PALLET FOR STORING AND TRANSPORTING GOODS

PALETTE DE STOCKAGE ET DE TRANSPORT DE MARCHANDISES

English Abstract

A pallet for storing and transporting goods by a load platform supported by a plurality of parallel supports and formed of sheet metal, as are these latter, characterised in that: - the supports (4) are tubular - the supports and at least those platform portions which connect the supports together are formed from a single metal sheet, - the lower surface of the platform comprises a ribbed panel (6) - cut-out holes (24) are provided in the side walls of the tubular supports for the passage of a fork of a lifting means, each cut-out hole being bounded at least upperly by a strip of the support side wall, - the lower surface of the platform (2) is provided with reinforcement elements positioned between said supports and said platform at said cut-out holes.

French Abstract

L'invention concerne une palette de stockage et de transport de marchandises par une plate-forme de chargement supportée par une pluralité de supports parallèles et formée d'une tôle, tout comme le sont ces derniers, caractérisée en ce que : les supports (4) sont tubulaires, les supports et au moins ces parties de plate-forme qui raccordent les supports ensemble sont formés à partir d'une seule tôle, la surface inférieure de la plate-forme comporte un panneau nervuré (6), des trous découpés (24) sont mis en AEuvre dans les parois latérales des supports tubulaires pour le passage d'une fourche d'un moyen de levage, chaque trou découpé étant entouré au moins vers le haut d'une bande de la paroi latérale de support, la surface inférieure de la plate-forme (2) est mise en AEuvre avec des éléments de renfort positionnés entre lesdits supports et ladite plate-forme au niveau desdits trous découpés.

Claims

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CLAIMS
1. A pallet for storing and transporting goods by a load platform supported
by a plurality of parallel supports and formed of sheet metal, as are these
latter, characterised in that:
- the supports (4) are tubular
- the supports and at least those platform portions which connect the
supports together are formed from a single metal sheet,
- the lower surface of the platform comprises a ribbed panel (6)
- cut-out holes (24) are provided in the side walls of the tubular supports
for
the passage of a fork of a lifting means, each cut-out hole being bounded at
least upperly by a strip of the support side wall,
- the lower surface of the platform (2) is provided with reinforcement
elements positioned between said supports and said platform at said cut-
out holes.
2. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that a ribbed metal sheet
(40) is applied to the load platform.
3. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the supports are
provided on their base wall (20) with continuous parallel ribs (18).
4. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the supports are
provided with a plurality of internal baffles.
5. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the supports are
provided in the upper edge of their lateral walls with recesses (22)
complementary to the ribs (8) of the ribbed panel (6) applied to the platform.
6. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the supports also
comprise continuous parallel grooves (16) on their lateral walls (14).

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7. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that each cut-out is also
bounded lowerly by a strip of the support lateral wall.
8. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that those platform parts
corresponding to the supports consist of plugs (10) fixed by their
longitudinal
edges to the lateral walls of the corresponding supports.
9. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that anti-slip material is
applied to the outer surface of the base wall of the supports
10. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the outer surface of
the base wall of the supports is rough.
11. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the upper surface of
the platform is rough.
12. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that said reinforcement
elements are formed by bending inwards those sheet metal portions
corresponding to the cut-out holes of each tubular support, which are bent
towards the interior of the support until they adhere to the lower surface of
the
platform.
13. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that said reinforcement
elements consist of the edges of the cut-out holes, bent into the interior of
the
support.
14. A pallet as claimed in claim 3, characterised in that the crest of the
ribs
provided in the base wall of the supports lies at a level not less than that
of
the lower edge of the cut-out holes.
15. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that said reinforcement
elements are formed from the edges of the cut-out holes, which are drawn,
bent over and fixed to the lower surface of the platform.

