US3724398A

US3724398A - Expendable pallet device

Info

Publication number: US3724398A
Application number: US00123982A
Authority: US
Inventors: F Brennan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-03-15
Filing date: 1971-03-15
Publication date: 1973-04-03
Anticipated expiration: 1990-04-03
Also published as: DE2201342A1; DE2201342B2; DE2201342C3; FR2130080A1; IT946903B; CA953662A

Abstract

An expendable pallet leg preformed to provide locking flanges or shelves for selectively attaching a plurality of pallet legs at spaced locations on the material to be transported or handled by a lift truck such as stacks of corrugated boards, laminar metal sheets, ply-wood or other sheet-form material, or to corrugated boxes used for handling transportable articles.

Description

United States Patent 1 1 Brennan [54] EXPENDABLE PALLET DEVICE [76] inventor: Francis P. Brennan, 1057 Rolling Drive, Lisle, Ill. 60532 [22] Filed:

Mar. 15, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 123,982

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 70,407, Sept. 8,

[52] U.S. Cl. ..l08/51, 108/56, 248/188.8

[51] Int. Cl. ..B65d 19/00 [58] Field of Search ..208/51-58;

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,251,320 5/1966 Whittle, Jr ..108/5l 1,953,303 4/1934 Kohlmanh ...108/51 UX 1,349,917 8/1920 Roberts 108/58 3,442,231 5/1969 Jurasek ..l08/53 3,130,692 4/1964 Burk et al ..l08/51 1 Apr. 3, 1973 3,276,808 10/1966 Scaramuzzi ..l08/51 x 3,474,744 10/1969 Montgomery... ..108/51 3,472,182 .10/1969 Eklund ..108/51 2,643,046 6/1953 Humphreys ..248/3l1 x 1,065,460 6/1913 McCloskey ..2s7/2o.92 o

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 795564;, 5/1958 Great Britain ..10 /s3 1,005,589 9/1965 Great Britain... 108/51 619,532 5/1961 Canada ....l08/5l Primary Examiner-Francis K. Zugel Assistant Examiner-Peter A. Aschenbrenner Attorney-Hill, Sherman, Meroni, Gross & Simpson [57] ABSTRACT An expendable pallet leg preformed to provide locking flanges or shelves for selectively attaching a plurality of pallet legs at spaced locations on the material to be transported or handled by a lift truck such as stacks of corrugated boards, laminar metal sheets, ply-wood or other sheet-form material, or to corrugated boxes used for handling transportable articles.

13 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPR 3 m5 SHEET 1 OF 3 ffiazzgz'iffirazzwzz @Wirnumuw PATENTED N I975 SHEET 3 BF 3 INVENTOR A T TOPNE VS EXPENDABLE PALLET DEVICE This application is a continuation-in-part of my application Ser. No. 70,407, Filed Sept. 8, 1970 and entitled Expendable Pallet Device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION l.,The Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to pallet devices for utilization in connection with material to be handled by lift trucks.

2. The Prior Art Heretofore, pallet devices have utilized skids made of wooden runners or platforms. The material to be transported must be physically loaded on the skid or platform so that the fork of the lift truck may be inserted subjacent the platform.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention a pallet leg is preformed to provide locking flanges or shelves permitting a plurality of such legs to be attached in spaced apart relation to the material itself or to boxes containing plural articles.

Each pallet leg has an upright leg portion adapted to engage a support surface and some form of locking --means at the top by means of which attachment to the load is effected.

For example, the locking means may comprise vertically'spaced flanges or shelves forming a slotted space v for receiving a laminar part of the load such as the bottom layer of a stack of corrugated or such as the flap of a corrugated box. In such an arrangement, the flanges or shelves have embossed dogs or ears which dig into the adjacent corrugated surface to prevent shifting during normal usage.

The locking means may also be adapted to receive a metal lamination or a ply-wood such as the lowest layer of a stack of metal or plywood sheets. Appropriate means are provided on the flanges or shelves to cooperate with the adjacent surface of the load.

The present invention provides an inexpensive throw-away pallet leg which with other similar legs may be assembled to the bottom of a container during assembly of the container to provide spacing which will accommodate the forks of a fork lift or pallet truck and the like for approach from any direction.

The invention also provides an inexpensive pallet in the form of a series of legs adapted to be attached to and locked to the bottom of a container in the assembly 'of the container, and supporting the container to be lifted by the forks of a fork lift truck.

