REINFORCED PALLET
A pallet assembly includes an upper deck having an upper panel portion from which a plurality of ribs extend downward. A plurality of channels are formed in an underside of the upper deck. The pallet assembly includes a plurality of columns below the upper deck. A plurality of reinforcement assemblies, including an inner reinforcement member, are each received within an outer case. The inner reinforcement members are received in the channels in the upper deck.
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 13/529,096, filed Jun. 21, 2012, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/499,679, filed Jun. 21, 2011.
BACKGROUNDSome applications for plastic pallets require reinforcement members in order to achieve sufficient stiffness, such as for racking. In some of these applications, such as some applications involving food handling, it is desirable that the reinforcement members not be exposed, especially if they are metal. In other applications, the additional stiffness from the reinforcement members is unnecessary and would add unnecessary weight and cost.
If a pallet is designed to accommodate steel reinforcement, the upper deck will have channels formed therein for receiving the reinforcement members. Therefore, if one were to provide this pallet in a non-reinforced configuration, the empty channels would weaken the pallet. In order to avoid this, complicated inserts or other reconfigurable mold modifications would have to be provided in order to selectively close the channels to produce acceptable non-reinforced pallets from the same mold.
For food handling applications or other applications where exposed metal reinforcement members is undesirable, the reinforcement members may be contained within a two-piece deck. This increase in the cost and weight of the pallet is unnecessary if the reinforced pallet were to be provided for another application where exposure of the reinforcement members is not an issue.
SUMMARYA pallet according to one example of the present invention provides the ability to be configured in several variations without any changes to the mold or to the upper deck or lower portion.
In the example described below, the pallet can be configured as a heavy duty reinforced pallet or as a medium or lighter duty pallet. The pallet can also be configured such that any metal reinforcement is not exposed.
A pallet 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention is shown in
As shown in
As shown in
It should also be noted that the reinforcement elements (e.g. reinforcement assembly 20, reinforcement member 22, outer case 24 and outer case 24a) can be used in different combinations in the same pallet 10. For example, a given application may only require reinforcement members 22 or covered reinforcement assemblies 20 or 20a along the long dimension of the pallet 10 and only the outer cases 24 along the short dimension of the pallet 10 (or vice versa). As another example, it may be determined that only one reinforcement member 22 is required, while the rest can be the outer cases 24.
In this manner, the same deck 12 and lower portion 14 can be used with different arrangements of reinforcement elements to provide these different configurations for different applications. This is accomplished without modifications to the molds or removable inserts for the molds for the deck 12 or lower portion 14.
With either embodiment, the reinforcement members 22, 122 are hidden and protected. The reinforcement members 22, 122 are shown as having a square cross section, but other shapes, such as I-beam could also be used.
In all of the embodiments above, the channels 21, 32, 132 could be a standard size such as ¾″×¾″ or 1″×1″ or 1¼″×1¼″ or a rectangular standard.
In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes and jurisprudence, exemplary configurations described above are considered to represent a preferred embodiment of the invention. However, it should be noted that the invention can be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described without departing from its spirit or scope.
Claims
1. A pallet assembly comprising:
- an upper deck having an upper panel portion from which a plurality of ribs extend downward, a plurality of channels formed in an underside of the upper deck;
- a plurality of columns below the upper deck;
- a plurality of reinforcement assemblies each including an inner reinforcement members each received within a first outer case, the inner reinforcement assemblies received in the plurality of channels, a plurality of second outer cases received in the channels, the second cases not containing inner reinforcement members therein.
2. The pallet assembly of claim 1, wherein the first outer cases are integrally molded with the columns.
3. The pallet assembly of claim 1, wherein the plurality of reinforcement assemblies are receivable in the plurality of channels in a first orientation and are receivable in the plurality of channels in a second orientation perpendicular to the first orientation.
4. The pallet assembly of claim 1, further including end caps covering longitudinal ends of the plurality of inner reinforcement members.
5. The pallet assembly of claim 1, wherein the plurality of inner reinforcement members each have a hollow rectangular cross section.
6. The pallet assembly of claim 1, wherein the first outer cases are configured such that they can be received in the channels without the inner reinforcement members.
7. The pallet assembly of claim 1, wherein the first and second outer cases are plastic and the inner reinforcement members are metal.
8. The pallet assembly of claim 7, wherein the first outer cases are configured such that they can be received in the channels without the inner reinforcement members.
9. The pallet assembly of claim 8, wherein the plurality of reinforcement assemblies are receivable in the plurality of channels in a first orientation and are receivable in the plurality of channels in a second orientation perpendicular to the first orientation.
10. The pallet assembly of claim 9, further including end caps covering longitudinal ends of the plurality of inner reinforcement members.
11. The pallet assembly of claim 10, wherein the inner reinforcement members have a hollow rectangular cross section.
12. The pallet assembly of claim 11 wherein the plurality of columns each include at least one channel formed at an upper end thereof, the plurality of reinforcement assemblies and the second outer cases received in the channels at the upper ends of the plurality of columns.
13. The pallet assembly of claim 1 wherein the plurality of columns each include at least one channel formed at an upper end thereof, the plurality of reinforcement assemblies and the second outer cases received in the channels at the upper ends of the plurality of columns.
14. A pallet assembly comprising:
- an upper deck having an upper panel portion from which a plurality of ribs extend downward, a plurality of channels formed in an underside of the upper deck;
- a plurality of columns below the upper deck; and
- a plurality of reinforcement assemblies including a plurality of inner reinforcement members each received within a first outer case, the inner reinforcement members received in the plurality of channels, wherein the outer case has a three-sided cross-section with an open side, such that the outer case has a U-shaped cross section, wherein the upper panel portion covers the inner reinforcement members on the open side of the outer case.
15. A pallet assembly comprising:
- an upper deck having an upper panel portion from which a plurality of ribs extend downward, a plurality of channels formed in an underside of the upper deck;
- a plurality of columns below the upper deck;
- a plurality of plastic outer cases having a hollow rectangular cross section, the plastic outer cases received in the plurality of channels; and
- a plurality of inner reinforcement members received within some, but not all, of the plurality of outer cases.
16. The pallet assembly of claim 15, wherein the inner reinforcement members are metal.
17. The pallet assembly of claim 16, further including end caps covering longitudinal ends of the outer cases.
18. The pallet assembly of claim 15, wherein the plurality of outer cases are receivable in the plurality of channels in a first orientation and are receivable in the plurality of channels in a second orientation perpendicular to the first orientation.
19. The pallet assembly of claim 18 wherein the plurality of columns each include at least one channel formed at an upper end thereof, the plurality of inner reinforcement members and the plurality of plastic outer cases received in the channels at the upper ends of the plurality of columns.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 7, 2018
Publication Date: Sep 13, 2018
Inventors: William P. Apps (Alpharetta, GA), Ryan C. Meers (West Chester, PA), Kyle L. Baltz (Rossmoor, CA)
Application Number: 15/914,315