METAL PALLET
A metal pallet includes a first deck subassembly, first and second bumpers, and a plurality of risers. The first deck subassembly includes a plurality of deck boards. The first bumper connects to at least one of the deck boards along a first peripheral edge of the first deck subassembly. The second bumper connects to at least one of the deck boards along a second peripheral edge of the first deck subassembly. The first peripheral edge is oriented approximately normal to the second peripheral edge. The plurality of risers connects to the first deck subassembly for spacing the first deck subassembly above an associated surface upon which the pallet rests. A second deck subassembly can also be employed.
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This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/410,365, filed Apr. 24, 2006, which is incorporated herein.
BACKGROUNDConventionally, pallets have been made from wood. Wood pallets are heavy and subject to warpage, splintering and splitting. Furthermore, wood pallets are not fireproof. To overcome the disadvantages found in wood pallets, pallets have also been made from plastic. Plastic pallets require a large amount of resin to be made so that they are of sufficient strength to support freight and goods. Furthermore, plastic pallets are also not fireproof.
Metal pallets have been made to overcome the shortcomings of wood and plastic pallets. Known metal pallets are manufactured as welded metal sections, as metal pipe constructions or as deep-drawn components in metal sections. Metal pallets that are manufactured as welded metal sections are often damaged by pallet handling equipment and/or by the movement of freight onto and off of the metal pallet. Typically, known metal pallets that are manufactured as welded metal sections do not absorb the impact energy that can be delivered by pallet handling equipment, such as the forks of a conventional forklift as the equipment contacts the pallet. Additionally, the welded metal sections, upon which the freight that is being transported by the pallet rests, are prone to damage during the loading and unloading of freight onto and off of the metal pallet.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a metal pallet that overcomes the disadvantages of both wood and plastic pallets. Furthermore, it is desirable to provide a metal pallet that overcomes the disadvantages of known metal pallets and provides benefits not found in currently available metal pallets.
BRIEF DESCRIPTIONAccording to an embodiment, a metal pallet includes a first deck subassembly, first and second bumpers, and a plurality of risers. The first deck subassembly includes a plurality of deck boards. The first bumper connects to at least one of the deck boards along a first peripheral edge of the first deck subassembly. The second bumper connects to at least one of the deck boards along a second peripheral edge of the first deck subassembly. The first peripheral edge is oriented approximately normal to the second peripheral edge. The plurality of risers connects to the first deck subassembly for spacing the first deck subassembly above an associated surface upon which the pallet rests.
According to another embodiment, a metal pallet includes a first deck subassembly, a second deck subassembly, and a riser connecting the first deck subassembly to the second deck subassembly. The second deck subassembly includes a first member that includes a tongue and a second member which includes a slot that receives the tongue. The first member is disposed at an orientation other than parallel to the second member. The first deck subassembly is spaced from the second deck subassembly a distance sufficient to define an opening which allows forks of an associated conventional forklift to fit between the first deck subassembly and the second deck subassembly.
According to another embodiment, a metal pallet includes a first deck, a second deck spaced from the first deck along a first dimension, a riser connecting the first deck to the second deck to form a polygonal structure, and a bumper system connected to a peripheral edge of the polygonal structure. The bumper system is positioned to allow for entry of forks of an associated forklift device between the first deck and the second deck on all sides of the polygonal structure and to allow for selective contact of the associated device with the bumper system when the forks of the associated device are disposed between the decks.
With reference to
The metal pallet 10 is designed to be handled by pallet handling equipment, such as a conventional forklift truck or manual or powered floor pallet jacks. In the depicted embodiment, the upper deck subassembly 12 is spaced from the lower deck subassembly 14 to accommodate forks of the conventional pallet handling equipment. In an embodiment that does not include the lower deck subassembly, the upper deck subassembly can be spaced from a support surface, e.g. ground surface, upon which the pallet rests, and be spaced from that surface a distance great enough to allow for the entry of forks. In the depicted embodiment, the pallet 10 has a generally rectangular configuration and could be square. It is designed to allow 4-way access for the pallet handling equipment. It should be recognized, however, that the pallet 10 can take other polygonal configurations, such as hexagonal, etc.