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16. A pallet as claimed in claim 8, characterised in that the plugs are
riveted to the supports.
17. A pallet as claimed in claim 8, characterised in that the plugs are
welded to the supports.
18. A pallet as claimed in claim 8, characterised in that the plugs are
crimped to the tubular supports.
19. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the upper surface of
the platform is provided with a plurality of container centering projections.
20. A pallet as claimed in claim 19, characterised in that said centering
projections consist of ribs disposed in a circular pattern.
21. A pallet as claimed in claim 19, characterised in that said centering
projections consist of ribs disposed to form squares.
22. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that said tubular
supports are provided with terminal baffles (36) consisting of portions of the
constituent sheet metal of the platform and/or of the support, which are bent
towards the interior of the support.
23. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the base wall of the
tubular supports is provided with reinforcement elements at said cut-out
holes.
24. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the ends of the base
wall of the supports are provided with a bevel.
25. A pallet as claimed in claim 3, characterised by comprising a connection
element between the lower edge of each cut-out hole and the facing rib
provided in the base wall of the tubular support.
26. A pallet as claimed in claim 7, characterised in that the connection
elements provided at each cut-out hole consist of portions of sheet metal

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corresponding to the cut-out holes, which are drawn and bent over against
said base wall of said tubular supports.
27. A pallet as claimed in claim 4, characterised in that the internal baffles
consist of sheet metal elements fixed to the inner walls of said tubular
supports.
28. A pallet as claimed in claim 4, characterised in that said internal
baffles
consist at least partly of sheet metal elements (30) bent into several parts
along vertical lines.
29. A pallet as claimed in claim 4, characterised in that the internal baffles
of the supports are provided in their horizontal edges with recesses (32, 34)
for passage of the ribs (8) present in the ribbed panel (6) of the platform
and
of the ribs (18) present in the base wall (20) of each support.
30. A pallet as claimed in claim 29, characterised in that the recesses
provided in the lower horizontal edge of the internal baffles of the supports
have greater dimensions than the corresponding ribs of the supports.
31. A pallet as claimed in claim 19, characterised in that said projections
consist of deep-drawn parts of the platform.
32. A pallet as claimed in claim 19, characterised in that said projections
are formed separately from the platform and are applied to it.
33. A pallet as claimed in claim 1, characterised by comprising
reinforcement ties (38) connecting adjacent tubular supports together.
34. A pallet as claimed in claim 33, characterised in that said reinforcement
ties (38) are applied to the base wall of said tubular supports.
35. A pallet as claimed in claim 33, characterised in that said reinforcement
ties (38) are permanently applied to said tubular supports.

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36. A pallet as claimed in claim 33, characterised in that said reinforcement
ties (38) are removably applied to said tubular supports.

Description

CA 02654131 2008-12-02
WO 2007/141154 PCT/EP2007/055142
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PALLET FOR STORING AND TRANSPORTING GOODS
The present invention relates to a pallet for storing and transporting
goods.
Wooden pallets are known for storing and transporting goods. They
present a series of drawbacks, and in particular:
- they have a large weight (25-26 kg if the wood is dry), often comparable
with the weight of the goods placed on them,
- they require the use of costly equipment for their construction, resulting
in
an added cost to the transported product.
An object of the invention is to eliminate these drawbacks by providing
a pallet for storing and transporting goods which is of low weight.
Another object of the invention is to provide a pallet which can be
produced in a simple and automated manner, using traditional methods and
plants.
Another object of the invention is to provide a pallet which presents
characteristics suitable for international transport and conforms to the FAO
Standard, even without accompanying documentation.
Another object of the invention is to provide a pallet which can be
formed in accordance with patterns corresponding to different requirements.
All these and further objects which will be apparent from the ensuing
description are attained according to the invention by the pallet defined in
claim 1.
The present invention is described in detail hereinafter in terms of a
preferred embodiment and some variants thereof with reference to the
accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pallet according to the invention,

