GB1568344A - Multi-purpose pallet - Google Patents

Description

(54) MULTI-PURPOSE PALLET (71) We, HILLS INDUSTRIES LIMITED, an Australian Company, of 944 956 South Road, Edwardstown, State of South Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us and the method by which it is to be performed to be particularly described in and by the following statement : -- This invention relates to a multi-purpose pallet which, in one of its configurations, can be used as a flat pallet for the handling of goods, in another configuration as a pallet container, or which in a still further configuration can be extended to be used as a flat pallet of larger dimension.

In industry one of the difficulties encountered in pallets is their inflexibility, in that they cannot be used for general purposes. There is a well recognized need to have containers which can also be used as pallets, but attempts which have been made to provide such dual purpose products have heretofore met with only limited success, and the main object of this invention is to provide a pallet having demountable extensions which will make a satisfactory container, that is, a container which will have relatively rigid sides and which will withstand normal wear and tear without losing its demountable facility.

In this invention a pallet has a base frame, a load frame, and side frames, a plurality of spacers joining the base frame to the load frame, each side frame being releasably engageable with the base frame and load frame and arranged to be supported thereby to be upstanding therefrom, and two outrigger frames being releasably engageable with the load frame when extending outwardly from opposite sides thereof and arranged to thereby comprise demountable outrigger frames.

An embodiment of the invention is described hereunder in some detail with reference to and is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is an "exploded" view of a pallet which includes a base frame, a load frame, a pair of side frames and a pair of end rails; Fig. 2 is an end elevation looking from the right in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side elevation looking from the left in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan illustrating an outrigger frame extending outwardly from the load frame; and Fig. 5 is a corresponding fragmentary side elevational section taken on line 5-5 of Fig.

4.

In this embodiment a pallet 10 is formed to have a base frame 11 (which is normally the ground-engaging frame) and a load frame 12 (which normally supports a load), there being spacers 13 between the frames 11 and 12.

The base frame 11 comprises three parallel bars 15 which are flat members arranged to lie on the ground and thereby enable a jacking truck to ride over them to get beneath the pallet in one direction only, and end rails 16 of tubular section positioned adjacent the ground so as to allow entry of the forks of a fork lift truck (even though they will not allow entry of a jacking truck).

The load frame 12 comprises side rails 18 formed from rectangular section tubing and end rails 19 formed from square section tubing, there being intermediate bearers 20 between the end rails also of square tubing and of similar section to the end rails. The spacers 13 which join the load frame and base frame are also of rectangular section but are relatively short in length. The spacers 13 at the corners of the end rails project outwardly to provide support shelves 22 at each corner of the pallet as seen best in Fig. 1. Each corner is also provided with an upstanding square tubular spacer 23 which functions as a sockets for receiving the lower end of a frame post of a side frame.

Each side frame 26 is a substantially rec tangular frame having two posts at its ends which are insertable within respective sockets 23 at the corners of the pallet. The upper end of each post 27 forms a tubular socket, and its lower end it chamfered at 28. Each side frame 26 has an upper rail 30 and a lower rail 31 both of which are of rectangular section tubing, and circular section bracing struts 32 join the rails 30 and 31. Each rail 30 has a pair of upwardly and inwardly sloping locating lugs 33 thereon which abut against and thereby locate side bars 15 of another pallet when stacked.

Each end rail 35 is provided with a pair of depending spigots 36 each of which enters a socket constituted by the upper end of a respective side frame post 27. This prevents inward displacement of the upper ends of both the side frames and end frames. The lower ends of the side frames are prevented from displacement in any direction by virtue of the spigot and socket connections. The construction described above is found to give a surprisingly rigid structure when the end rails and side frames are positioned on the pallet base and load frames to form therewith a pallet container. Furthermore the bearers can support a planar sheet of material (for example cardboard).

There are provided outriggers 41 which are rectangular frames having projecting beams 42 extending inwardly toward one another from opposite ends of base frame I1. The projecting beams 42 lie beneath the end rails 19 and bearers 20, and carry on them tubular section retainers 43, the beams 42 of each outrigger also having thereon a pair of bearers 44, the arrangement being such that a bearer of each outrigger is supported by the spacers 22 on the ends of the pallet base frame, and a bearer 44 abuts the outer side surface of respective end rails 19 of the load frame of the pallet base as shown in Fig. 5. The tubular section retainers 43 abut the inner faces of the square end rails 19 of the pallet base to prevent outward displacement of the outriggers.End-wise displacement is prevented by abutment of the ends of the bearers 44 against the rectangular tubular sockets 23 of the pallet base.

The invention will be seen to be very simple, but notwithstanding its simplicity the invention results in an effective multi purpose pallet which can be used as a fourwav pallet for fork lift trucks, a two-way pallet for iacking trucks, a container, or an extensible pallet.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A pallet hav;ne a base frame, a load frame, and side frames, a plurality of spacers joining the base frame to the load frame, each side frame being releasably engageable with the base frame and load frame and arranged to be supported thereby to be upstanding therefrom, and two outrigger frames being releasably engageable with the load frame when extending outwardly from opposite sides thereof and arranged to thereby comprise demountable outrigger frames.

