WO2004106179A2

WO2004106179A2 - Damage resistant pallet

Info

Publication number: WO2004106179A2
Application number: PCT/GB2004/002311
Authority: WO
Inventors: John David Clark; Anthony Peter Smallhorn
Original assignee: John David Clark; Anthony Peter Smallhorn
Priority date: 2003-05-30
Filing date: 2004-05-28
Publication date: 2004-12-09
Also published as: GB0312385D0; WO2004106179A3

Abstract

A lead board for use with fork lift trucks wherein a lead section (20) of the lead board is attached to the main body of the lead board by an insert (22) comprised of a resiliently deformable material which dissipates the energy associated with impacts due to the misalignment of forks of a fork lift truck such that damage to the board is reduced/prevented by such impacts.

Description

DAMAGE RESISTANT PALLET

Background Wooden pallets for holding loads to be transportable by fork lift trucks suffer from the disadvantage that the lead boards (defined in Figure 1 as in item 1) suffer from frequent breakage due to unwanted impacts from fork lift mechanisms, usually caused by poor aiming of the fork lift by the truck operator.

Lead boards therefore require frequent replacement. There is therefore a justification for making them from a more expensive material than wood, which has a greater resistance to breaking.

Plastic materials used for this purpose often have the disadvantage that they are insufficiently stiff to resist bending due to orthogonal gravitational loading. This bending makes the hole into which the fork lift mechanism must be inserted substantially smaller than if the bending did not occur (The arrows 2 on Figure 2 illustrates where bending occurs when loads are applied to lead boards. Arrow 3 shows that the hole for the forks is narrowed). This, in turn, makes it more likely that the lead boards will be damaged. Art known to the Applicant

GB 2,252,953 teaches a means of making the entire pallet from plastics materials. This has the disadvantage that such a pallet would be more expensive to manufacture than a wooden pallet.

WO 87/05581 discloses a board the size of a whole pallet with cellular structure, which board has a core of cells located adjacent one another. The cells are on one side covered by a cover layer or a cover panel, whereby a surface is formed for supporting a load or constituting a supporting surface. Every cell is of a resiliently yielding material, such as e.g. plastics, and is hermetically sealed against both the cover panel and at its opposite end. In this way there is formed in every cell an encased air cushion which absorbs and damps shocks and load acting on the core consisting of coherent cells. Again, this is unlikely to be cost competitive with wooden pallets.

EP 0,775,638 teaches a method of making grooves to stiffen the pallet against bending loads. This does not assist the resistance of the pallet to impact damage.

GB 2,263,464 teaches a method of designing a pallet having three hollow, closed elongate main blocks in a spaced parallel relation, each having transverse through openings. A plurality of stringers extend laterally across the aligned blocks and locate in aligned ones of recesses on an upper face thereof and recesses on a lower face. Each of the stringers is connected to the respective block by a plurality of plastics plugs. As the blocks and stringers can be formed from a plastics material, the pallet is simple and inexpensive to manufacture, and durable and long lasting, being resistant to deterioration, and where necessary resistant to fire, when stored out of doors or under cover.

GB 1,360,431 seeks to provide a plastics pallet which combines the property of high strength with a good security against a sliding off of a load carried thereon and which at the same time is of such light construction that throwing away the pallets after a single use is economically possible in certain circumstances. An embodiment of this invention is a composite plastics pallet. It consists of a supporting frame defining a rectangular latticework enclosed by side walls. The latticework consists of strips made of a compact plastics material which together define rectangular cavities between one another. This is clearly not meant to be highly damage resistant.

EP 0,068,586 discloses a plastic pallet that is reinforced with metal over-and-under plates.

WO99/59798 discloses a method of producing an elongate calibrated extrusion of a formable material. The formable material most suitably comprises a thermoplastics polymer having an outer skin and a foamed core. It may be formed using an extrusion apparatus having an extruder and a co-extrusion die, which delivers the extrudate between opposed sizing conveyors. These travel at a speed suitable to allow them to continuously take up the flowable extrudate. The flowable extrudate is caused to adhere sufficiently to the surface of the sizing conveyors in order to cause the extrudate to maintain its shape. The extrudate is detached from the recirculating sizing conveyors after it has solidified sufficiently to exhibit the desired dimensional accuracy. Products exemplified includes relatively high Young's Modulus composite product fabricated into materials handling pallets.

