US2967036A - Reinforced pallet - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 3, 1961 2,967,036

D. B. PHILLIPS REINFORCED PALLET Filed May 25, 1959 4' *v 25 1:51am i, a 25 I 20 Ila 15 I INVENTOR.

/ 29 DAVID B. PHILLIPS I511 30 29 30 7 BY ATTORNEY States Patent 2,967,036 7 Patented Jan. 3,1961

REINFORCED PALLET David B. Phillips, Berea, Ohio, assignor to Hinchclilf Hardwood Lumber Company, Strongsville, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed May 25, 1959, Ser. No. 815,564

3 Claims. (Cl. 248-120) This invention relates to the art of pallet construction and in particular has reference to an improved type of pallet having reinforcing means incorporated therein that improve the lifting properties of the same.

In the art of pallet construction, it has long been known that a pallet can be formed by employing a series of parallel stringers that are spaced apart in parallelism and which are-connected at their top and bottom surfaces by transversely extending deck board members.

Normally, such pallets are of hard wood construction and conventional practice dictates design of these pallet members so that the lifting fork of a lift truck may be inserted between the deck boards and the stringers to effectuate a lifting of the entire pallet together with the material stored thereon.

Past improvements in this art have included the substitution of blocks for the stringer members so as to permit four sided entry and additionally, it has been proposed in the past to add metallic plates on the external surface of a pallet for the purpose of prolonging the life thereof.

While pallets of the above type have been found satisfactory in most commercial instances, it has been found in several cases that the pallets will have their usefulness prematurely terminated when subjected to extreme load or when the same are employed in connection wiih the storage and handling of certain items.

In this regard, and particularly in the automobile industry, it has been common to use pallets for supporting and transferring large sheet members that are of great weight but which possess little rigidity in their unassembled form. In such instances, it frequently happens that when the pallet and sheet are moved by placing a chain around the pallet and between the deck boards, the pallet will be broken due to the pulling force that is exerted on its edges by the chain member, with the lack of rigidity of the sheet member preventing the same from assuming these forces, as would be the case with a solid object. Thus, the weight of the object, coupled with its lack of rigidity, results'in premature destruction of the ordinary pallet.

'It has been discovered that the aforementioned disadvantages can be obviated by providing a reinforcing bar between the longitudinal ends of the stringer and the deck boards attached on such stringer at its opposite ends. In this fashion and by sandwiching the reinforcing plate between the deck board and the stringer, theiron frame member becomes a rigid reinforcing member that enables the pallet to withstand loads applied transversely of the stringers and deck boards, with the result that the pallet is enabled to be applied for more uses to enhance its value.

It has been further found that if this reinforcing member is made of right angle configuration and is further rounded at its bend point, that the same will not interfere with the life of the chain or rope mechanisms that are employed to lift the pallet in such instances.

It accordingly becomes the principal object of this invention to provide an improved type of pallet having reinforcing means structurally incorporated between certain components thereof for the purpose of increasing the overall strength and handling capacity of the pallet.

It is a further object of this invention to provide such a pallet without materially increasing the cost of the pallet in proportion to the size that is involved.

These and other objects of this invention will become more apparent upon a reading of the following brief specification, considered and interpreted in the light of the accompanying drawings.

Of the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved pallet.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the lines 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view similar to Figure 2 but being broken away and showing a modified form of the invention.

Referring now to the drawings and in particular to Figure 1, the improved pallet, generally designated by the numeral 10, is shown having a plurality of elongate stringers 11, 12 and 13 that are preferably arranged in spaced apart parallel relationship with each other and which are interconnected on opposed surfaces by parallel top and bottom deck boards 14, 14 and 15, 15, respectively, with the preferred embodiment of the invention showing five such top deck boards 14 and four such bottom deck boards 15.

Referring next to Figure 2, it will be seen that the longitudinal ends 11a and 11b of the stringer 11 are provided with undercuts 1'6, 16, with it being understood that similar undercuts 16, 16 are provided on the longitudinal ends of the stringers 12 and 13. In this fashion, the transversely aligned recesses 16, 16 form a seat for the reinforcing members 20 and 21, with these members being preferably identical in configuration and with the member 20 being located at the rear of pallet 10, while the member 21 is located at the forwardmost portion thereof as is clearly shown in Figure 1 of the drawings.

As indicated above, the reinforcing members 20 and 21 are preferably of identical configuration and, .accord-.

ingly, each is shown including a base section 22 and a leg section 23, with the base section fitting in the recess 16 so as to permit flush engagement between the top deck boards 14 and the stringers 11, 12 and 13. Additionally, these base sections 22 are each provided with apertures 23a, 23a so as to permit the passing therethrough of a bolt 24, with each reinforcing member 20 and 21 being shown as preferably including three such openings so as to facilitate the attachment of the bolts that pass through the stringers 11, 12 and 13.

In order to prevent the formation of a sharp edge at the juncture of the base and leg portion 23, the outer edge of the angle, indicated generally by the numeral 25, is shown rounded in contour, wtih the inner edge being preferably substantially at right angles so as to facilitate flush reception against the deck board 15.