The invention also integrates the bottom of a container into a pallet, by the use of throw-away legs attached to the container during assembly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a partial fragmentary view in side elevation of a carton supported on pallet legs constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention with certain parts broken away.

FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation looking at the pallet leg toward one end of the pallet leg.

FIG. 3 is a view somewhat similar to FIG. 2, but looking at the pallet leg toward the opposite end thereof from that shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the pallet leg shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

FIG. 5 is a view in side elevation of the pallet leg.

FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view of a corrugated container showing the pallet legs attached thereto. FIG. 7 is a top plan view ofa modified form of pallet leg constructed in accordance with the principles of the. present invention.

FIG. 8 is a view in side elevation of the pallet leg shown in FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a generally diagrammatic view illustrating the support of a stack of knocked-down flat containers on a corrugated board supported on pallet legs constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a blank for forming a pallet leg in accordance with still another form in which the invention may be embodied.

FIG. 11 is a view in side elevation of a pallet leg formed from the blank shown in FIG. 10, looking at the leg towards the inside thereof.

FIG. 12 is a view in side elevation of the pallet leg shown in FIG. 11, looking at the pallet leg from the outside of the leg; and

FIG. 13 is a top plan view of the pallet leg shown in FIGS. 11 and 12.

in FIGS. 1 and 6 of the drawings, I have shown a typical corrugated container or carton 10. supported on four pallet legs 11 provided in accordance with this invention, one being on each corner of the container and elevating the bottom of the container above the ground a sufficient distance to enable forks 12 of a fork lift truck to lift and transport the container. If necessary or desirable, it will be understood that additional legs could be utilized, for example, at the center of the loador on the sides or wherever needed for adequate'support.

Each leg 11 may be fabricated from sheet metal or plastic and includes two ribs or

upright legs

15 and 16 forming downward continuations of the corners of the container, when assembled thereto. The bases or lower ends of the

leg portions

15 and 16 form supports adapted to engage a supporting surface and the truncated apices of the leg portions form the base of the leg. Locking means for attaching the leg directly to the material or load to be handled are on its upper end. A flange 17 extends along the hypotenuse of the leg portion 15 for a portion of the length thereof to act as a strengthening member for the leg, or the edge of the leg portion may be embossed or curled for that purpose. A shelf or flange 19 is bent inwardly of the base of the triangle of the leg portion 15 and forms part of the locking means as well as a support for a corrugated board 20, which may be the bottom flap of the container l0. Embossments 21 are spaced along the leg portion 15 and pressed outwardly therefrom and meet inwardly formed embossments of shelf 19 to strengthen the shelf. Struck-out or embossed lugs 19a frictionally engage an adjoining load surface.

The leg portion 16 has a reinforcing rib or flange extending along the hypotenuse of the'triangle, like the rib 17. A second shelf 23 extends inwardly from the top of said leg portion 16 along the base of the triangle, and parallel to and spaced above the shelf 19 to form a part of the locking means. For example, the spacing may be a distance equal to the thickness of the corrugated board 20 forming the bottom of the container 10. Embossments 24 are pressed outwardly of the leg portion 16 and extend vertically therealong meeting the depressed embossments on shelf 23 for a short portion of the width thereof, to give rigidity to the corner of the pallet leg and hence to the shelf underlying the load. The shelf 23 has pierced embossed portions 25 pierced and/or embossed outwardly from the inside thereof, prior to bending of the shelf into its finished form. The pierced portions 25 provide rough dogs or ears or protrusions 26 extending upwardly of the top of the shelf, and engageable with the underside of an end flap 27 lapping the bottom flap 20 and retaining the leg in position at the corner of the carton, as the bottom flaps 20 are closed and sealed by taping, stitching, gluing, or

- leg portions and

shelves

19 and 23 respectively, to afford a strengthening means for the shelves in cooperation with the

embossments

21 and 24.