EP 0,997,383 discloses a synthetic resin pallet capable of enhancing strength against a bending force acting in a direction right-angled to a loading surface without an increase in weight of the whole pallet. The synthetic resin pallet is constructed such that pallet constructive members taking configurations of the pallet being divided into upper and lower members are formed by, e.g., injection moulding, then set facing to each other and integrally welded. Each of the pallet constructive members includes reinforced ribs formed in lattice and a plurality of leg constructive members provided on an internal surface of a pallet member. A surface of any one or both of the two pallet constructive members is reinforced by a reinforced element using a fibre reinforced material composed of a long glass fibre or a carbon long fibre in order to resist a bending force acting in a direction orthogonal to the surface therein.

Summary of the Invention

In its broadest aspect, the invention provides a lead board for use with fork lift trucks wherein a lead section of the lead board is attached to the main body of the lead board by an insert comprised of a resiliently deformable material which dissipates the energy associated with impacts due to the misalignment of forks of a fork lift truck such that damage to the board is reduced/prevented by such impacts.

Preferably the insert is concertina shaped.

In any aspect of the invention the lead section is rounded, angled or otherwise shaped to deflect impacts due to misaligned forks.

In any aspect of the invention the resiliently deformable material is plastics material.

More preferably the plastics material is polypropylene.

In any aspect of the invention the lead board is attached to the rest of the pallet by the use of fixing means which insert into slotted rather than round holes in the lead board.

In any aspect of the invention a leading edge of the lead board comprises a metallic lead section attached to a second section being characterised in that the metallic lead section protects the second section by dissipating and/or deflecting impacts from misaligned forks of a fork lift truck.

Preferably the lead board is further protected by metallic material on a leading edge and on upper and lower surfaces.

In any aspect of the invention the lead board is hollow and the hollow interior comprises a foamed plastic or wood or honeycomb of plastic and/or metal.

In any aspect of the invention the lead board is produced from extruded or roll formed metal or plastics material.

In any aspect of the invention the lead board is not hollow. In a second broad aspect, the invention provides a lead board for a loading pallet suitable for use with lifting trucks in which the lead board comprises two or more components wherein the leading edge is comprised of a first component reinforced longitudinally with a second component being characterised in that the second component has a greater resistance than the first component of the lead board to deflection due to a force applied by a load on the pallet.

Preferably the second component is a material such as carbon fibre or cross-linked aromatic polyamide fibre such as that sold under the trade mark KENLAR or Twaron.

More preferably a third component is attached to the second component on a side opposite the side to which the first component is attached such that a lead board of normal width can be produced with a reduced quantity of the second component.

In any aspect of the invention the leading edge of the lead board is rounded, angled or otherwise shaped to deflect impacts due to misaligned forks.

Included within the scope of the invention is a lead board substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated by any appropriate combination of the accompanying drawings.

Novelty and Inventive Step

Patent Application No GB 2252953 (D2) This GB patent describes and illustrates a pallet for use with a forldift truck comprising a plurality of pallet members made of plastics material, that when assembled incorporate suitable holes for use with a forldift. Characterised in that each of the pallet members has a shape based on dividing a square by one or both of its diagonal lines.

The pallet may incorporate a layer of flexible material and/or metal reinforcing strips. As such the current application Dl under consideration is new over this document as it comprises a means of reinforcing the lead board of a pallet in order to reduce damage to the pallet by misalignment of the forks of a fork lift truck.

Additionally the current application describes the use of various shaped lead edges on the lead board as a means of deflecting any impact due to misalignment of the forks.

We do not believe it would be obvious, on the basis of this document, to a person skilled in the trade to adapt the lead boards of a traditional style pallet such that it is reinforced and shaped to avoid and/or reduce damage to the pallet by the misalignment of the forks of a forklift truck and in doing so, to increase the resistance of the lead board to deflection due to the weight of payloads on the pallet. No hint is given that it might be desirable to modify a traditional style pallet in the way the current application describes, i.e. reinforcing the lead board and shaping the lead board to avoid/reduce damage to the pallet. The whole teaching of the patent deals with the situation where pallets for use with fork lift trucks are made entirely from plastic as plate like structure. The document does detail that the pallet can be reinforced by the incorporation of metal strip plates into the pallet but no indication is given that this type of reinforcement could be used with the lead boards of traditional style pallets. The patent (D2) further details that it is difficult to provide effective reinforcement of conventional pallets.

