US 6,352,039 B1Granted

Plastic pallet

AssigneeThe Geon Company

InventorsMartin E. Woods, Craig L. Shoemaker, David W. Taylor, Patrick C. Booth

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A plastic pallet (10) having good load bearing construction and held together without mechanical fasteners, includes deck boards (30). The deck boards include ridges (24) on an upper side (32) and a lower side (34) thereof. Deck boards are positioned transversely on stringers (12) and joined thereto by either an adhesive or thermoplastic welding processes. The stringers and deck boards may be provided with end caps (26, 42) which seal interior areas of the stringers and deck boards and prevent tearing thereof. The stringers and deck boards have interior reinforcement ribs (22,40). The cross sectional profiles of the stringers, deck boards, and end caps provide a cost effective and light weight pallet. Openings which extend between the stringers allow for either two way fork entry and/or four way fork entry. The stringers and deck boards provide flexibility in constructing pallets of various designs. The plastic pallet preferably is highly durable and fully recyclable.

Claims22

Dependent claims

A plastic pallet comprising:

a plurality of spaced apart stringer blocks, each of the stringer blocks being formed from a thermoplastic material, each of the stringer blocks in cross section having a pair of stringer side walls connected by a stringer top wall and a stringer bottom wall, each of the stringer blocks having a stringer interior area defined by the stringer side walls and the stringer top and stringer bottom wall, each of the stringer blocks further having at least one reinforcement rib situated in the stringer interior area thereof;
a plurality of first stringer boards formed from a thermoplastic material in supporting connection with each of the stringer blocks;
and
a plurality of spaced apart deck boards, each of the deck boards being formed from a thermoplastic material, each of the deck boards in cross section having a board upper side and a board lower side connected with board side walls, each of the deck boards further having a board interior area defined by the board upper side and lower side and the board side walls, each of the deck boards further having at least one reinforcement rib situated in the board interior area thereof, at least one of the deck boards having ridges on at least one of the board upper side and board lower sides thereof, the deck boards being positioned generally transversely relative to the first stringer boards with the board lower side of each of the deck boards being joined in fixed supporting connection with each of the first stringer boards.

1 more element

A plastic pallet constructed without mechanical fasteners, comprising:

a plurality of deck boards, each of the deck boards being formed from thermoplastic material, each of the deck boards in cross section having a board upper side and a board lower side connected by spaced board side walls, each of the deck boards further having a board interior area defined by the board upper side and the board lower side and the board side walls,
a plurality of spaced apart top stringer boards, each of the top stringer boards being formed from thermoplastic material, each of the top stringer boards having a top wall and a bottom wall,
a plurality of spaced apart stringer blocks, each of the stringer blocks being formed from thermoplastic material, each of the stringer blocks in cross section having a pair of spaced stringer block side walls connected by a stringer block top wall and a stringer block bottom wall, each of the stringer blocks having a stringer block interior area defined by the stringer block side walls and the stringer block top and stringer block bottom wall,
a plurality of spaced apart lower stringer boards, each of the lower stringer boards being formed from thermoplastic material, each of the lower stringer boards having a top wall and a bottom wall,
wherein the deck boards are joined in fixed engagement with the top wall of each of the top stringer boards at a plurality of upper joining locations, and wherein at the upper joining locations the deck board lower side and the stringer board top wall each include ridges thereon;
wherein each top stringer board is in supporting connection with plural stringer blocks at joining locations, and wherein at the joining locations the top stringer board bottom wall and the stringer block top wall each include ridges thereon,
wherein each lower stringer board is in supporting connection with plural stringer blocks at lower joining locations, and wherein at the lower joining locations the lower stringer board top wall and the stringer block bottom wall each include ridges thereon,
wherein the ridges facilitate engagement between the deck boards and top stringer boards and stringer blocks and lower stringer boards, and wherein the ridges include at least one of either a surface including generally pointed projections, a dimpled surface, a roughened surface, a wave-like shape surface, a surface having high friction coating, a sinusoidal shape surface, and a surface including a co-extruded layer of high friction material.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 09/803,138Filed 9 Mar 2001 · division
Priority: 1 Jul 1998
Granted: 5 Mar 2002
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification23 codes

B65D 19/0012
The base surface being made of a single element: forming a continuous plane contact surface
B65D 19/0091
The base surface being made of more than one element: forming a continuous plane contact surface
B65D 19/0095
Forming discontinuous or non-planar contact surfaces: and each contact surface having a stringer-like shape
B65D 2519/00034
For the load supporting surface: plastic