Ventilated pallet

Abstract

A pallet (10)for use in bearing a load from material requiring a circulation of air during storage or shipment thereof, includes a thermoformed plastic body (11) have a plurality of ventilation apertures (30,31) therethrough, and a plurality of strengthening grooves (32, 40, 50) integrally formed in the body (11) and juxtaposed to the ventilation apertures (30,31). In use, the pallet (10) may carry a container (14) thereon and the material is contained within the container (14). The container (14) includes at least two opposing walls (52) and at least one aperture (53) in each of two opposing walls (52). The pallet (10) includes a plurality of downwardly extending feet (10, 21, 22, 23) to raise the pallet (10). At least one of the apertures (53) of the container (14) generally aligns with at least one of the ventilation apertures (30, 31) of the pallet (10) when the container (14) is stacked on the pallet (10).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.