PCT patent application - WO87/05581 (D3)

This PCT application provides details of a construction which forms a board that can be used as the load bearing surface of a pallet. The core of the board comprises a cellular structure. The cells are covered on one side by a cover layer or a cover panel, whereby a surface is formed for supporting a load or constituting a supporting surface. Every cell is made of a resiliently yield material such as plastics and is hermatically sealed against both the cover panel and its opposite end. In this way every cell forms an encased air cushion which absorbs and damps shocks and load acting on the core which consists of coherent cells.

The current invention under consideration which relates to the modification of the lead panel of a traditional type of pallet is therefore new as compared to this cited document. We believe the invention also to be non-obvious as there is no basis for a person skilled in the art to think of taking the chain of steps necessary to convert the construction shown in D3 as a means of reinforcing the lead boards of a traditional type of pallet.

European application - EP07763A1 (D4)

This European application describes a pallet comprising three hollow elongate main blocks (made of plastic, carbon, glass fibres or the like) arranged parallel to each other and incorporating transverse openings. Planks extend laterally across the aligned blocks and locate in aligned recesses on the upper surfaces of the blocks. The planks are connected to the blocks by a plurality of plastic plugs. Strengthening grooves or ridges are formed in the blocks to enhance the ability of the pallet to resist bending under applied loads. The current invention is therefore new over this document as it relates to the modification of the lead boards of a pallet.

This cited application (D4) gives no indication as to how the disclosed invention could be adapted as a means of increasing the strength of the lead boards of a pallet or how the shape of the lead boards could be modified to deflect blows from the forks of fork lift trucks. Nor is an indication given that such a modification might be desirable. Potentially, it might be argued that, on the basis of this application, it would be obvious to modify the planks of a pallet to incorporate grooves or ridges as a means of strengthening the planks. However, modification of such a means of strengthening the planks of a pallet in order to provide the strengthening means of the current application (Dl) would, we believe, be non-obvious to a person skilled in the art.

British application - GB2,263,464 (D5)

This GB application describes a pallet constructed from three hollow, closed elongate parallel blocks, in a spaced arrangement. A series of stringers (planks) extend across the blocks and are located in aligned recesses in the blocks. The stringers are connected to the blocks by a plurality of plastic plugs. The pallet being manufactured from plastic materials. This application was an earlier filing by the applicants of D4. The difference between the two applications being the incorporation of the strengthening means into the later application D4.

The application does not disclose a means of modifying the lead boards of a pallet to increase their strength or their ability to deflect blows from the forks of a fork lift truck. The current invention is therefore new over this application.

The current invention is also not obvious as compared to the cited document D5 for the reasons given with respect to D4 (with the exception of the comments relating to the strengthening grooves and ridges which are not included in this application).

British application - GB1,360,431 (D6)

This GB patent application describes a plastic pallet which is intended to be disposed of after a single use. The pallet has an upper loading surface and a lower stacking surface and comprises a supporting frame of a compact plastics material defining a lattice construction and an expanded plastics material secured to the frame. The frame and expanded plastics material together defining the stacking and loading surfaces of the pallet. The pallet further comprises cavities for the insertion of the forks of a lifting mechanism.

This document does not describe the modification of the lead board of a traditional type of pallet in order to increase the strength of the lead board and to improve the ability of the lead board to deflect impacts from the forks of a lifting mechanism. The current invention under consideration is new over this document.

No indication is given in D6 as to how the pallet described might be modified to form a means suitable for reinforcing the lead board of a traditional type of pallet or to modify the shape of a lead board such that it deflects impacts due to the misalignment of the forks of a fork lifting mechanism. As such, we do not believe that it would be obvious to a person skilled in the trade to modify a lead board in the way described in Dl following reference to D6. The current invention is therefore inventive over this document. European Application EP0068586 - (D7)

The European application in Germany describes an injection moulded pallet which is reinforced with metal strips. The description discussed the use of troughs in either the upper or lower plate of a pallet into which a preferably metallic reinforcement section can be inserted by first heating the metal reinforcement and then pressing it into the trough, thus securing the reinforcements to the plates. The patent application does not describe a means of adapting the lead boards of a pallet as described in the current application Dl.

The application D7 gives no indication as to how the metal reinforced pallet could be adapted to reinforce the lead boards of a traditional pallet nor does it give a hint that such adaptation would be desirable. As such, we believe the current application Dl to be non- obvious and therefore inventive as compared to this document.