The upper deck subassembly 12 includes a plurality of deck boards, which in the depicted embodiment will be referred to as upper deck support boards that run generally parallel to a greater dimension of the upper deck subassembly and upper deck boards that run generally parallel to a smaller dimension of the upper deck subassembly. In the depicted embodiment, the boards are made from formed metal sheets; however, the boards can be made in other manners and be made from other known materials, such as composites, etc.
With reference to
The outside upper deck boards 30 each include a box formed outer lateral edge 36 disposed along an outer lateral edge of the first deck subassembly 12. The boxed lateral edge 36 strengthens the outside upper deck board 30 and stiffens the edge of the pallet 10. Each outside upper deck board 30 also includes a corrugation 38 that stiffens and divides the deck board so that it includes first contact surface 42 and a second contact surface 44 disposed on opposite sides of the corrugation 38. While the corrugation 38 is shown as being centrally positioned, it should be appreciated that the corrugation can readily be disposed at other locations on the upper deck board 30. Thus, the first and second contact surfaces can be of different widths. Moreover, while the corrugation is shown in this embodiment as being rectangular, it could take other forms as well. Also more than one corrugation could be provided if desired. The contact surfaces 42 and 44 can reside in the same plane (see
Each inside upper deck board 34 includes a corrugation 52 that divides each inside upper deck board into a first contact surface 54 on a first side of the corrugation 52 and a second contact surface 56 on an opposite side of the corrugation. While the corrugation is shown as being centrally located in this embodiment, it does not have to be so positioned. Thus, the first and second contact surfaces can be of different widths. Moreover, the corrugation can take other configurations, for example rounded or curved. The contact surfaces 54 and 56 of the inside upper deck boards 34 reside in the same plane as the contact surfaces 42 and 44 of the outside upper deck boards 30 to define a flat surface upon which freight can be loaded. Each inside upper deck board 34 also includes connection flanges 58 at opposite lateral edges for facilitating attachment of the intermediate width deck boards 34 to the length deck boards 32. With reference again to
In the depicted embodiment, the upper deck upper deck support boards 32 are all in the same configuration. But, different configurations could be used if desired. With continued reference to
In the depicted embodiment, the pallet 10 includes a bumper system around the perimeter of the upper deck assembly 12. The bumper system works in conjunction with risers (which connect the upper deck assembly 12 to the lower deck subassembly 14 and will be described in more detail below) upper deck support boards and outer and inner upper deck boards to improve impact resistance and absorb pallet handling equipment impact energy, by transferring the impact energy to other components in the pallet. The bumper system can also increase resistance to static load deflection, so that the pallet 10 can maintain substantially planar contact surfaces, i.e. loading surfaces, throughout its life and accommodate greater loads safely. With reference to
Where the upper deck assembly 12 or the pallet 10 takes an alternative polygonal configuration, the bumpers can take alternative configurations and be disposed at angles other than perpendicular to one another. In the depicted embodiment, once the bumpers 80 and 82 are attached to the upper deck assembly 12, substantially the entire perimeter of the upper deck assembly 12 is surrounded by the bumper system. Such a configuration allows the bumper system to absorb impact energy from a pallet handling device from any side of the pallet 10 and to transfer that energy into other components of the pallet.
In the depicted embodiment, the length bumpers 80 include a plurality of tabs 84 that are configured to be received in the space defined between a lateral edge and the central corrugation 38 or 52 of a respective upper deck width board (either end board 30 or intermediate board 34). As more clearly seen in
The attachment of the width bumper 82 will now be described in more detail with reference to
With reference to
The lower deck tab boards 110 of the lower deck subassembly 14 also include a plurality of tongues 126 that extend from widthwise ends of the lower deck tab board to facilitate loose interconnection of the components of the lower deck subassembly 14. In the depicted embodiment, two tongues 126 extend from each end of the lower deck tab board 110, one on each side of the corrugation 118. Each tongue 126 includes a raised lip 128. The raised lip 128 resides in a plane that is generally parallel to the contact surface 122.
