Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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MATERIAL HANDLING PALL~T
FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to pallets of the kind used for
transport of a wide variety of goods and commodities.
BACKGROUND ART
Wooden pallets are widely used but suffer from several
disadvantages not the least of which is that they are easily
damaged. Furthermore, wooden pallets readily absorb
moisture which leads to increased weight and often to
degradation of the timber.
Various metal pallets have been proposed but none has
achieved commercial success, mainly because of the bulk of
the metal pallet and/or its cost.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to
provide an improved pallet which i5 SO designed that it may
be constructed of lightweight material without sacrifice of
its load carrying capacity.
DISCLOSURE OF ~HE INVENTION
According to the invention there is provided a pallet
comprising a deck, a base, and a plurality of bearers there-
between, characterised in that each bearer is of an H-shape
having upper and lower pairs of leg portions above and below
an intermediate web, said leg portions being inclined at an
oblique angle to the intermediate web, and said upper legs
of each bearer being connected to the deck and the lower
legs of each bearer being connected to the base.
The invention also provides a pallet compriging a deck,
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a base and a plurality of bearers therebetween characterised
in that each bearer consists of a pair of U-shaped channels
each having a web portion, sloping leg portions each at an
oblique angle to the web portion and outwardly directed
flanges at the ~ree end of the leg portions, said channels
being connected together at their web portions with the
flanges of one channel being connected to the deck and the
flanges of the other channel being connected to the base.
Preferably, each bearer is formed by welding two
channel members together by their webs with the open face of
each channel being outwardly directed. The outwardly
directed flanges at the free end of the legs of the upper
channel are welded to the pallet deck and the flanges of the
lower channel are welded to the pallet base.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
In order that the invention may be more readily
understood and put into practical effect reference will now
be made to the accompaying drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a pallet according to
one embodiment of the invention,
Fig. 2 is a partially broken away end view of the
pallet shown in Fig. 1, taken in the direction of
arrow A,
Fig. 3 is an enlarged end view of a plank of the deck
of the pallet shown in Fig. 1,
Fig. 4 is an enlarged end view of a bearer of the
pallet shown in Fig. 1,
Fig. 5 is an end view of an alternative side channel
for the pallet shown in Fig. 1, and,
Fig. 6 is an end view of a protection cap for the
pallet shown in Fig 1,
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The pallet 10 shown in the drawings has a load-
supporting deck 11, a base 12 and three bearers 13 connected
between the deck 11 and the base 12. The deck 11 has four
planks 40 which are formed from a light gauge, high strength
steel sheet which is pressed into the corrugated shape shown
in Fig. 3. In this instance, the pitch (P) of each
corrugation is 75mm and the height of each corregation
is approximately 23mm. However, the corrugation pitch (P)
can be varied as desired to accommodate variations in pallet
size. The deck 11 could be of any desired shape of
configuration. For example, there could be more or less
planks 40 closer together or further apart, or the
deck 11 could be continuous.
As shown in Fig. 3, the plank 40 has top webs 14
and bottom webs 16 interconnected by leg portions 15.
Although the top web 14 of the plank 40 is shown as being
horizontal it may, of course be curved.
As indicated in Fig. 1, the ba~e 12 consists of a
central corrugated plank 20 and two side planks 21. Side
channels 22 are fitted along the outer extremities of the
outer planks 40 of the deck 11 and the side portions 21 of
the base 12. As can been seen in Fig. 2, each side channel
22 has a flange 41 by means of which the channel 22 is
welded to the bearers 13. The channels 22 have a bull-nose
portion 43 at their extremities as shown in Fig. 2. A side
strip ~ may be fitted over the ends of the planks of the
deck and the portions 20, 21 of the base 12 as indicated in
Fig. 1
_ 4 _
An enlarged view of the bearer 13 is shown in Fig. 4.
In this instance, the bearer 13 consists of an upper channel
30 and a lower channel 31 which are welded together at their
webs 32 with the open mouth of each channel extending
outwardly. Each channel 30, 31 has sloping lèg portions 33,
34 at an oblique angle (W) to the webs 32. At the free end
of the leg portions 33, 34 there are outwardly directed
flanges 35 by means of which the bearer 13 is welded to the
deck 11 and to the base 12. As indicated in Fig. 4, the
width of each flange 35 is approximately half that of the
web 32. In one embodiment of the invention the web 32 is
effectively 27mm wide, the leg portions 33, 34 effectively
47mm wide and the flanges 35 effectively 15mm wide.
The choice of the angle (W) of the leg portions 33, 34
lS the web is a compromise between the optimum angle for each
of the loads to which a pallet may be subjected. In the
case of a load uniformly distributed across the deck 11, the
optimum angle ~W) is zcro - that is the leg portions 33, 34
should be vertical. In the case of bending arising from
point loads applied between the bearers 13, the optimum
angle (W) is zero, however, the width of the web 32 is
somewhat critical. In the case of shear (ie: a load is
applied along the deck 11 and along the base 12, but in
opposite directions, the optimum angle (W) is 30.
Taking all these factors into account, and preferred
angle (W) is 15, however, angles between zero and 30 will
suffice in certain circumstances. Thus, the angle between
the leg portions and the intermediate web may be from 90 to
120 with 105 being preferred.
The side channel shown in Fig. 5 is substantially
similar to that shown in Fig. 2 except that the bull-nose
42a has an arcuate configuration.
An advantage of the construction of a pallet according
the invention is that the pallet may be adapted to conform
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to relevant Standards. Furthermore, the optimum choice of
the angle between the leg and the web of each channel of the
bearer and the choice of an appropriate high strength
material leads to a pallet of unique lightness and strength.
Various modifications may be made in details of design
and construction without departing from the scope and ambit
of the invention. For example, a closure plate 50 may be
welded across the ends of each bearer 13 as shown in Fig 1
The closure plate 50 has a central portion 51 having side
flanges 52 that are welded to the leg portions 33, 34 of the
bearers 13. End caps 53, 54 engage over and are welded to
the side channels 27 of the deck 11 and base 12.
