat.

 Another object of the invention is to provide a pallet adaptable to different formats of objects to be transported, without modifying the format of the sheets constituting the pallet.

 Yet another object of the invention is to provide a pallet capable of being easily assembled on site by personnel without special qualifications.

 The subject of the invention is a cardboard pallet, characterized in that it comprises: a bottom plate from which two lateral series and a middle series of foot elements are taken; and two symmetrical bottom elements, intended to ensure the maintenance and the envelope of the foot elements.

According to other characteristics of the invention:
- Said foot elements are substantially rectangular and have a notch between their center and their free edge opposite their line of articulation on the bottom plate;
- the foot elements present in the vicinity of their articulation line on the bottom of the notches;
- each of the elements below consists of a series of adjacent bands, articulated one on the other and constituting the envelope of a lateral series of foot elements and half of the foot elements of the series median;
- Each of the bottom elements comprises a bottom plate provided on its two sides with locks intended to cooperate with the notches of the foot elements to ensure the joining of the bottom plate and the bottom elements;
- Each of the bottom elements has a counter face from which are taken substantially rectangular foot elements and provided with notches extending from their center to the line of articulation of said counter face.

Other characteristics will emerge from the description which follows, made with reference to the attached drawing on which we can see:
Figure 1, a flat view of a bottom plate of the pallet according to the invention;
Figure 2, a flat view of one of the two bottom elements of the pallet according to the invention;
Figure 3, a perspective view from below showing the respective arrangement of the bottom and bottom elements, in an assembled pallet according to the invention.

 In FIG. 1, the bottom plate 1 comprises a rectangular bottom 2 provided on two of its sides with series of articulated bands 3 and 4, intended to ensure the adaptation of the pallet to the different dimensions of the packages transported, the bands overflow the base of the package being raised against the lateral faces of the package and thus ensuring protection of the package during a strapping operation for example.

 The bottom 2 proper has three series of cutouts releasing liftable foot elements such as 5, 6 and 7, substantially rectangular, articulated respectively along lines 8, 9 and 10. The lateral foot elements 5 and 7 have towards the inside a notch, 11 and 12 respectively, in the vicinity of the line of articulation, the central element 6 has two notches 13 and 14 symmetrical.

 These foot elements 5, 6 and 7 comprise a notch 15, 16, 17 respectively, extending from the middle of the element to its free edge opposite the articulation line. This notch is intended to cooperate with a corresponding notch of a foot element taken from the element below the pallet at the time of assembly.

 The series of foot elements 5, 6, 7 is synonymous with a second lateral series of foot elements 18, 19, 20. A middle series of foot elements 21, 22, 23 is composed of identical elements although that distributed differently from their aligned hinge lines.

 In Figure 2 is shown one 24 of the two bottom elements of the pallet, the other 25 being rigorously symmetrical. Each of these bottom elements constitutes the envelope of a lateral series of legs 5, 21, 18 and the envelope of half of the legs 6, 22, 19 of the middle series. The bottom element 24 is constituted by a series of adjacent bands, articulated one on the other. Starting from the center of the pallet towards the edge, there is thus successively: a central partition 26, vertical after mounting, provided on its free edge 27 of three notches 28, 29, 30 intended to cooperate with the notches such as 16 of the foot elements 19, 22 and 6 respectively; a face 31 of support on the ground on which come to bear the free edges of the foot element 6, 22, 19, when they have been straightened vertically; a vertical partition 32 and a bottom plate 33 having, on its line of articulation with the partition 32, latches 34, 35, 36, taken from said partition 32. These latches are intended to cooperate with one of the lateral notches such as 13 of each of the base elements 19, 22 and 6, for locking the bottom plate 33 against the bottom 2 of the bottom plate 1 of the pallet.

 On its opposite articulation line, the bottom plate 33 has other latches 37, 38, 39 intended to cooperate with the notches such as 11 of the foot elements 18, 21 and 5 respectively. These latches are taken from the internal lateral partition 40.

A lateral face 41 for bearing on the ground and an external lateral partition 42 surround, with the partition 40, the foot elements 18, 21 and 5.

