Pallet sled and delivery system
AssigneeRehrig Pacific Company
InventorsRobert Lee Martin, Jr., Jason Crawford Miller, Dane Gin Mun Kalinowski
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pallet sled includes a pair of tines extending forward from a base. A load wheel supports each of the pair of tines. The load wheels are each configured to move away from the respective tine to lift the respective tine upward relative to a support surface on which the load wheel is supported. A processor on the pallet sled records usage of the sled, such as lift cycles, location over time, battery condition, lift height, weight lifted, distance traveled, and the like. A communication circuit may be configured to send data from the pallet sled to a remote server. An identification reader may be configured to read an identification tag of an object supported on the pair of tines, such as an rfid tag on a pallet.
Claims28
A pallet sled comprising:
- a base;
- a pair of tines extending forward from the base;
- a load wheel supporting each of the pair of tines, the load wheels each configured to move away from the respective tine to lift the respective tine upward relative to a support surface;
- an rfid reader configured to read an rfid tag of a pallet on the tines of the pallet sled;
- a processor programmed to analyze the rfid tag of the pallet on the tines to determine if the pallet on the tines should be delivered;
- and
- a communication circuit configured to send data from the pallet sled to a remote server.
A delivery sled comprising:
- a base;
- a pair of tines extending forward from the base;
- a load wheel supporting each of the pair of tines, the load wheels each configured to move away from the respective tine to lift the respective tine upward relative to a support surface on which the load wheel is supported;
- an identification reader configured to read an identification tag of an object supported on the pair of tines;
- and
- a processor configured to determine if the object should be delivered based upon the identification tag read by the identification reader.
A method for operating a pallet sled including:
- a) bringing the pallet sled and a plurality of pallets to a first store in a truck, each of the plurality of pallets having at least one item stacked thereon;
- b) positioning at least one tine of the pallet sled below a first pallet of the plurality of pallets;
- c) lifting the at least one tine of the pallet sled to lift the first pallet;
- d) bringing the first pallet from the truck to the first store on the at least one tine of the pallet sled;
- e) lowering the at least one tine of the pallet sled in the store to lower the first pallet onto a floor in the store;
- f) unloading the at least one item on the first pallet in the store;
- g) lifting the first pallet with the at least one tine in the store;
- h) bringing the first pallet from the store to the truck;
- and
- i) a processor monitoring at least one of distance, weight, elapsed time, temperature, or cycles of the pallet sled during at least one of steps c) to h).
A pallet sled comprising:
- a base;
- a pair of tines extending forward from the base;
- a load wheel supporting each of the pair of tines, the load wheels each configured to move away from the respective tine to lift the respective tine upward relative to a support surface;
- and
- a processor recording data reflective of usage of the pallet sled, wherein the processor records cycles of the pair of tines being lifted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.