In the bottom plan view of FIG. 6, the legs 11 are shown as assembled to the carton to form a support therefor. In assembling the legs to the carton, as the container blank is formed to its box-like form, prior to closing the bottom of the container, the

legs

11,11 will be assembled to the

flaps

20,20 at each corner thereof with the bottom flap 20 extending between the

shelves

19 and 23 to be supported on the shelf 19 when the container is inverted. The

flaps

20,20 may then be hinged inwardly and downwardly into their closed positions and sealed in position as by stitching or as by use of tape as shown at 32, or in any suitable manner conventionally used in the closing of the bottoms of containers. As the bottom is closed and taped, the protrusions 26 will engage the underside of the inner flap 27 and effectively hold 'the legs in position to form downward continuations of the corners of the container. The container may then be loaded and lifted by the forks of a fork lift truck and the like, approaching from any angle.

In the form of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 7,8

' and 9, I have shown

legs

33,33 applied directly to the load such as a corrugated board 34 or the like to constitute a pallet which in turn may form the support for a stack of knocked-down flat corrugated containers, etc. In this form of the invention, the legs 33 each have right

angle leg portions

35 and 36 extending at right angles with respect to each other, which may be formed in the form of inverted right angled triangles like the leg portions and 16. The leg portion 35 is shown as having a shelf 37 bent inwardly from the top thereof and extending beyond the end thereof. The portion of the shelf 37 extending beyond the ends of the leg portion 35 terminates into a downtumed lip 40, adapted to retain banding to the shelf portion and'to accommodate a stack of knocked-down flat corrugated containers to be banded to the pallet.

The portion of the shelf 37. adjacent the lip 40 is shown at 40a as forming a banding portion for a band 47. Thus, the pallet leg can be effectively utilized with any stack of laminar parts or members such as metal plates or ply-wood since the banding portion 40a per-v mits the leg to be securely fastened directly to the load by means of the stripping bands as shown at 47 in FIG. 9

The shelf 37 is shown as having right angled punchings 41 forming sharp one-way projections 43 engageable with the bottom of the corrugated board 34. The leg portion 36 has an inwardly bent shelf portion 44 extending parallel to the shelf 37 and spaced above said shelf a distance equal to the thickness of the corrustack of laminar parts as a stack of knocked-down flat,

cartons 46, with the bottom laminar part supported on the bottom shelf 37 and the top shelf 44 engaging the top of the laminar part and the cooperating one-way sharp

gripping projections

43 and 45 engaging the respective bottom and top surfaces of the laminar part, and locking the legs in position at the comers of the board.

The stack of laminar parts 46 may then be supported on the laminar part 34 and retained thereto as by banding 47 extending about the stack of laminar parts along the bottom of the laminar part 34 and engaging the extensions of the lower shelves 37 and retained thereto as by the retaining lips 40. The legs will thus be positively secured to the laminar part 34 with the stack of laminar parts 46 supported thereon, and provide a pallet means of a simple and inexpensive construction for quick and easy fork lift handling of a stack of bands, sheets, or knocked-down flat containers or other articles to be transported.

In FIGS. 10 through 13, I have shown a form of pallet leg 50 similar in principle to the pallet leg illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 5 of the drawings, but particularly adapted for stacking and for handling heavier loads than the pallet leg of FIGS. 1 through 5. The pallet leg 50 may be fabricated from a sheet metal blank 51 having one half 53 having a portion 55 adapted to be bent along a dashed line 56 to form a lower horizontal flange or shelf portion 57, as shown in FIG. 11.

The blank 51 also has a second half 58 similar to the half 53 and having an upper portion 59 adapted to be bent along a dashed line 60 to form a horizontal flange or shelf portion 61 disposed above the shelf portion 57 and extending parallel with respect thereto; The spacing between the flanges or

shelf portions

57 and 61 depends upon the thickness of the laminar part of the load such as the bottom of a container, a board or other article to be locked in position between said shelf portions.

Generally crescent shaped sharp shear projections or cars 63 are embossed or sheared from the portion 55, from the opposite side of the blank from that shown in FIG. prior to bending of this portion into the flange or shelf portion 57. The crescent shaped shear projections or ears 63 face upwardly and toward the shelf 61 to grippingly engage the bottom of a corrugated board or other member supported on the shelf portion 57 when pushed along said shelf portion along the slot formed between the top surface of the shelf portion 57 and the underside of the shelf portion 61.

Similar generally crescent shaped shear projections or ears 65 are embossed or sheared from the portion 59 of the blank from the front side of the blank. The crescent shaped shear projections 65 are shown as facing upwardly to contact the load and downwardly toward the shelf 57 and toward a leg portion 66 for the shelf 61, to come into gripping engagement with the top surface of a corrugated board or like member forming the bottom of a container, or other article supported on the shelf portion 57 and inserted along said shelf portion 57 under the shelf portion 61. While I have shown the shear projections as projecting upwardly and downwardly from the shelf 61, in many cases, it is only necessary that they project in one direction.

