Wood and plastic pallet

A pallet comprising:

• a) a twin sheet thermoformed upper deck, having a first thermoplastic sheet fused to a second thermoplastic sheet at a plurality of pinch points;
• b) a wooden lower deck comprised of laterally extending stringer boards and longitudinally extending tie boards which abut one another at a plurality of joints;
• c) a plurality of plastic connector blocks engaged between the upper deck and the lower deck, wherein a connector block extends across each joint;
• d) fasteners which extend through the upper deck, the connector blocks, and the lower deck boards, wherein at least two fasteners extend through each connector block, such that a fastener extends through each board adjacent a lower deck joint to fasten the stringer boards and the tie boards into a deck.

A pallet comprising:

• a) an upper wooden deck;
• b) a lower wooden deck;
• c) a plurality of plastic spacer blocks positioned between the upper deck and the lower deck, and engaged with the upper deck and the lower deck to space the upper deck a desired distance from the lower deck, wherein at least one of said plurality of blocks has portions defining at least two vertically extending sockets;
• and
• d) a plurality of bolts which pass through the sockets to join the plastic spacer blocks to the upper and lower decks, wherein the upper deck is comprised of wooden stringers which overlie the sockets in the plastic spacer and wooden slats running approximately perpendicular to the stringers, wherein at least one slat overlies sockets in the plastic spacer blocks, the upper deck slats and stringers having portions defining holes which correspond to the sockets in the spacer blocks, the bolts passing through the holes in the slats and stringers and the sockets in the spacer blocks thereby joining the upper deck to the spacer blocks, and wherein the bottom deck is comprised of bottom stringers and tie boards and wherein the bottom stringers and the tie boards underlie portions of the spacer blocks, the bottom stringers and tie boards having portions defining bolt holes, said portions being aligned with sockets in the plastic spacer blocks, and wherein the bottom stringers and the tie boards are joined to the plastic spacer blocks by the bolts passing through the bolt holes such that the bottom stringer bolt holes do not overlap the bottom tie board bolt holes.

A pallet comprising:

• a) an upper load-supporting deck;
• b) a lower wooden deck having bottom non-overlapping stringer boards and tie boards which abut one another;
• c) a plurality of plastic blocks positioned between the upper deck and the lower deck, and engaged with the upper deck and the lower deck to space the upper deck a desired distance from the lower deck, wherein a plurality of blocks have portions defining at least two vertically extending sockets, wherein a block is positioned above a joint formed between a lower deck stringer board and tie board;
• and
• d) a plurality of fasteners which extend through the block sockets and join the upper deck with the lower deck and position the plastic spacers therebetween, wherein the fasteners mechanically connect the lower deck stringer boards and tie boards to form the lower deck, the fasteners joining the stringer boards and tie boards to the plastic blocks and thus joining the boards to each other.

A pallet comprising:

• a) an upper load-supporting deck;
• b) a lower wooden deck having bottom stringer boards and tie boards;
• c) a plurality of plastic spacer blocks joining the upper deck and the lower deck in spaced relation, wherein the plastic spacer blocks have portions forming two or more bolt holes in a substantially vertical web;
• and
• d) a plurality of fasteners which join the upper deck with the lower deck and position the plastic spacers therebetween, wherein the fasteners mechanically connect the lower deck stringer boards and tie boards to form the lower deck, the fasteners joining the stringer boards and tie boards to the plastic spacers and thus joining the boards to each other, and wherein the fasteners are bolts which join the upper and lower decks and pass through the bolt holes and are thus held in fixed relation by the joining web, mechanically locking the lower deck stringers and tie members in fixed relation.