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Figure 2 is a perspective view thereof from below,
Figure 3 is an interrupted detailed view of the support,
Figure 4 is a cross-section through a support portion,
Figure 5 shows a first variant thereof in the same view as Figure 1,
Figure 6 shows a second variant thereof in the same view as Figure 1, and
Figure 7 shows the lower part of the platform in a further variant thereof.
As can be seen from the figures, the pallet of the invention is formed
from a single piece of sheet metal and comprises substantially a load platform
2 supported by three tubular supports 4 of U cross-section disposed parallel
to
each other along the longitudinal edges and along the centre line of the
platform 2.
The platform 2 comprises, applied to its lower surface, a metal sheet 6
containing a plurality of continuous parallel grooves 8 substantially of V
cross-
section with their axis perpendicular to the axis of the supports 4.
The upper surface of the platform is made rough or provided with a
plurality of centering ribs or projections (not shown in the drawings)
disposed
in a circular or square pattern. They can be obtained by drawing the sheet
metal forming the platform or be formed separately and applied thereto.
The invention also comprises plugs 10 insertable into the cavity of the
supports and fixed by their longitudinal edges to the walls of the
corresponding supports, to form parts of the platform.
The side walls 14 of each support 4 comprise continuous parallel
grooves 16 performing a stiffening function. A similar stiffening function is
performed by ribs 18 provided on the base 20 of the support, the lower
surface of which is covered with anti-slip material or is made rough.

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The upper edge of the side walls 14 of each support 4 comprises V-
shaped recesses 22, complementary to the ribs 8 of the ribbed panel of the
platform 2. In a variant, not shown in the drawings, both ends of the base 20
of each support comprise a bevel.
The side walls 14 of the tubular supports 4 comprise cut-out holes 24
for engagement by the prongs of a lifting fork. The cut-out holes 24 generally
have a height less than the height of the side wall 14 of the support 4, i.e.
each cut-out hole 24 is bounded lowerly and upperly by a strip of the side
wall
14 of the support. In addition, in order to facilitate fork insertion, the
lower
edge 26 of each cut-out hole lies at a level slightly lower than the crests of
the
ribs 18 provided on the base 20 of each support 4. Again to facilitate fork
insertion, the lower edge of each cut-out hole and the crest of those ribs 18
closest to it are connected together by an inclined surface 28 preferably
obtained by bending a strip of the sheet metal portion corresponding to the
cut-out hole.
As generally each cut-out hole 24 is preferably obtained by cutting the
sheet metal forming the side wall of the support 4, the cut sheet metal
portion,
instead of being completely removed, is preferably bent upwards through 90
and fixed to the lower surface of the platform 2, to form a reinforcement
element for the platform at its most highly stressed parts.
Further reinforcement elements comprise profiled plates 30 inserted
into the tubular supports 4 at those portions not comprising the cut-out
holes.
These reinforcement elements are fixed to the side walls 14 and to the base
20 of the respective supports 4, and to the platform 2.
These reinforcements are made of sheet metal bent several times in
order to involve a certain length of the support and are provided in both

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horizontal edges with recesses 32 and 34 complementary to the ribs 8 of the
sheet metal and to the ribs 18 of the base 20 of the respective support 4. The
recesses 34 preferably have larger dimensions than the corresponding ribs 18
to allow passage of liquids accidentally spilled and/or used to wash the
pallet.
Further reinforcement elements comprise terminal plugs 36 applied to
the ends of each support and preferably consisting of portions of the sheet
metal of the platform and/or support bent towards the interior of the support.
In the embodiment shown in Figure 6, a ribbed metal sheet 40 is
applied to the upper surface of the platform with its ribs 42 parallel to the
axis
of the grooves 8.
To further stiffen the structure of the pallet of the invention, adjacent
supports 4 can also be connected together at floor level by ties 34
permanently or removably applied between the facing side walls 14 of
adjacent supports 4 (see Figure 7).
The pallet of the invention is constructed by bending and profiling a
sheet metal strip to form the platform and the three supports in which the
plugs 10 are then applied by traditional seam-joining, welding, riveting and
clinching. The ribbed metal sheet 6 and the sheet 40 are then applied to the
upper and lower surface of the platform.
The pallet (platform plus supports) can also be formed directly by
suitable bending and profiling of the metal sheet.
From the aforegoing it is apparent that the pallet of the invention
presents numerous advantages, namely:
- it is of lower weight (less than 9 kg) for equal performance (static
capacity
and dynamic capacity),

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- it can be easily produced by known machines and techniques (drawing
presses, bending machines, profiling machines),
- it has the same dimensions as wooden pallets and can hence be used for
the same purposes,
- it can also be used as a removable floor to be maintained on a previously
erected frame,
- it can be engaged and lifted as required, by forks inserted below the
platform both parallel and perpendicular to the axis of the supports.

Representative Drawing