The PCT application WO99/59798 (D8)

This PCT application D8 relates to apparatus and method for producing an elongate calibrated extrusion of a formable material. The application further provides details how the extruded material can be used to form pallets for use with lifting devices such as fork lift trucks. The pallets described consist of a top deck which may be a composite of five or more layers and which may be composed of three or more discreet extruded thermoplastics materials, each providing particular properties to the structure thus formed. The application D8 further details that the top deck may be attached to stringers which may be made of any suitable material such as wood or plastic although thermoplastics are preferred. The application D8 does not make reference to a design of pallet that incorporates lead boards as such the current application is new as compared to the cited document D8.

The document D8 supplies no hint as to how the design of pallet described could be modified for use as a lead board with improved strength and resistance to breakage due to unwanted impacts from fork lift mechanisms. Nor is an indication given as to how the shape of a lead board could be modified to deflect unwanted impacts. As such, the current invention is, we believe, non-obvious (i.e. inventive) as compared to this document. European application EP0,997,383 (D9)

This European application describes a synthetic resin pallet with enhanced strength against a bending force acting in a direction right angled to a loading surface without an increase in weight of the pallet. The strength of the pallet being enhanced by the attachment of reinforcing element(s) preferably into grooves in the surface of the pallet. The pallet comprises a deck board connected to nine legs by constructive members, reinforcing ribs are incorporated into the deck board. A bottom pallet constructive member is also described.

The current invention under consideration as described in Dl is therefore new over this document.

The cited document D9 does not describe a means of modifying the lead board of a pallet in order to improve its strength and ability to deflect a blow from a fork of a lifting mechanism.

The document D9 does not indicate how the invention described might be modified such that it could be used to produce a lead board with improved strength nor does it indicate that such a modification might be advantageous, nor is there any obvious starting point from this disclosure.

We therefore believe the current invention to be non-obvious (i.e. inventive) as compared to D9.

Summary

None of the cited documents describe a pallet wherein the lead boards of the pallet are modified to improve the strength of the lead boards so as to improve their resistance to deflection due to applied load and their resistance to breakage due to unwanted impacts from the forks of fork lift mechanisms. Nor do any of the cited documents make reference to the possibility of modifying the shape of the lead boards such that they more efficiently deflect impacts from misaligned forks. As such, the invention disclosed in the current application Dl is new as compared to the above documents. None of the documents describe or even give a hint that modifications of the type described, with respect to lead boards, in the current application might be desirable. No combination of the cited documents would give rise to an invention similar to that currently under consideration, wherein the lead board of a traditional type of wooden pallet is modified to improve its resistance breakage due to impacts from forks of fork lift trucks and to improve its resistance to deflection due to applied load and shaped such that it better deflects blows from forks. Neither of the cited documents indicates that modifications of the type described in the current application might be desirable. We therefore believe the invention as described in current application to be inventive over the cited documents.

Description of the Drawings

The requirements of resistance to damage and resistance to excessive deflection under the weight of the payload on the palette place different burdens on the lead board. These burdens are to some extent contradictory.

Figure 3 shows the parts of the lead board that most require protection from impact damage.

Figure 4 shows those parts of the lead board that most contribute to resistance to deflection under an applied load.

The present invention is to have a lead board such that some parts of the board are optimised for impact resistance, and other parts are optimised for resistance to deflection.

This could be achieved by having uneven transverse properties such that one side of the lead board is fibre reinforced, but the other side is not. Thus the brittleness of the fibre materials is not present at those places where impact damage is most severe. The matrix material may be, but need not be, of a soft material that readily absorbs impact energy. Figure 5. The hatched area illustrates those parts of the lead board that most contribute to resistance to deflection, this is the inner edge 'B'. Area 6 illustrates that part of the board that readily absorbs impact energy. Area 6 is the outer edge 'A' of the lead board.

Figure 6 illustrates another embodiment which is to have a lead board faced on at least three sides with metal (7), including but not restricted to galvanised steel and aluminium. The three sides wrap around to form the outer edge 'A' of the lead board.

Figure 7a illustrates another embodiment is to have a lead board made of sandwich panel material, in which the hard outer material (8) is on at least three sides of the board. The inner material (9) could be, but need not be, a foamed plastic, or wood.

Figure 7b. A further embodiment is to have a lead board made of sandwich panel material, in which the hard outer material (10) is on at least three sides of the board. The three sides wrap around to form the outer edge 'A' of the lead board. The inner material (11) could be, but need not be, honeycomb of plastic or metal-and-glue.

