FR2687373A1 - Collapsible goods-handling pallet - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a parallelepipedic goods-handling pallet comprising two open end faces (1/2) each equipped with a closing bar (7), two side panels (3/4) with bars, perpendicular to the said open faces, a bottom panel (5) with bars, which occupies the surface of the pallet, two transverse median suspension and wedging beams (9) parallel with other, which join the said side panels (3/4) at the top and two end cross-pieces (8) parallel with the said suspension beams (9), in which the said side panels (3/4) are fitted with detachable or destructible assembly means (13/15/17) in order to fix them to the said bottom panel (5), to the said beams (9) and to the said cross-pieces (8), in such a way that the pallet can be transported in the dismantled state and assembled at the place of reception.

Description

 Removable handling pallet.

DESCRIPTION
The present invention relates to a removable handling pallet.

 The technical sector of the invention is that into which the racks, pallets or other means used for the transport or storage of objects, in particular objects of round shape, such as for example cylinders of liquid gas, enter.

 Pallets or racks of parallelepipedal shapes produced by mechanical welding and which can be superimposed, are currently known.

Such racks or pallets give satisfaction in the use for which they were designed but pose a problem to the manufacturer who uses them at the time of their shipment to the user customer.

Given their size, the number of pallets that can be transported is reduced compared to the load capacities of the means of transport. The situation as it stands today is expensive, since the price of transport is included in the price of pallets.

 The present invention aims to remedy this drawback.

 An objective of the invention is to produce pallets or racks by assemblable elements making it possible to increase the number of pallets transported for the same carrying capacity of the means of transport usually used.

 Another objective is to design demountable pallets or racks similar to those existing mechanically welded, in order to make them compatible during their use, the conventional racks or pallets having to be able to be superimposed on the racks or pallets according to the invention and vice versa.

 Another objective is the implementation of pallets or racks at a lower cost, using standard profile irons on the market.

 This objective is achieved by the handling pallet according to the invention, which is rectangular and has two open faces of ends each equipped with a closing bar, two side panels with bars, perpendicular to said open faces, a bottom panel with bar, which occupies the surface of the pallet, two median transverse beams for suspension and wedging parallel to each other, which join said side panels at the top and two end crosspieces parallel to said suspension beams, in which said side panels are equipped with removable or destructible assembly means for fixing them to said bottom panel, to said beams and to said crosspieces, so that the pallet can be transported disassembled and be assembled at the place of reception.

 Said side panels comprise tubular uprights to which is welded at their upper end a spar formed by an angle iron of which one of the wings is applied against the internal face of said uprights and whose longitudinal edge is located near said upper ends of the uprights.

 Said uprights each have at their lower end a bracket, a wing of which is applied against the internal face of these uprights and its longitudinal edge located near said lower end of said uprights.

 Each of the beams joins said side panels in line with one of their uprights and each of said panels comprises in line with said uprights support plates which extend the free wing of said beam in the form of an angle. Said support plate is reinforced by means of a gusset welded to the support plate, to the angle iron and to said upright.

 In one embodiment, said support plate has a trapezoidal contour and each beam has at its ends a bracket comprising a small wing pressed against the end of the beam and a larger wing pressed against the underside of said beam, which large wing is of a trapezoidal contour which follows the contour of said support plate, the fixing of the beams and the panels being carried out by dismountable or destructible assembly means passed through holes reserved in the wings of the brackets, in the longitudinal angles and in the support plates.

 The bottom panel has an angle frame, the wings of the longitudinal angles are pressed inside and on the wings of the brackets fixed to the lower part of the uprights of the side panels, the fixing of the bottom panel to said side panels being carried out. by removable or destructible assembly means passed through reserved holes in the wings of the longitudinal angles and the said brackets.

 The bottom panel has crosspieces which join the longitudinal angles of said bottom panel, and said crosspieces are welded inside said longitudinal angles. The longitudinal bars of said bottom panel are welded on top of said angle frame, so that when the pallets are superimposed, the suspension beams of the lower pallet are placed on the side of said crosspieces and inside the space delimited by said frame and the railing formed by the longitudinal bars of the upper pallet.

 Said upper crossmembers which join the ends of the side panels have at each of their ends a bracket which is placed inside the longitudinal angle of the side panels, the fixing of the crossmembers to said panels being carried out by dismountable or destructible assembly means. passed through reserved holes in the wings of said brackets and those of said angles.