With reference to
With reference to
Use of both slot and tab boards for the lower deck subassembly 14 provides an increase in strength (as compared to having lower deck boards that only run in one direction) and reduced deflection across the width of the pallet during static loading. When stacking loaded pallets 10 on top of each other, the lower deck boards in the depicted embodiment also reduce pressure exerted on the load below by increasing surface contact area. Further, having lower deck boards that attach to one another at right angles increases the stability of the pallet 10 during handling when forks are inserted through a short side and when loaded pallets placed on top of each other are offset from each other.
With reference back to
A second type of side riser, which is referred to as a short side riser 178, is disposed on the widthwise edge of the metal pallet 10. The side risers 176 and 178 are spaced from the respective corner risers 172 and 174 an adequate distance to define forklift receptacles 170. Finally, a fifth type of center riser (not visible) is centrally located in the pallet 10. The center riser attaches to the upper deck support board 32 and to the lower deck support board 110. As seen in
With reference to
The bumper system can take alternative configurations from those that are shown in
An alternative configuration for a width bumper will be described in more detail with reference to
With respect to
To accomplish this, the upper ledge 402′ resides in a plane that is vertically beneath and generally parallel to a pair of contact surfaces 342′ and 344′ of the outside upper deck board 330′. This allows a space for a top surface of the top portion 426 of the resilient member 420 to reside in generally the same plane as contact surfaces 342′ and 344′ of the outside upper deck board 330′. Different bumper configurations using different profiles and/or thicknesses of material can be substituted without changing the deck board profile. It is apparent in
It is often desirable to wirelessly identify, track and/or provide information about the location of pallets or the products held on them. One method of tracking and providing information about items is to attach a wireless communication device such as a radio frequency identification (RFID) transponder or other identification device to the item. Multiple RFID devices, one attached to each of the items on a pallet, would then be located on a single pallet. However, communication collisions may occur if a pallet contains more than one item with an RFID tag and the communication devices communicate at the same frequency. Therefore, a better alternative is to provide a single RFID tag for the pallet itself. While pallets often include more than one item, the items may be a plurality of the same type of item having the same information characteristics, such as date of manufacture, lot number or other information that may be communicated via a single RFID.
Therefore, an RFID tag provided on the pallet may be adequate to communicate information about all the items held on the pallet. Alternatively, the RFID can communicate information about the pallet itself. As is well known, such RFID devices require the use of an antenna. In one embodiment of the present invention, either the entire metal pallet disclosed herein or some portion thereof, such as one of the boards, can be used as the antenna of an RFID device (not shown). This is advantageous in order to eliminate the need for employing a separate pole antenna or slot antenna with the RFID tag. The RFID can be placed in a suitable desired location on the pallet to prevent damage thereto. The RFID tag can be secured to the pallet by suitable known means, such as a clip or adhesive. Moreover, the RFID tag can be grounded to a ground plane on the pallet.
Several embodiments of a metal pallet have been described herein. Modifications and alterations will occur to those of average skill in the art upon reading and understanding of the foregoing detailed description. However, the invention is not limited to only the embodiments described above. Instead, the invention is defined by the appended claims and the equivalents thereof.
Claims
1. A metal pallet comprising:
- a first deck subassembly including a plurality of deck boards defining a support surface upon which associated items are placed;
- a first bumper connected to at least one of the deck boards along a first peripheral edge of the first deck subassembly, the first bumper including a section extending above the support surface;
- a second bumper connected to at least one of the deck boards along a second peripheral edge of the first deck subassembly, the first peripheral edge being oriented approximately normal to the second peripheral edge; and,
- a plurality of risers connected to the first deck subassembly for spacing the first deck subassembly above an associated surface upon which the pallet rests.
