Rackable plastic pallet

A pallet comprising:

• an upper generally planar platform structure including an upper plastic housing defining an upper load receiving surface, upper metallic beams positioned within said upper plastic housing and extending generally parallel to said load receiving surface, and means rigidly securing said upper metallic beams to said upper plastic housing to preclude movement of the beam relative to the upper plastic housing;
• a lower generally planar base structure including a lower plastic housing defining a lower pallet support surface, lower metallic beams positioned within the lower plastic housing and extending generally parallel to said pallet support surface, and means rigidly securing said lower metallic beams to said lower plastic housing;
• means rigidly interconnecting said upper and lower plastic housings;
• the interconnected housings defining plastic struts extending between said platform structure and said base structure and coacting with said structures to define tunnels therebetween for the entry of material handling equipment;
• said struts being defined by legs extending downwardly from said upper housing connected to legs extending upwardly from said lower housing;
• said platform structure comprising a twin sheet structure including first and second plastic sheets coacting to define a hollow area therebetween,
• said upper beams being positioned in said platform structure hollow area,
• said base structure comprising a twin sheet structure including third and fourth plastic sheets defining a hollow area therebetween;
• said lower beams being positioned in said base structure hollow area.

A pallet comprising:

• a plastic upper structure including a planar platform section defining an upwardly facing load receiving surface and a plurality of legs extending downwardly from said platform section to define tunnels therebetween for receipt of the forks of a forklift truck;
• a plastic lower structure extending beneath said plastic upper structure, fused to the bottoms of said legs, and defining a passageway within said plastic lower structure;
• a rigid elongated beam member positioned within said passageway with its longitudinal surfaces extending parallel to said load receiving surface;
• and
• locking means engaging the longitudinally extending surfaces of the beam and operative to rigidly secure said longitudinally extending surfaces of said beam member to said plastic lower structure.

A pallet comprising:

• a plastic upper structure defining a planar platform section defining an upwardly facing load receiving surface and a plurality of legs arrayed in rows extending downwardly from said platform section with the bottoms of said rows defining downwardly facing attachment surface means;
• a plastic base structure positioned beneath said upper structure and including upwardly facing attachment surface means confronting said downwardly facing attachment surface means and a flat lower surface spaced below said upwardly facing attachment surface means and adapted to support the pallet on a support surface, said base structure defining a hollow therewithin and being fused to said plastic upper structure at the confronting interface of said attachment surface means to form a unitary plastic pallet with the fused structures coacting to define tunnels therebetween for the entry of material handing equipment;
• a beam member positioned in said hollow and extending generally parallel to said load receiving surface;
• and
• aperture means comprising openings extending through said base structure to allow elements of material handling equipment positioned in said tunnels to access the support surface to facilitate lifting of the pallet.

A pallet comprising:

• a main body plastic structure defining a planar platform section defining an upwardly facing load receiving surface defined by a first upper plastic sheet and downwardly facing attachment surface means defined by a second lower plastic sheet;
• a base plastic structure positioned beneath said platform section, secured to said attachment surface means of said main body plastic structure, and having a configuration generally corresponding to the configuration of said main body plastic structure;
• and
• a plurality of metallic elongated tubular beam members incorporated in said base plastic structure with their longitudinal surfaces extending parallel to said load receiving surface;
• and
• locking means engaging the longitudinally extending surfaces of the beam and operative to rigidly secure said longitudinally extending surface of said beam member to said base plastic structure.