In addition to the aforementioned component parts, it will be further noted that the end deck boards 14a and 14b of Figures 1 and 2 are provided with counterbored apertures 26, 26 that are designed to receive the heads of the bolts 24, with two such apertures being preferably provided at each point of attachment with each stringer. Additionally, the ends of each stringer are bored as at 27, 27 and similar counterbored apertures 28, 28 are provided on the bottom deck boards 15a and 15b as shown in Figure 2 so as to permit the use of a washer 29 and a nut 30. Preferably, the intermediate deck boards 14c, 14d and 142 are attached by nails 31, 31, as are the intermediate lower deck boards 15c and 15d, while the external edge surfaces of the deck boards 15a 3 and b are preferably provided wtih flats 32, 32 that facilitate entry of the fork lifts of a lifting truck.

In use or operation of the improved pallet, it will first be assumed that the pallet has been constructed as shown in Figures 1 and 2, and at this time, the pallet may be placed on the floor, with the lower deck boards 15, 15 being in contact therewith.

At this point, a load may be placed on the top deck boards 14, 14 and when it is desired to move the pallet, it is merely necessary that a chain from a crane or other lifting device be passed underneath the deck boards 14, 14 and wrapped around the reinforcing members and 21 and then returned to the lifting ring so as to permit lifting of the pallet and load thereon when two such chains have been installed.

Upon lifting, it will be seen that the chains will exert a pressure on the members 2tland 21 in a direction parallel to the longitudinal extent of stringers 11, 12 and 13, and it is believed apparent that the reinforcing member will enable these members to resist this pressure 'due to the fact that the members bear against the shoulder portion of each recess 16 that is provided on each stringer. This resistance will be additionally supplemented by the resistance provided by the bolts 24, 24, as well as the resistance provid:d by the action of the leg 23 against the end deck boards 15a and 15b. Thus, because the entire device is tied together by the bolts 24, 24, all structural components coact together to resist distortion or bending of the reninforcing members 20 and 21, with the result that the pallet will be enabled to accommodate larger and more flexible loads than would otherwise be possible if the same were not provided with such reinforcements.

In Figure 3, there is shown a modified form of the invention that differs only in the construction of the bolt 24, which has been redesignated by the numeral 40 in Figure 3 of the drawings, with all other component parts retaining their identical numerals previously employed.

Accordingly, in Figure 3 the bolt 40 is shown formed with an annular shoulder 41 that is seated in a counterbore 42 that is provided on the deck boards 14a and 14b, with the counterbore 42 being concentric to the previously described bore 26.

In this modified form of the invention, the lifting force absorbed by the member 20, for example, will be, in part, transmitted to the shoulder 42, with the result that the load will also be transferred to washer 29 so that all components of the pallet are coacting together to provide increased rigidity to the overall pallet.

While a full and complete disclosure of the invention has been set forth in accordance with the dictates of the patent statutes, it is to be understood that the invention is not intended to be so limited.

Thus, while the invention has been described in connection with What is conventionally referred to as a stringer design type of pallet, it is to be understood that the invention will be equally applicable to a block design type of pallet construction of the type that is normally employed in connection with four-way entry types of pallets.

Similarly, while a specific shape and configuration of reinforcing member has been shown, it is to be understood that the shape could be varied and that the material thereof could be also varied within a wide range of equivalence.

Accordingly, modifications of the invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit hereof or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A pallet of the character described, comprising; a plurality of elongate stringers arranged in substantial parallelism with each other and having transversely aligned longitudinal ends and parallel deckboard-receiving surfaces; a plurality of elongate deckboards received on said deckboard-receiving surfaces and extending transversely of said stringers and including an end deckboard that has a longitudinal edge disposed adjacent the aligned longitudinal ends of said stringers; an elongate rigid reinforcing member extending transversely of said aligned longitudinal ends and being removably sandwiched between the longitudinal ends of said stringers and said end deckboard; and bolt means engaging said deckboard and said stringers and drawing said stringers and said end deckboard towards each other and against the sandwiched surfaces of said reinforcing member whereby said removably positioned sandwiched portion of said reinforcing member is releasably secured against transverse shifting relatively of said stringers and said end deckboard upon drawing up of said bolt means.

2. The device of claim 1 further characterized by the fact that said reinforcing member is of L-shaped crosssection with one leg being sandwiched between said stringer and said end deckboard while the other leg portion abuts said longitudinal edge of said end deckboard; said sandwiched portion of said reinforcing member being provided with at least one aperture; said bolt means including at least one bolt passing through said aperture.

3. The device of claim 1 further characterized by the fact that said bolt means include a bolt having a head and shank portion; said shank portion being made up of abutting sections of different diameter with the largest diameter portion thereof being adjacent said head; said head drawing against said end deckboard; the shoulder between said different diameter shank portions drawing against said reinforcing plate; said reduced diameter portion having a substantially greater longitudinal length than said largest diameter portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,349,917 Roberts Aug. 17, 1920 2,145,093 Quayle Jan. 24, 1939 2,405,535 Weiss Aug. 6, 1946 2,465,148 Coonen Mar. 22, 1949 2,823,883 Bourdon Feb. 18, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 749,985 Great Britain June 6, 1956

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