Foldable pallet with minimized use of material and having self-locking fasteners

A pallet which comprises:

• (a) a top sheet and a bottom sheet of material defining upper and lower column elements, respectively;
• the upper column elements being folded perpendicularly, prior to use, to the top sheet and extending downwardly therefrom;
• the lower column elements being folded perpendicularly, prior to use, to the bottom sheet and extending upwardly therefrom;
• each upper column element, in assembled relation, being disposed contiguous and side by side with one of the lower column elements;
• and
• (b) means for locking each contiguous pair of upper and lower column elements together, the locking means comprising at least one fastener, each fastener and one of the column elements forming a single, unitary piece.

A pallet assembly, which comprises:

• (a) upper and lower frame members having top and bottom sides, respectively, each of the top and bottom sides being compatible in footprint to the pallet assembly itself;
• (b) a plurality of upper and lower column elements, the upper column elements being fabricated as a single, unitary piece with the top side and being disposed perpendicularly thereto in assembled relation, the lower column elements being fabricated as a single, unitary piece with the bottom side and being disposed perpendicularly thereto in assembled relation;
• the upper and lower column elements being arrayed in contiguous pairs, each upper column element in such a pair being disposed side by side with a lower column element;
• and
• (c) means for locking each contiguous pair of upper and lower column elements together, the locking means including first and second arrow-shaped fasteners formed as unitary pieces with the upper and lower column elements, respectively;
• each fastener having a barbed head and a short shaft, the upper and lower column elements defining first and second slots for receiving the barbed heads of the second and first fasteners, respectively;
• each slot having approximately the same width as the shaft of the fastener whose barbed head the slot receives so that in each contiguous pair of upper and lower column elements, the barbed heads of the first and second fasteners anchored by their shafts to the upper and lower column elements, respectively, can be locked into slots defined by the lower and upper column elements, respectively, forming a rigid structure.