Prior to bending the blank to its pallet leg form, elongated embossments 67 are pressed in the

halves

53 and 58 of the blank in parallel spaced relation with respect to each other and extend for substantially the height of the leg portions of the blank, to strengthen the leg portions of the pallet leg when assembled.

Feet

69 and 70 are bent inwardly of the blank at right angles with respect to the vertical leg portions thereof. This operation may take place simultaneously with the bending of the

portions

55 and 59 to form the horizontal flanges or

shelves

57 and 61.

During the operation of bending the shelves and feet, the

halves

53 and 58 of the blank may be bent at right angles with respect to each other about a bend line indicated by dashed line 71. The blank is now in the form of a right angled pallet leg having a horizontal flange or shelf portion 57 extending inwardly from a leg portion 72 thereof and a second horizontal flange or shelf portion 61 extending inwardly from a right angled leg portion 66, and spaced above and parallel to the shelf portion 57, and having

feet

69 and 70 extending inwardly of said

leg portions

72 and 66 respectively, and adapted to rest on and support the pallet leg on the ground. The

feet

69 and 70 particularly adapt the pallet legs and loads supported thereon for stacking.

' After bending the blank to the leg-like form shown in FIG. 11, the legs, shelves and leg portions are gusseted at each corner of the bent blank as indicated by reference numerals 75. The locations of the gussets are illustrated by broken lines in FIG. 10, it being understood that the gussets are not formed until the blank is bent to form. As shown in FIGS. 10,11,12 and 13, two gussets 75 extend along the corner formed between the leg portion 66 and flange or shelf 57. Two other gussets 75 extend along the corner formed between the foot 69 and leg portion 66. Two other gussets 75 extend along the bend lines formed between the leg portion 62 and the shelf 61 and two gussets 75 extend along the corner between the foot 70 and leg portions 72. Two other gussets 75 extend along the corner forming the

leg portions

66 and 72. The gussets 75 at each corner or bend of the blank, thus reinforce the shelves, feet and leg portions of the pallet leg, to strengthen and retain the shelves, leg portions and feet in the proper relation with respect to each other. The foregoing gussets may be formed by a pressing operation pressing inwardly of the corners of the pallet leg by a die and the like after the pallet leg is bent to the form shown in FIG. 1 1.

The pallet legs 50 may thus be assembled to each corner of a carton or load. Where the pallet legs are assembled to a carton they may be assembled either before or after assembling the carton. The pallet legs herein shown and described are particularly adapted to be assembled to the bottom of a carton after the carton has been assembled by inserting the legs along the corners of the carton to insert the slots formed between the shelves along opposite sides of the bottom of the carton with the crescent like shear projections 63 and interlockingly engaged with the bottom of the carton. The legs 50 may also be used for supporting corrugated board or other forms of board or material to form the board or other materials or loads into a pallet.

It should here be understood that while the pallet legs are herein described as made from sheet metal that they need not necessarily be made from sheet metal, but may be molded or extruded from suitable plastics or other materials.

Although minor modifications might be suggested by those versed in the art, it should be understood that I wish to embody within the scope of the patent warranted hereon all such modifications as reasonably and properly come within the scope of my contribution to the art.

I claim:

1. In a pallet device and in combination with a load, a plurality of pallet legs, each pallet leg comprising, two leg portions extending at right angles with respect to each other,

each leg portion having an inwardly bent shelf, one

of which is spaced above the other a distance sufficient to receive and support a laminar part of the load.

2. The pallet device of claim 1,

wherein the load is the bottom corrugated flap of a container, and

wherein the uppermost shelf has upwardly projecting protrusions engageable with the inner bottom flap of a container and the lower shelf has one-way upwardly projecting protrusions engageable with the outer bottom flap to lock the pallet leg to the. bottom of the container when assembled.

3. The pallet device of claim 2,

wherein the upper and lower shelves have gripping projections facing each other providing one-way gripping projections locking the pallet leg to the load.

4. The pallet device of claim 1,

wherein the legs have horizontally spaced embossments extending vertically therealong and joining with ribs or depressions along the shelves to strengthen the right angle joint between the legs wherein the lowermost shelf has an extension forming a means for strapping the pallet leg to a load, and

wherein the extension on the lowermost shelf has an outer downturned lip, for retaining the strapping thereto.