Finally, a counter face 43 folds down against the bottom plate 1 and towards the middle of the pallet. On this counter face 43 are taken three foot elements 44, 45, 46, substantially rectangular, intended to cooperate with the foot elements 18, 21 and 5 respectively after being straightened. These foot elements are articulated on a line 50 parallel to the line of articulation of the counterface 43 on the partition 42. they are provided with a notch 47, 48, 49 respectively, which starts from the center of the foot element towards the middle of its articulation line and extends to the articulation line 50 of the counter face 43 on the partition 42.

it should be noted that the counter face 43 extends beyond the base elements 44, 45, 46 and that its corresponding part is taken (FIG. 3) between the bottom plate 33 and the bottom 2, which ensures good maintenance of the pallet structure.

 The pallet is assembled as follows: the base elements 5, 21 and 18 of the lateral zone of the pallet are raised on the bottom plate 1 which has been turned over; and to be, the foot elements 44, 45, 46 are straightened on the bottom element 24 which has been turned over. The notches such as 15 and 49 cooperate, so that the feet each consist of two cross elements such as 5 and 46 for example. The counterface 43 is applied against the bottom 2. The bottom element 24 is then straightened along the articulation line 50, to form the external lateral partition 42, the lateral face of the ground support 41 is then folded back, then the internal lateral partition 40. At this moment, the articulation between the partition 40 and the bottom plate 33 are reversed compared to the preceding ones, the latches 37, 38, 39 protrude and they must be inserted under the notches such that 11 of the foot elements 18, 21 and 5 respectively.

 The bottom plate 33 is then applied against the bottom 2. The wall 32 is raised by releasing the latches 34, 35, 36 which remain applied to the bottom 2. The foot elements 19, 21 and 6 of the bottom are then straightened. Their notches such as 13 pass over the locks 34 to 36 because of the rounded shape of these locks. Then the face 31 of the ground support and the central partition 26 are folded simultaneously, the notches 28, 29, 30 of which cooperate with the corresponding notches such as 16 of the foot elements 19, 22 and 6 respectively.

 The procedure is the same with the element 25 which is symmetrical with the element 24 and which, for this reason, has not been described.

 We then return the pallet which is ready for use.

On each of the two bottom catches 2, there is shown a series of juxtaposed bands, articulated one on the other and intended to ensure an adaptation of the bottom of the pallet to the dimensions of the package to be transported, and possibly its lateral protection.

 It goes without saying that the direction of the grooves of the corrugated cardboard constituting the pallet is chosen so that in the foot elements the grooves are vertical.

Claims (6)

 1.- Cardboard pallet, characterized in that it comprises: a bottom plate (1) from which are taken two lateral series and a middle series of foot elements (5-7, 18-23); and two symmetrical bottom elements (24,25), intended to ensure the support and the envelope of the foot elements.  2.- Pallet according to claim 1, characterized in that said foot elements (5-7, 18-23) are substantially rectangular and have a notch (15-17) between their center and their free edge opposite their line d hinge on the bottom plate (1).  3.- Pallet according to claim 2, characterized in that the foot elements (5-7, 18-23) have in the vicinity of their articulation line on the bottom of the notches (11-14).  4. Pallet according to claim 1, characterized in that each of the bottom elements (24, 25) consists of a series of adjacent bands (26, 31-33, 40-43), articulated one on the 'other, and constituting the envelope of a lateral series of foot elements (5, 21, 18) and half of the foot elements (6, 22, 19) of the middle series.  5. Pallet according to claim 4, characterized in that each of the bottom elements (24, 25) comprises a bottom plate (33) provided on its two sides with latches (34-39) intended to cooperate with the notches ( 11-14) of the base elements to secure the bottom plate (1) and the bottom elements (24, 25).  6. Pallet according to claim 4, characterized in that each of the bottom elements (24, 25) comprises a counter face (43) from which are taken from the foot elements (44-46) substantially rectangular and provided with notches (47-49) extending from their center to the hinge line (50) of said counter face (43).