 The end uprights of the side panels and at least one of their intermediate uprights have support plates at their upper and lower ends, so that when the pallets are superimposed, the plates located at the lower part of the uprights the upper pallet are brought into contact with the plates located at the top of the uprights of the lower pallet.

 The suspension beams each have at their ends two symmetrical oblique faces which converge from bottom to top to promote the stacking of the pallets.

 The result of the invention is to have designed an inexpensive removable pallet, allowing easier transport and greater profitability, such a pallet once mounted can be used in combination with conventional mechanically welded pallets during their superposition.

Other advantages and characteristics of the invention will emerge further on reading the following description given by way of nonlimiting example, with reference to the appended drawings in which
- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pallet according to the invention ;;
- Figure 2 is a partial perspective view of the pallet of the previous figure and which shows the assembly of the suspension beams to the side panels
- Figure 3 is a partial perspective view of the pallet of Figure 1, which shows the assembly of the bottom panel to the side panels
- Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view along the line
IV-IV of the upper part of a side panel illustrating the assembly of a suspension beam to said side panels
- Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view along the line
VV of FIG. 1, of the lower part of a side panel illustrating the assembly of the bottom panel to said side panels
- Figure 6 is a top view of an angle of the pallet illustrating the connection of an end cross member and a side panel
- Figure 7 is a partial top view of the pallet illustrating the connection of a beam to a side panel
- Figure 8 is a cross-sectional view along line VIII-VIII of Figure 1.

 Reference is first made to FIG. 1 of the drawing which represents a pallet according to the invention, after assembly of the parts which constitute it. Said pallet is of parallelepiped shape and has two open ends 1/2, two side panels 3/4 and a bottom panel 5.

 Said side and bottom panels are made by mechanical welding from profiled commercial irons.

 The bottom panel 5 covers the surface of the pallet and carries an angle frame 5a which delimits its periphery and which is connected by its two longitudinal sides 5al to the lower part of said side panels 3/4, as will be explained below. in more detail. Its transverse sides 5a2 are placed in the plane of said open faces 1/2 which they delimit at their lower part.

 The bottom panel 5 further comprises in a known manner a railing composed of longitudinal bars 5b parallel to each other and to the longitudinal sides 5al, which are regularly distributed and are for example constituted by tubular profiles of a rectangular cross section which join the two transverse sides 5a2. The bottom panel 5 also includes crosspieces 5c, for example three in number, arranged below the bars 5b and which join the two longitudinal angles 5al.

 The objects transported, for example bottles of liquid gas, are distributed over said panel 5 and resting on said rail.

 The 3/4 side panels are identical and are arranged in opposition to each other. Thus only the panel referenced 4 is described below. It consists of a longitudinal angle 4a located at its upper part and uprights 4b, for example five in number, which extend over the height of the pallet, which are parallel to each other and are distributed over the length of the panel .

Said uprights 4b are constituted by tubular profiles with a rectangular cross section and are welded to said longitudinal angle 4a. Their spacing is maintained by spacers 4c parallel to the angle iron 4a and aligned substantially halfway up the panel.

 The uprights of ends 3b / 4b comprise in known manner guide and stop means 6 of a closing bar 7 sliding on two rods or cables.

 The open ends 1/2 of the pallet have at their upper end a cross member 8 which connects the side panels 3/4 to the right of said uprights 3b / 4b. The crosspieces 8 are made for example from tubular sections of a rectangular cross section.

 The pallet further comprises and in known manner two transverse suspension and wedging beams 9 which join said side panels 3/4, for example in line with the second uprights counted from the ends of said panels.

 In known manner, said beams 9 are of a tubular profile of a generally triangular shape with an exhaust face 9a allowing the superposition of the pallets and their relative setting by contact with two of the crosspieces 5c of the bottom panel 5. All the parts which have just been mentioned: bottom panel 5, side panels 3/4, end crosspieces 8, suspension beams 9, are removable and assembled together by removable assembly means, such as bolts, screws , pins or other equivalent or destructible means such as rivets.

 The closing bars 7 are also removable.

 The methods of assembling said parts are illustrated in FIGS. 2 to 8 in more detail.