7.'A pallet device comprising,

at least one sheet, a plurality of pallet legs for said sheet, each pallet leg having,

two leg portions extending at right angles with respect to each other and in the general form of inverted truncated right angled triangles, each leg portion having a shelf extending inwardly from the upper end thereof, one of which shelves is spaced above the other a distance equal to the thickness of the sheet and interlocking protrusions on at least one of said shelves. 8. The pallet device of claim 7, wherein the interlocking protrusions are on each of said shelves and face eachother and form one-way gripping connections for the sheet material. 9. The pallet device of claim 8, wherein the lowermost shelf has an extension extending under the sheet providing an additional means for securing the pallet leg to the sheet material with strapping to support a stack of sheets.

10. The pallet device of claim 9,

wherein the extension from the lowermost shelfhas an outer downturned lip for retaining the strap thereto.

11. The pallet leg of claim 6,

wherein the leg portions have feet extending inwardly from the bottoms thereof, providing relatively wide ground engaging surfaces.

12. The pallet leg of claim 13,

wherein the interlocking protrusions are'sheer projections and are crescent-like in form having sharp gripping edges digging into adjacent opposite'surfaces of the laminar part of the load.

13. The pallet skid device of claim 12,

wherein the leg portions are generallylrectangular in form and have horizontally spaced reinforcing embossments extending vertically therealong for substantially the length thereof, and

wherein gussets are provided at the juncture of said leg portions with each otherand 'at the junctures of said leg portions with said feet and shelves.

Claims

1. In a pallet device and in combination with a load, a plurality of pallet legs, each pallet leg comprising, two leg portions extending at right angles with respect to each other, each leg portion having an inwardly bent shelf, one of which is spaced above the other a distance sufficient to receive and support a laminar part of the load.

2. The pallet device of claim 1, wherein the load is the bottom corrugated flap of a container, and wherein the uppermost shelf has upwardly projecting protrusions engageable with the inner bottom flap of a container and the lower shelf has one-way upwardly projecting protrusions engageable with the outer bottom flap to lock the pallet leg to the bottom of the container when assembled.

3. The pallet device of claim 2, wherein the upper and lower shelves have gRipping projections facing each other providing one-way gripping projections locking the pallet leg to the load.

4. The pallet device of claim 1, wherein the legs have horizontally spaced embossments extending vertically therealong and joining with ribs or depressions along the shelves to strengthen the right angle joint between the legs and shelves.

5. The pallet device of claim 1, wherein both shelves have an extension providing a means for the strapping to further secure the pallet legs at their position.

6. The pallet device of claim 3, wherein the lowermost shelf has an extension forming a means for strapping the pallet leg to a load, and wherein the extension on the lowermost shelf has an outer downturned lip, for retaining the strapping thereto.

7. A pallet device comprising, at least one sheet, a plurality of pallet legs for said sheet, each pallet leg having, two leg portions extending at right angles with respect to each other and in the general form of inverted truncated right angled triangles, each leg portion having a shelf extending inwardly from the upper end thereof, one of which shelves is spaced above the other a distance equal to the thickness of the sheet and interlocking protrusions on at least one of said shelves.

8. The pallet device of claim 7, wherein the interlocking protrusions are on each of said shelves and face each other and form one-way gripping connections for the sheet material.

9. The pallet device of claim 8, wherein the lowermost shelf has an extension extending under the sheet providing an additional means for securing the pallet leg to the sheet material with strapping to support a stack of sheets.

10. The pallet device of claim 9, wherein the extension from the lowermost shelf has an outer downturned lip for retaining the strap thereto.

11. The pallet leg of claim 6, wherein the leg portions have feet extending inwardly from the bottoms thereof, providing relatively wide ground engaging surfaces.

12. The pallet leg of claim 13, wherein the interlocking protrusions are sheer projections and are crescent-like in form having sharp gripping edges digging into adjacent opposite surfaces of the laminar part of the load.

13. The pallet skid device of claim 12, wherein the leg portions are generally rectangular in form and have horizontally spaced reinforcing embossments extending vertically therealong for substantially the length thereof, and wherein gussets are provided at the juncture of said leg portions with each other and at the junctures of said leg portions with said feet and shelves.