Figures 8 and 9. Another embodiment is to make the lead board of metal, solid or hollow (see figure 8). The hollow board may be, but need not be, extruded or roll formed (see figure 9).

Figure 10 Another embodiment to make the lead board with the front, or outer edge 'A' in a shape to deflect the forks to reduce damage.

'a' Illustrates a full circular shape on the lead edge.

'b' Illustrates a 45° slope on the lead edge.

'c' Illustrates an elliptical shape on the lead edge.

'd' Illustrates a shallow angle on the lead edge.

Characteristics of this embodiment would be practical on any of the figures from 3 to 9. Figure 11. Another embodiment illustrates that an extruded plastic, or formed material spacer (12) may be with and of the above embodiments, and in particular with those in Figure 10. Lead board shape ^sb' is illustrated (13).

Figure 12. This figure illustrates that the outer edge 'A' of the lead board is the impact resistant part, especially in the horizontal direction as shown by arrow 14. The inner side 'B' is the side that resists bending in the vertical direction as illustrated by arrow 15.

Figures 13a and 13b. Figure 13a illustrates that the outer edge 'A' of the lead board is the impact resistant piece 16. Figure 13b illustrates a similar embodiment, except that outer edge 'A' of the lead board is the impact resistant piece 17 that also continues across the top and bottom faces. In both cases 16 and 17 may be metal or a hard material.

Figure 14. This illustrates two alternative designs of pallets that also embody lead boards (18).

Figures 15 illustrates a design of lead board as generally indicated by 19 for use with a loading pallet wherein a lead section 20 of a lead board is attached to a main body 21 of the lead board by means of a resiliently deformable material in the form of an insert 22. In the preferred embodiment the insert is comprised of a plastics material which is preferably polypropylene. The arrow labelled X indicates the direction from which forks of a misaligned lifting truck will impact with the lead board when it is in use as the lead board of a loading pallet. The insert 22 assists in the absorption and deflection of the energy associated with such impacts.

Figure 16 illustrates a design of lead board as generally indicated by 31 wherein a main body 32 of a lead board is attached to a lead section 33 of the lead board by means of a concertina shaped, insert 34 formed from a resiliently deformable material such as polypropylene. The arrow Y indicating the direction in which forks of a misaligned lifting truck will impact with the lead board when it is in use as the lead board of a loading pallet. The insert and its concertina shape giving an improvement in the ability of the lead board to deflect and absorb the energy associated with such impacts.

Figure 17 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the current invention wherein an insert 41 made from a resiliently deformable material such as polypropylene is inserted into a hollow section in a main body 42 of a lead board. Thus improving the ability of the lead board to deflect and absorb the energy associated with impacts due to misalignment of the forks of a fork lift truck. The main body of the lead board could be wood, plastic, filled plastic, wholly or partly recycled material and/or paper machie-like waterproof materials. The insert could be shapes other than the square shape shown eg. circular, rectangular etc.

Summary of the Disclosure

The current patent application relates to pallets of two designs.

The first design of pallet comprises 9 uprights which are linked together by means of connecting means to form three set of cross-pieces. The cross-pieces are then rigidly connected together by a series of parallel arranged stretchers (or boards) to form an upper surface of a pallet onto which loads can be placed. The outer-most stretchers (or boards) are referred to as lead boards.

A second design of pallet is also shown wherein three larger cross-pieces are rigidly connected together by a series of smaller stretchers (or boards) arranged parallel to each other, on an upper surface of the cross-pieces. The outer-most stretchers (or boards) again being referred to as lead boards.

From hereon, these two types of pallets will be referred to as traditional style pallets.

The current patent application details the parts of the lead board that are commonly damaged by impact with misaligned forks of fork lift trucks and which thus require protection from such impact damage and those parts that most contribute to resistance to deflection of the lead boards under applied loads. The invention as disclosed in the current application details parts of the lead boards that are optimised for impact resistance, and other parts of the lead boards that are optimised for resistance to deflection.

This is achieved by the lead board having uneven transverse properties such that one side of the board is reinforced, but the other side is not. The reinforcing material used is brittle (e.g. carbon fibre or cross-linked aromatic polyamide fibre such as that sold under the trade mark Kevlar and Twaron) and so not positioned where impact damage is most severe. Reference is made to a matrix material being used which may be a soft material that readily absorbs impact energy. This material is incorporated in the area where impact damage is expected to occur.