A pallet comprising an upper plastic platform structure and a lower base structure positioned beneath and secured to said upper plastic structure to form the pallet and coacting with the platform structure to define a plurality of tunnels for the entry of material handling equipment, characterized in that:

• the base structure comprises a lower base plastic sheet having a planar main body portion and upwardly extending hollow leg portions, and an upper base plastic sheet having a planar main body portion and upwardly extending hollow leg portions nestingly receiving the respective hollow leg portions of the lower base sheet and fused at their interface with the lower base sheet leg portions to form the base structure;
• the platform structure comprises an upper platform plastic sheet having a planar main body portion and downwardly extending hollow leg portions and a lower platform plastic sheet having a planar main body portion and downwardly extending hollow leg portions nestingly receiving the respective downwardly extending hollow leg portions of the upper platform plastic sheet and fused at their interface with the lower platform sheet leg portions to form the platform structure;
• the upper faces of the leg portions of the upper base plastic sheet are fused to the lower faces of the leg portions of the lower platform plastic sheet to form the pallet;
• the leg portions of said lower base sheet have a height greater than the height of the leg portions of said upper base sheet so that, with the leg portions of the lower base sheet nested in the leg portions of the upper base sheet, a space is defined between the main body portions of the upper and lower base sheet;
• and
• a plurality of beam members are positioned in said space.

A method of forming a plastic pallet comprising:

• forming first and second plastic sheets each having a main body generally planar portion and downwardly extending hollow leg portions;
• nesting the hollow leg portions of said first sheet in the hollow leg portions of said second sheet and fusing said first and second sheets together at the leg portion interfaces to form a twin sheet upper plastic structure having a planar platform section defined by the main body portions of said first and second sheets and legs extending downwardly from the platform section;
• forming third and fourth plastic sheets each having a main body planar portion and upwardly extending hollow leg portions;
• nesting the hollow leg portions of said fourth sheet in the hollow leg portions of said third sheet and fusing said third and fourth sheets together at the leg portion interfaces to form a twin sheet lower plastic structure having a planar base section defined by the main body portions of said third and fourth sheets and legs extending upwardly from the base section;
• and
• fusing the lower ends of the downwardly extending legs of the upper structure to the upper ends of the upwardly extending legs of the lower structure to form the pallet.

A plastic pallet including a generally planar polygonal platform structure defining a load receiving surface and a plurality of leg structures extending downwardly from each corner of the platform structure, characterized in that the leg structures at each corner comprising a cluster of closely grouped but separate downwardly extending hollow legs defining a cluster of closely grouped but separate openings in said load receiving surface, said pallet further includes a generally planar polygonal base structure defining a pallet support surface and a plurality of leg structures extending upwardly from each corner of the base structure with each leg structure comprising a cluster of closely grouped but separate upwardly extending hollow legs corresponding in number and distribution to the downwardly extending legs at the corresponding corner of said platform structure and defining a plurality of closely grouped but separate openings in said pallet support surface, a plurality of passageways are defined within said platform structure extending parallel to said load receiving surface, a plurality of rigid beams are respectively received in said passageways, a plurality of lower passageways are defined in said base structure extending generally parallel to the load receiving surface, a plurality of rigid beams are respectively received in said base structure passageways, and each of said passageways extends between adjacent legs of said leg clusters.

A pallet comprising an upper plastic platform structure and a lower base structure positioned beneath and secured to said upper plastic structure to form the pallet and coacting with the platform structure to define a plurality of tunnels for the entry of material handling equipment, characterized in that:

• the base structure comprises a lower plastic sheet having a planar main body portion and upwardly extending hollow leg portions and an upper sheet having a planar main body portion and upwardly extending hollow leg portions nestingly receiving the respective hollow leg portions of the lower sheet, fused at their interface with the lower sheet leg portions to form the base structure, and having upper faces fused to said upper plastic platform structure to form the pallet;
• the leg portions of said lower sheet have a height greater than the height of the leg portions of said upper sheet so that, with the leg portions of the lower sheet nested in the leg portions of the upper sheet, a space is defined between the main body portions of the upper and lower sheets;
• a plurality of beam members are positioned in said space;
• said upper and lower sheets, when fused together coact to define a plurality of passageways within said space;
• said beams are respectively positioned in said passageways;
• each sheet includes a cluster of closely spaced leg portions proximate each corner of the sheet with the leg portions of the respective leg portion cluster on the upper sheet nestingly receiving a cluster of leg portions on the lower sheet so that the lower sections of the leg portions of the leg portion clusters of the lower sheet traverse the space between the main body portions of the upper and lower sheets;
• and
• the passageways in which said beams are positioned extend between the lower sections of adjacent lower sheet leg portions of a respective leg portion cluster.