2. A pallet according to Claim 1 wherein there are two side frames which are opposite, and a pair of end rails, said spacers comprising tubular section corner members extending vertically and constituting sockets, posts depending from the side frames releasably insertable in respective said sockets to thereby support the side frames to be upstanding from the base frame and load frame, each said end rail having retaining means releasably interengageable with the side frames and operable to retain the upper ends of the side frames in spaced relationship with each other.

3. A pallet according to Claim 2 wherein the upper end of each said side frame post itself forms a socket, and each said end rail retaining means comprises a spigot insertable within and engageable by the walls of said socket.

4. A pallet according to any preceding claim wherein said base frame comprises a plurality of flat bars arranged to engage the ground, and tubular section end rails at right angles thereto, the base frame end rails being adjacent the ground.

5. A pallet according to any preceding claim wherein said load frame comprises load frame side rails and end rails, and a plurality of intermediate bearers parallel to the end rails and carried by the side rails.

6. A pallet according to claim 5 wherein some of said spacers which join the base and load frames have shelves adjacent said end rails, and said pair of outrigger frames releasably engage the load frame to project outwardly from the ends thereof, each outrigger frame having projecting beams which lie beneath a respective said end rail and an adjacent bearer, the beams of each outrigger having a bearer connecting them which said bearer rests upon a pair of said shelves.

7. A pallet according to any preceding claim wherein each said side frame is a rec

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (8)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. tangular frame having two posts at its ends which are insertable within respective sockets 23 at the corners of the pallet. The upper end of each post 27 forms a tubular socket, and its lower end it chamfered at 28. Each side frame 26 has an upper rail 30 and a lower rail 31 both of which are of rectangular section tubing, and circular section bracing struts 32 join the rails 30 and 31. Each rail 30 has a pair of upwardly and inwardly sloping locating lugs 33 thereon which abut against and thereby locate side bars 15 of another pallet when stacked. Each end rail 35 is provided with a pair of depending spigots 36 each of which enters a socket constituted by the upper end of a respective side frame post 27. This prevents inward displacement of the upper ends of both the side frames and end frames. The lower ends of the side frames are prevented from displacement in any direction by virtue of the spigot and socket connections. The construction described above is found to give a surprisingly rigid structure when the end rails and side frames are positioned on the pallet base and load frames to form therewith a pallet container. Furthermore the bearers can support a planar sheet of material (for example cardboard). There are provided outriggers 41 which are rectangular frames having projecting beams 42 extending inwardly toward one another from opposite ends of base frame I1. The projecting beams 42 lie beneath the end rails 19 and bearers 20, and carry on them tubular section retainers 43, the beams 42 of each outrigger also having thereon a pair of bearers 44, the arrangement being such that a bearer of each outrigger is supported by the spacers 22 on the ends of the pallet base frame, and a bearer 44 abuts the outer side surface of respective end rails 19 of the load frame of the pallet base as shown in Fig. 5. The tubular section retainers 43 abut the inner faces of the square end rails 19 of the pallet base to prevent outward displacement of the outriggers.End-wise displacement is prevented by abutment of the ends of the bearers 44 against the rectangular tubular sockets 23 of the pallet base. The invention will be seen to be very simple, but notwithstanding its simplicity the invention results in an effective multi purpose pallet which can be used as a fourwav pallet for fork lift trucks, a two-way pallet for iacking trucks, a container, or an extensible pallet. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A pallet hav;ne a base frame, a load frame, and side frames, a plurality of spacers joining the base frame to the load frame, each side frame being releasably engageable with the base frame and load frame and arranged to be supported thereby to be upstanding therefrom, and two outrigger frames being releasably engageable with the load frame when extending outwardly from opposite sides thereof and arranged to thereby comprise demountable outrigger frames.

2. A pallet according to Claim 1 wherein there are two side frames which are opposite, and a pair of end rails, said spacers comprising tubular section corner members extending vertically and constituting sockets, posts depending from the side frames releasably insertable in respective said sockets to thereby support the side frames to be upstanding from the base frame and load frame, each said end rail having retaining means releasably interengageable with the side frames and operable to retain the upper ends of the side frames in spaced relationship with each other.

3. A pallet according to Claim 2 wherein the upper end of each said side frame post itself forms a socket, and each said end rail retaining means comprises a spigot insertable within and engageable by the walls of said socket.

4. A pallet according to any preceding claim wherein said base frame comprises a plurality of flat bars arranged to engage the ground, and tubular section end rails at right angles thereto, the base frame end rails being adjacent the ground.

5. A pallet according to any preceding claim wherein said load frame comprises load frame side rails and end rails, and a plurality of intermediate bearers parallel to the end rails and carried by the side rails.

6. A pallet according to claim 5 wherein some of said spacers which join the base and load frames have shelves adjacent said end rails, and said pair of outrigger frames releasably engage the load frame to project outwardly from the ends thereof, each outrigger frame having projecting beams which lie beneath a respective said end rail and an adjacent bearer, the beams of each outrigger having a bearer connecting them which said bearer rests upon a pair of said shelves.

7. A pallet according to any preceding claim wherein each said side frame is a rec

tangular frame, and comprises bracing struts.

8. A pallet substantially as hereinbefore described in the body of the specification with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.