The outer edge of the lead board is identified as the area of the board that absorbs impact energy and the inner edge of the lead board is identified as the part of the lead board that most contributes to resistance to deflection.

A lead board is illustrated wherein the lead board is faced on three sides with a metal sheet, to form an outer edge of the board. Preferably the material around which the metal sheet is wrapped comprises wood, plastics, filled plastics, wholly or partly recycled material and/or paper machie-like waterproof materials

The next embodiment also comprises a lead board made of a sandwich panel material in which a hard outer material is positioned on three sides of the board, and wherein an inner material may be formed of foamed plastic or wood.

A further example of this embodiment has an inner material which may form a honeycomb of plastic or metal and glue.

An example is given of lead board formed of metal which may be solid or hollow. The hollow board may be extruded or roll formed.

A series of possible shaped front/outer edges are provided, the shape being such as to deflect the misaligned forks of a forklift truck mechanism. Details of spacers for use with lead boards with shaped front/outer edges are provided.

An embodiment is illustrated wherein an extruded plastic spacer, or formed material spacer is used with a lead board with a shaped edge.

Details of an embodiment are provided wherein the outer edge of the lead board is formed from an impact resistant piece is shown and also shown is an example of the impact resistant material extending across the top and bottom faces of the lead board.

Two examples of designs for pallets that may utilise lead boards described in the current application are shown.

Preferred Embodiment Features

1. Combination of polypropylene sprung edge and timber leader board.

2. Equal vertical stiffness to conventional timber board.

3. Flat top surface, no closed hollow sections, two timber/polypropylene interfaces.

4. Secured by standard leader board fixings but may use slotted rather than circular holes.

5. Some flexibility to allow for angle of impact in ISO8611.

6. In an ISO8611 test, the sprung edge generates an acceleration of the pallet upwards on contact with the dummy forks.

7. This reduces the peak force carried by the fixings, and therefore reduces the pull- out measured in the ISO8611 test.

8. In a range of 'fork impact' situations, the polypropylene material (tough) and design (energy absorbing) will show reduced damage of timber boards.

Claims

1. A lead board for use with fork lift trucks wherein a lead section of the lead board is attached to the main body of the lead board by an insert comprised of a resiliently deformable material which dissipates the energy associated with impacts due to the misalignment of forks of a fork lift truck such that damage to the board is reduced/prevented by such impacts.

2. A lead board as claimed in claim 1 wherein the insert is concertina shaped.

3. A lead board as claimed in either claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the lead section is rounded, angled or otherwise shaped to deflect impacts due to misaligned forks.

4. A lead board as claimed in any of the prior claims wherein the resiliently deformable material is plastics material.

5. A lead board as claimed in claim 4 wherein the plastics material is polypropylene.

6. A lead board as claimed in any of the prior claims wherein the lead board is attached to the rest of the pallet by the use of fixing means which insert into slotted rather than round holes in the lead board.

7. A lead board as claimed in any of the prior claims in which a leading edge of the lead board comprises a metallic lead section attached to a second section being characterised in that the metallic lead section protects the second section by dissipating and/or deflecting impacts from misaligned forks of a fork lift truck.

8. A lead board as claimed in claim 7 wherein the lead board is further protected by metallic material on a leading edge and on upper and lower surfaces.

9. A lead board as claimed in any of the preceding claims in which the lead board is hollow and the hollow interior comprises a foamed plastic or wood or honeycomb of plastic and/or metal.

10. A lead board as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the lead board is produced from extruded or roll formed metal or plastics material.

11. A lead board as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the lead board is not hollow.

12. A lead board for a loading pallet suitable for use with lifting trucks in which the lead board comprises two or more components wherein the leading edge is comprised of a first component reinforced longitudinally with a second component being characterised in that the second component has a greater resistance than the first component of the lead board to deflection due to a force applied by a load on the pallet:

13. A lead board as claimed in claim 12 wherein the second component is a material such as carbon fibre or cross-linked aromatic polyamide fibre such as that sold under the trade mark KENLAR or Twaron.

14. A lead board as claimed in either of claims 11 or 12 wherein a third component is attached to the second component on a side opposite the side to which the first component is attached such that a lead board of normal width can be produced with a reduced quantity of the second component.

15. A lead board as claimed in any of claims 11 to 13 wherein the leading edge of the lead board is rounded, angled or otherwise shaped to deflect impacts due to misaligned forks.

16. A lead board substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated by any appropriate combination of the accompanying drawings.