Pallets rails and methods for making same
AssigneeConitex-Sonoco, LLC
InventorDavid Wesley Monteith
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A pallet rail includes an elongate support box and a plurality of separately formed reinforcing tubes. The support box is formed from a paper blank that is folded along parallel fold lines. The reinforcing tubes are positioned within the support box to reinforce the box. Two side walls have arcuate corners to define two opposing longitudinal ends of the support box having curved lower profiles. Another pallet rail includes an elongate support box, an adjacent end wall, and a plurality of separately-formed reinforcing tubes.
Claims18
A pallet rail, two or more of which are usable in spaced-apart relation to support respective portions of a rigid load to thereby form a four-way pallet, comprising:
- (a) an elongate support box formed from a paper blank that is folded along four parallel fold lines to define a pair of laterally spaced-apart side walls, a bottom wall, a second bottom wall overlapping the bottom wall, and a vertically spaced-apart upper support wall;
- (b) a pair of die cut, tab-less, rectangular openings, disposed on each one of the pair of side walls, having a height that is equal to the height of the side wall and a width of sufficient size for a fork of a fork lift to enter, and where each one of the pair of die cut tab-less rectangular openings is manufactured via a die cutting process so that the rectangular opening is clean and devoid of any and all material from which the pallet rail is constructed protruding into the rectangular opening;
- (c) a pair of central alignment notches, visible from a front, a rear, a top, or a bottom view, for aligning the pallet rail under corresponding alignment notches of the rigid load, wherein one of the pair of central alignment notches is disposed on a longitudinal end of the upper support wall and the other of the pair of central alignment notches is disposed on an opposite longitudinal end of the upper support wall;
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- (d) a set of three or four separately-formed reinforcing tubes positioned within the support box in spaced apart relation along a length of the box between the bottom wall and the upper support wall to reinforce the box and define the distance of the upper support wall above the bottom wall, wherein each of the tubes is cylindrical around an axis that is perpendicular to the upper support wall and the bottom wall and is parallel to the side walls.
A pallet rail, two or more of which are usable in spaced-apart relation to support respective portions of a rigid load to thereby form a four-way pallet, comprising:
- (a) an elongate support box formed from a paper blank that is folded along four parallel fold lines to define a pair of laterally spaced-apart side walls, a bottom wall, a second bottom wall overlapping the bottom wall, and a vertically spaced-apart upper support wall;
- (b) a pair of clean, die cut, tab-less, rectangular openings, disposed on each one of the pair of side walls, having a height that is equal to the height of the side wall and a width of sufficient size for a fork of a fork lift to enter;
- (c) a first and a second central alignment notch, at least one of the notches visible from a front, or rear view, for aligning the pallet rail under corresponding alignment notches of the rigid load, wherein the first central alignment notch is disposed on a longitudinal end of the upper support wall and the second central alignment notch is disposed on an opposite longitudinal end of the upper support wall;
- (d) a set of no more than four separately-formed reinforcing tubes positioned within the support box, being cylindrical around an axis that is perpendicular to the upper support wall, and comprising
- (i) a first end tube positioned midway between a plane formed by the outer edges of two of clean, die cut, tab-less, rectangular openings disposed on opposite side walls and the plane formed by the outer edges of the end of the support box,
- (ii) a second tube positioned midway between a plane formed by the outer edges of the other two of the clean, die cut, tab-less, rectangular openings disposed on opposite side walls and the plane formed by the outer edges of the other end of the support box, and
- (iii) one or two central tubes positioned between the plane formed by the inner edges of the two clean, die cut, tab-less, rectangular openings disposed on opposite side walls and plane formed by the inner edges of the other of the two clean, die cut, tab-less, rectangular openings disposed on opposite side walls.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.