A plastic pallet including a generally planar polygonal platform structure defining a load receiving surface and a plurality of leg structures extending downwardly from each corner of the platform structure, characterized in that the leg structures at each corner comprise a cluster of closely grouped but separate downwardly extending hollow legs defining a cluster of closely grouped but separate openings in said load receiving surface and said pallet further includes a generally planar polygonal base structure defining a pallet support surface and a plurality of leg structures extending upwardly from each corner of the base structure with each leg structure comprising a cluster of closely grouped but separate upwardly extending hollow legs corresponding in number and distribution to the downwardly extending legs at the corresponding corner of said platform structure, respectively fused at their upper ends to the lower ends of the downwardly extending legs, and defining a plurality of closely grouped but separate openings in said pallet support surface, said platform structure being a twin sheet structure including an upper sheet defining said load receiving surface and a lower sheet positioned beneath said upper sheet with said upper and lower sheets each defining a cluster of closely grouped but separately downwardly extending upwardly opening hollow legs proximate each corner thereof with the legs of the upper sheet nested within the legs of the lower sheet to form the downwardly extending legs.

A plastic pallet including a generally planar polygonal platform structure defining a load receiving surface and a plurality of leg structures extending downwardly from each corner of the platform structure, characterized in that the leg structures at each corner comprise a cluster of closely grouped but separate downwardly extending hollow legs defining a cluster of closely grouped but separate openings in said load receiving surface, and said pallet further includes a generally planar polygonal base structure defining a pallet support surface and a plurality of leg structures extending upwardly from each corner of the base structure with each leg structure comprising a cluster of closely grouped but separate upwardly extending hollow legs corresponding in number and distribution to the downwardly extending legs at the corresponding corner of said platform structure, respectively fused at their upper ends to the lower ends of the downwardly extending legs, and defining a plurality of closely grouped but separate openings in said pallet support surface, said platform structure being a twin sheet structure including a first sheet defining said load receiving surface and a second sheet positioned below said first sheet, said first and second sheets each including a cluster of closely grouped but separately downwardly extending upwardly opening legs proximate each corner thereof, the legs of said first sheet being respectively nested in the legs of said second sheet to define said downwardly extending hollow legs, said base structure comprising a twin sheet structure including a third sheet and a fourth sheet, said fourth sheet defining said pallet support surface, each of said third and fourth sheets including a cluster of closely grouped but separate upwardly extending downwardly opening hollow legs proximate each corner thereof, and the legs of the fourth being nested respectively in the legs of the third sheet to form said upwardly extending legs.

A plastic pallet including a generally planar polygonal platform structure defining a load receiving surface and a plurality of leg structures extending downwardly from each corner of the platform structure, characterized in that the leg structures at each corner comprise a cluster of closely grouped but separate downwardly extending hollow legs defining a cluster of closely grouped but separate openings in said load receiving surface, and said pallet further includes a generally planar polygonal base structure defining a pallet support surface and a plurality of leg structures extending upwardly from each corner of the base structure with each leg structure comprising a cluster of closely grouped but separate upwardly extending hollow legs corresponding in number and distribution to the downwardly extending legs at the corresponding corner of said platform structure, respectively fused at their upper ends to the lower ends of the downwardly extending legs, and defining a plurality of closely grouped but separate openings in said pallet support surface, a plurality of passageways being defined within said platform structure extending parallel to said load receiving surface, a plurality of rigid beams being respectively received in said passageways, a plurality of lower passageways being defined in said base structure extending generally parallel to the load receiving surface, and a plurality of rigid beams being respectively received in said base structure passageways.