 Figures 2, 4 and 7 give details of the means used to fix the suspension and wedging beams to the side panels 3/4.

 The longitudinal angles 4a which extend to the upper part of said panels are for example with equal wings 4a1 / 4a2, the wing 4al is pressed against the internal face of the uprights 4b.

As is more particularly shown in Figure 4, the edge 4alfa of the wing 41a is located near the upper end of the upright 4b. The other wing 4a2 extends inside the pallet and partially constitutes a support on which the suspension beam 9 rests. In order to increase the strength of the assembly, the wing 4a2 is extended by a plate 10 welded along the edge 4a2a of said wing, which is of a trapezoidal contour, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 7. A reinforcing gusset is welded to the side of the upright 4b and to the wing 4a2 of the angle iron 4a and to said trapezoidal plate 10.

 The beams 9 have at their ends a bracket 12 with unequal wings, one of which 12a is of a width substantially equal to that of the angle iron 4a and is welded to the end of the beam and the other wing 12b of greater width is welded to the underside of the beam 9.

 The edge 12a of the wing 12a is substantially at and parallel to the edge 4alfa of the wing 4al of the angle iron 4a, the wing 12b comprises a part 12b1 of a trapezoidal contour which follows the contour of the support plate 10 The fixing of the beam 9 to the panel 4 is carried out for example by means of four bolts 13, two of which are passed through the holes reserved in the wing 12a of the bracket 12 and in the wing 4al of the angle 4a and two others in reserved holes in the wing 12b and in the plate 10 of the wing 4a2 of said angle iron 4a.

 The beam 9 has at its ends two oblique symmetrical faces 9b which converge from bottom to top, which faces facilitate the stacking of the pallets and have a guiding function during their superposition.

 Figures 2 and 5 illustrate the assembly of the bottom panel 5 and the side panels 3/4.

 According to the example of FIG. 1, the end uprights and two of the intermediate uprights 4 have at their lower part assembly brackets 14, for example constituted by pieces of angle iron with equal wings.

 Each of said intermediate uprights 4b comprises a bracket 14, a wing 14a of which is pressed against the internal face of said upright, the longitudinal edge 4a1 of this wing being located near the lower end of the upright. The other wing 14b extends inside the pallet, the longitudinal angle 5a1 which borders each of the sides of the bottom panel 5 is pressed from below inside the bracket 14. Said brackets 14 of the uprights intermediates are welded to said uprights and protrude on either side symmetrically, as illustrated in FIG. 2.

 The bottom panel 5 is fixed for example by means of four bolts passed through reserved holes in the wings 14a / 14b of the bracket and in the wings of the angle iron 5a1.

 The fixing of the bottom panel 5 to the end uprights 4b is carried out in the same way. For construction reasons, the support brackets 14 of the uprights are fixed by welding, asymmetrically, so that they overlap a single side of uprights 4b.

 FIGS. 6 and 8 illustrate the assembly of the cross members 8 at the side panels 3/4. The upper longitudinal angle 4a of the panel is fixed to the end upright 4b by welding, as has been described with reference to FIG. 4.

 Each cross member 8 comprises at its ends a square 16 with unequal wings, one wing 16a of which is mounted at the end of said cross member and the other of which 16b of greater width, is welded to the edge of the walls of the tubular profile which constitutes the cross member and coming from a rectangular indentation 8b made at the ends of the crosspiece 8. The brackets 16 extend perpendicularly and on one side only of the crosspiece 8 inside the pallet, as illustrated in FIG. 6.

 The brackets 16 at the ends of the crosspieces 8 are placed in the interior of the angle iron 4a. The fixing is ensured for example by means of two bolts 17 passed through reserved holes, on the one hand in the wings 16a of the bracket 16 and 4a1 of the angle 4a, and 16b of said bracket and 4a2 of said angle.

 The end uprights and two of the intermediate uprights 4b also include, at their upper and lower ends, support plates welded to the ends of the uprights, which plates are substantially the same length as the brackets 12, 14, 16.

 Their function is to constitute bearing surfaces when the pallets are superimposed. The plates 18 fixed to the lower part of the uprights 4b are thus supported on the plates 18 fixed to the upper part of said uprights, as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5.