2. The pallet of claim 1, wherein the section extends generally normal to the support surface.
3. The pallet of claim 1, wherein the section comprises a rolled section located at a top surface of the first bumper.
4. The pallet of claim 1, wherein the section extends generally along a longitudinal axis of the first bumper.
5. The pallet of claim 1, wherein the first bumper includes a tab received under a respective deck board of the plurality of deck boards and the section is offset from the tab.
6. The pallet of claim 1, wherein the first bumper is oriented generally perpendicular to the plurality of deck boards that define the support surface.
7. The pallet of claim 1, further comprising a second deck subassembly spaced from the first deck subassembly and connected to the plurality of risers, a lower surface of each of the bumpers being spaced from the second deck subassembly so that the forks of a conventional fork lift can fit between the lower surface of each of the bumpers and the second deck subassembly.
8. A metal pallet comprising:
- a first deck including a plurality of corrugated members defining a loading surface;
- a second deck spaced from the first deck along a first dimension;
- a riser connecting the first deck to the second deck to form a polygonal structure; and
- a bumper system connected to a peripheral edge of the polygonal structure, the bumper system being positioned to allow for entry of forks of an associated fork lift device between the first deck and the second deck on all sides of the polygonal structure and to allow for selective contact of the associated device with the bumper system when the forks of the associated device are disposed between the decks, the bumper system including a bumper having a section extending above the loading surface.
9. The pallet of claim 8, wherein the bumper includes a plurality of tabs, at least some of the tabs being configured to fit between adjacent corrugations.
10. The pallet of claim 8, wherein the bumper includes a leg and a flange, the tabs extend generally perpendicularly from the leg and the flange extends generally perpendicularly from the leg.
11. The pallet of claim 10, wherein the tabs are located adjacent an upper edge of the leg and the flange is located adjacent a lower edge of the flange.
12. The pallet of claim 11, wherein the section is rolled and formed near the upper edge of the leg.
13. The pallet of claim 11, wherein the vertical leg transitions into the section, which transitions into at least one of the tabs.
14. A metal pallet comprising:
- an upper deck assembly including a plurality of upper deck boards defining a loading surface and a plurality of upper deck support boards attached to and located below the upper deck boards, the upper deck support boards being oriented generally perpendicular to the upper deck boards;
- a bumper system connected with the upper deck assembly, the bumper system including a first bumper having a section that protrudes upwardly above the loading surface from a periphery of the upper deck assembly; and
- a plurality of risers connected to the upper deck assembly for spacing the upper deck assembly above an associated surface upon which the pallet rests.
15. The pallet of claim 14, wherein the first bumper is welded to the riser and further comprising a lower deck assembly spaced from the upper deck subassembly and connected to the plurality of risers, a lower surface of each of the bumpers being spaced from the lower deck assembly so that the forks of a conventional fork lift can fit between the lower surface of each of the bumpers and the lower deck assembly.
16. The pallet of claim 14, wherein the first bumper includes a plurality of tabs, a leg and a flange, the tabs extend generally perpendicularly from the leg and the flange extends generally perpendicularly from the leg.
17. The pallet of claim 16, wherein the tabs contact a lower surface of at least one of the upper deck boards, and the flange contacts a lower surface of at least one of the upper deck support boards.
18. The pallet of claim 17, wherein the tabs are located adjacent an upper edge of the leg and the flange is located adjacent a lower edge of the leg.
19. The pallet of claim 17, wherein the section is rolled and formed near the upper edge of the leg.
20. The pallet of claim 16, wherein the section extends generally normal to the contact surface.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 27, 2009
Publication Date: Aug 20, 2009
Applicant: Worthington Steelpac Systems (York, PA)
Inventor: Larry Nielsen (Lancaster, PA)
Application Number: 12/430,527
International Classification: B65D 19/28 (20060101); B65D 19/38 (20060101);