Slipsheet pallet tool and method

#This invention relates to a tool and method for permitting a materials handling lift truck having standard load handling forks mounted on the front thereof to pick up and handle a load of individual articles stacked atop a slipsheet pallet while the pallet and load are resting directly on a floor with no intervening spacing structure separating the bottom of the slipsheet from the floor.

#Slipsheet pallets have gained susbtantial favor in the materials handling industry in recent years because of their economy, lightness and lack of bulk as opposed to wood or metal pallets. The slipsheet pallet normally comprises a thick but flexible sheet of fibrous material having an upwardly bent tab at an edge thereof. Such slipsheets have been designed to be handled by specially equipped forklift trucks having a so-called "push-pull" attachment mounted on the front thereof, such attachment having a remotely controlled retractible clamp for grasping the upturned slipsheet tab and pulling the sheet and thus the load rearwardly and upwardly onto the forwardly extending forks of the truck. Discharge of the load from the forks is accomplished by an extensible push frame which engages the rear of the load and pushes the load and slipsheet forwardly off of the forks when the load is to be deposited.

#Such special "push-pull" attachments are sufficiently expensive, and substract sufficiently from the load-carrying capacity of the truck by adding weight to the forward end thereof, that the large majority of forklift trucks presently in operation are not so equipped, but rather are merely equipped with a pair of standard forwardly extending load handling forks (sometimes referred to as "load arms"). When such trucks attempt to handle loads of articles stacked atop slipsheets without a wood or metal pallet being place beneath the slipsheet to provide a space between the floor and the slipsheet into which the forks may be inserted, the truck operator finds that he is unable to insert his forks beneath the load between the slipsheet and the floor and is therefore unable to lift and carry the load. This problem has limited the usage of slipsheet pallets and impaired the space, weight and cost savings which might otherwise be obtainable in the materials handling industry by a more widespread use of such slipsheets.

#FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the slipsheet pallet tool of the present invention.

#FIG. 2 is a top view of the tool.

#FIG. 3 is a rear view of the tool.

#With reference to the figures, the tool includes an elongate laterally extending frame comprising a steel angle member 10, having a pair of forwardly projecting plates 12 and 14 respectively welded to its lower edge at laterally spaced positions, the upper and lower major surfaces of the plates extending laterally with respect to the frame. Each plate has a lateral leading edge 12a, 14a respectively tapered to a sharp edge substantially coincident with the bottom surface of the plate, as best seen in FIG. 4 with respect to edge 12a. The edges 12a and 14a are of a laterally rounded or arcuate configuration as depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2 to facilitate insertion beneath a slipsheet, and may, but need not, extend completely along the lateral sides of the plates. Each plate projects approximately six to ten inches forwardly from the leading edge of the elongate angle member 10 and each is relatively thin, i.e. preferably no more than about one-quarter inch in thickness. The lateral width of each plate is preferably about ten inches so as to provide a relatively large upper supporting surface. The lateral center-to-center spacing between the respective plates 12 and 14 is a predetermined spacing coinciding with the center-to-center lateral spacing of the lift truck forks, preferably about 28 inches.

#The elongate frame 10 has a vertically oriented rear surface 10a extending upwardly from the level at which the plates 12 and 14 are attached to the bottom of the frame 10. Attached to this rear surface, at each end of the frame, is a respective handle 16, 18 by which a workman may grasp the tool and position it relative to a loaded slipsheet. At the top of the rear surface 10a is a rearwardly extending flange 20, which may be part of a smaller angle member which is welded to the rear surface 10a as shown in the figures. The rearwardly extending flange 20 projects about an inch rearwardly from the rear surface 10a.

#At the bottom edge of the rear surface 10a a pair of forwardly and downwardly inclined cam surfaces 22 and 24 respectively are provided, each being located directly behind and centered upon one of the forwardly projecting plates 12 and 14 so as to have the same center-to-center lateral spacing as the plates and lift truck forks. Each of these cam surfaces has a lateral width greater than the width of the lift truck fork to be used in conjunction with the device, the width of such fork normally being about four inches. For most usages the lateral width of each surface 22 and 24 is preferably about six inches. As seen in FIG. 4, each cam surface such as 22 extends downwardly from an upper level on the rear surface 10a of the frame 10 to a level coincident with the lower surface of a respective plate such as 12. The vertical distance between the upper and lower edges of the cam surface is preferably at least about one-half inch, but in any case should be greater than the thickness of the extreme tip of the lift truck fork to be used in conjunction with the tool so as to permit engagement of the top of the fork tip with the cam surface, as will be explained hereafter.