 Given the design of the bottom panel 5, and its mounting to the lower part of the side panels 3/4, the space delimited by the railing 5b and by the angle frame 5, is used to receive the suspension beams 9 which are placed, when superimposed, on the side of the crosspieces 5c of said bottom, as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5.

 Of course, without departing from the scope of the invention, the parts which have just been described by way of example, may be replaced by a person skilled in the art by equivalent parts fulfilling the same function.

Claims (10)

 1. Parallelepipedal handling pallet comprising two open end faces (1/2) each equipped with a closing bar (7), two side panels (3/4) with bars, perpendicular to said open faces, a panel of bar bottom (5) which occupies the surface of the pallet, two median transverse suspension and wedging beams (9) parallel to each other, which join said side panels (3/4) at the top and two cross beams ends (8) parallel to said suspension beams (9), characterized in that said side panels (3/4) are equipped with removable or destrustible assembly means (13/15/17) to fix them to said bottom panel ( 5), said beams (9) and said crosspieces (8), so that the pallet can be transported disassembled and be mounted on the receiving site.  2. Pallet according to claim 1, characterized in that the side panels (3/4) comprise uprights (3b / 4b) tubular to which is welded at their upper end a beam (4a) formed by an angle including one of the wings ( 4ai) is applied against the inner face of said uprights (4b) and its longitudinal edge (4ara) located near said upper ends of the uprights (4b).  3. Pallet according to any one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that said uprights (4b) each comprise at their lower end a bracket (14) of which a wing (14a) is applied against the internal face of said uprights (4b ) and its longitudinal edge (4ai) located near said lower end of the uprights (4b).  4. Pallet according to any one of claims 1 to 3, each of the beams (9) joining said side panels (3/4) in line with one of their uprights (4b), characterized in that each of said panels ( 3/4) comprises, to the right of these uprights (4b) support plates (10) which extend the free wing (4a2) of said beam (4a) in the form of an angle and in that said support plate (10) is reinforced by means of a gusset (11) welded to the support plate (10) to the angle iron (4) and to said upright (4b).  5. Pallet according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that said support plate (10) is of a trapezoidal contour and that each beam (9) has at its ends a square (12) comprising a small wing (12a) pressed against the end of the beam (9) and a larger wing (12b) pressed against the underside of the beam (9), which large wing (12b) has a trapezoidal contour which follows the contour of said support plate (10), the fixing of the beams (9) and of the panels (3/4) being carried out by removable or destructible assembly means (13) passed through reserved holes in the wings of the brackets (12) in the longitudinal angles (4a) and in the support plates (10).  6. Pallet according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the bottom panel (5) comprises an angle frame (5a), the wings of the longitudinal angles (sai) are pressed inside and on the wings of the brackets (14), fixed to the lower part of the uprights (4b) of the side panels (3/4), the fixing of the bottom panel (5) to said side panels being carried out by removable assembly means or destructible (15) passed through reserved holes in the wings of the longitudinal angles (saï) and said brackets (14).  7. Pallet according to any one of claims 1 to 6, the bottom panel (5) comprises crosspieces (5c) which join the longitudinal angles (sai) of said panel (5), characterized in that said crosspieces (5c) are welded inside said longitudinal angles (saï) and that the longitudinal bars (5b) of said bottom panel are welded on top of said angle frame (5), so that when the pallets are superposed, the beams of suspension (9) of the lower pallet are placed on the side of said crosspieces (5c) and inside the space delimited by said frame (5) and the railing formed by the longitudinal bars (5b) of the upper pallet .  8. Pallet according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that said upper crosspieces (8) which join the ends of the side panels (3/4) have at each of their ends a square (16) which is placed inside the longitudinal angle (4a) of the side panels, the fixing of the crosspieces (8) to said panels being carried out by dismountable or destructible assembly means (17) passed through reserved holes in the wings of said brackets (16 ) and those of said angles (4a).  9. Pallet according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the end uprights (4b) of the side panels and at least one of their intermediate uprights (4b) have at their upper and lower ends plates d 'support (18), so that during the superposition of the pallets, the plates (18) located at the bottom of the uprights (4b) of the upper pallet are brought into contact with the plates (18) located at the top uprights (4b) of the lower pallet.  10. Pallet according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the suspension beams (9) each have at their ends two oblique faces (9b) symmetrical and converging from bottom to top to promote stacking of the pallets .