GB2265602A - Hinged pallet collar - Google Patents

Abstract

A pallet collar formed from hinged wall sections which are arranged to sit vertically on a pallet to define with the pallet a container or receptacle, the hinged wall sections including a pair of opposing walls hinged about a central hinge which enable the pallet to be collapsed into a lay flat form where it can lie wholly within an opened out collar with its length encompassed within the opened out collar when it lies parallel to a wall of the opened out collar. The hinges are in the form of offset bosses with a pin extending therethrough. <IMAGE>

Description

HINGED PALLET COLLARS The present invention relates to pallet collars, particularly those which when assembled create a collar of walls, generally four, resting on a pallet so as to form a container or a receptacle for articles to be carried.

European Patent Specification No. 0218320-B discloses a pallet collar arrangement where two opposing side walls are each folded about a double hinge assembly to enable the collar to collapse to a small volume for storage. The problem with this arrangement is that it uses too many components. The present invention is concerned with provision of a pallet collar which is hinged to enable it to be collapsed and which can use less components than the arrangement disclosed in the above mentioned European Patent Specification.

Accordingly the invention provides a pallet collar formed from hinged wall sections which are arranged to sit vertically on a pallet to define, with said pallet, a container or receptacle for articles to be carried, said pallet collar comprising a pair of first opposing pallet walls each having at each of its ends at least one, and preferably two laterally outstanding hinge bosses and a pair of second opposing pallet walls each having at its ends at least one and preferably two transversely off set hinge bosses which are arranged to hingedly locate by means of a hinge pin with the hinge bosses of the first pair of opposing pallet walls to form hinged connections at each corner of the collar, each second pallet wall being formed in two sections which are hingedly connected together by central hinge bosses and a single hinge pin, whereby enabling the walls to collapse inwards into a folded configuration with the walls and wall sections lying closely adjacent and the length of the collapsed collar lying within an opened out similar collar.

The arrangement of the hinge bosses of the two sections of the second pallet walls should each be transversely off set but in an opposed direction so that in respect of the hinge bosses, each section is symmetrical.

Each section, and each of the first pallet walls, preferably will have upstanding tabs for horizontal location, that is to prevent sideways movement of one collar with respect to another collar above or below it. It is not necessary for these tabs to be symmetrical, but they should be capable of being accommodated when the pallet collar is in its collapsed condition. For this purpose it is usually necessary to provide a cut out in the adjacent pallet wall to accommodate the respective tab when the walls are closely adjacent in the folded and collapsed configuration.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a first wall of a pallet collar; Figure 2 is a plan view of that first pallet wall; Figure 3 shows a first section of a second pallet wall; Figure 4 shows a side elevation of a second section of a second pallet wall; Figures 5 and 6 show plan views of these two wall sections; Figure 7 shows a plan view of the assembled collar during the process of being collapsed; and Figure 8 shows an assembled collar and a similar but collapsed collar maintained within its walls.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2 the pallet collar has a first pair of identical pallet walls 1 of the form shown in these Figures, and at each end of each of these pallet walls are a pair of laterally extending hinge bosses 2, 3. The pallet wall also comprises upstanding tabs 4 and a downwardly directed tab 5.

These tabs lie outside the main width of the wall (see Figure 2) and are for the purpose of preventing sideways slippage when the assembled collar is stacked with a similar collar.

The second pair of walls are formed from in each case a pair of hinged sections 6 and 7. Each section has transversely off-set hinge bosses 8, 9, 10 and 11.

These enable the separate sections to be hinged together by hinge pins to provide a wall from the members 6 and 7 (see Figure 8). The hinge arrangement requires that the hinge is laterally off set so that at the centre of the wall section 6, 7 the hinge is outwards of the two sections so that the two sections can hinge inwards, whereby in the fully collapsed position they lie flat to one another.

Referring to Figure 8, a collapsed collar can be seen lying within the walls of an open assembled collar.

For each section 6 and 7, the hinge at one end is laterally off set in one direction and the hinge at the other is laterally off set in the other, so that in plan view the section is symmetrical in respect of these hinge bosses. (See Figure 5 or Figure 6).

Each of the hinge bosses of the sections 6 and 7 is laterally off-set by the thickness of a wall section and this enables all the components to lie flat and adjacent to one another when collapsed. This can be seen from the collapsed collar of Figure 8.

Moreover, since the hinging arrangement has brought the separate sections 6 and 7 inwards about the hinge bosses 2 and 3, when fully collapsed the overall length of the unit is no longer than the overall length of a first wall 1. This in turn means that a collapsed collar can be held within an opened out collar as shown in Figure 8. This then means that in use, one collar lying on a pallet can carry a number of further collapsed collars for subsequent use.

The pallet wall sections 6 and 7 carry upstanding tabs 12 and 13 and downwardly directed tabs 14 and 15 whose function is the same as the tabs 4 and 5 of the first walls 1. Thus, these tabs in the assembled state help to ensure that when one collar is stacked on top of another there is no sideways movement. The upper tabs can be seen in the plan view of Figure 8.

In Figure 8 the collapsed collar can be seen with its upper tabs 4, 12 and 13. These lie outside the width of each of the wall sections, and therefore when lying adjacent another wall section as in the collapsed state, there have to be small cut outs to accommodate these. This can readily be appreciated from the view of Figure 8 of the collar in collapsed form.

Claims (3)

CLAIMS:

1. A pallet collar formed from hinged wall sections which are arranged to sit vertically on a pallet to define, with said pallet, a container or receptacle for articles to be carried, said pallet collar comprising a pair of first opposing pallet walls each having at each of its ends one or more longitudinally outstanding hinge bosses and a pair of second opposing pallet walls each having at its ends one or more transversely off set hinge bosses which are arranged to hingedly locate by means of a hinge pin with the hinge bosses of the first pair of opposing pallet walls to form hinged connections at each corner of the collar, each second pallet wall being formed in two sections which are hingedly connected together by central hinge bosses and a single hinge pin, whereby enabling the walls to collapse inwards into a folded configuration with the walls and wall sections lying closely adjacent and the length of the collapsed collar lying within an opened out similar collar when lying parallel to a wall of said opened out collar.

2. A pallet collar according to claim 1 in which the hinged wall sections comprise a plurality of upstanding tabs for horizontal location.

3. A pallet collar substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.