Shipping pallet and/or deck useful for such

Abstract

A pallet 1 for carrying a load and be lifted by tines of a forklift is disclosed. The pallet 1 comprises a planar deck 10 for receiving a load thereon and a chassis below the deck for supporting the deck. The chassis comprises a plurality of hollow beams 112 of constant quadrilateral cross section in a grid formation to act in bending to assist in pallet load support. The beams 112 span parallel to the plane of the deck 10 and each oriented with vertical sidewalls facing perpendicular to the plane of the deck 10 and horizontal sidewalls facing parallel to the plane of the deck 10. At each intersection of two beams of the grid a first of the two beams has both of its vertical sidewalls removed to allow a second of the two beams to pass through the first beam.

1 . A pallet for carrying a load and is able to be lifted by tines of a fork lift, the pallet comprising a planar deck for receiving a load thereon and a chassis below the deck for supporting the deck, the chassis comprising a plurality of hollow beams of constant quadrilateral cross section in a grid formation to act in bending to assist in pallet load support, the beams spanning parallel to the plane of the deck and each oriented with vertical side walls facing perpendicular to the plane of the deck and horizontal side walls facing parallel to the plane of the deck,
 wherein at intersections of two beams of the grid a first of said two beams has both of its vertical sidewalls removed to allow a second of said two beams to pass through the first beam.   
     
     
         2 . The pallet as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the beam with the sidewalls removed at the intersection has at least some of its bottom horizontal sidewall continuous over the intersection and is parallel and adjacent, and touches the bottom horizontal sidewall of the beam that passes through the first mentioned beam. 
     
     
         3 . The pallet as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the beam with the sidewalls removed at the intersection has at least some of its top horizontal side wall continuous over the intersection and is parallel and adjacent, and touches the top horizontal side wall of the beam that passes through the first mentioned beam. 
     
     
         4 . The pallet as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the beam that passes through the first mentioned beam has no cut-outs across of adjacent the intersection. 
     
     
         5 . The pallet as claimed in  claim 1  the beam that passes through the first mentioned beam is of a constant cross section across and adjacent the intersection. 
     
     
         6 . The pallet as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the beam that passes through the first mentioned beam is welded to the first mentioned beam at regions where sidewalls of the two beams are adjacent each other. 
     
     
         7 . The pallet as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the pallet is a shipping pallet. 
     
     
         8 . The pallet as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the grid is provided of at least two first set of said beams extending between a first pair of opposed sides of the deck and at least two second set of said beams extending between a second pair of opposed sides of the deck. 
     
     
         9 . The pallet as claimed in  claim 8 , wherein at least one of the first and second set of beams define a bottom portion of the deck at where the tines of the forklift is able to engage to lift the pallet. 
     
     
         10 . The pallet as claimed in  claim 1  wherein a bottom of at least one of the beams is provided with at least one of (a) an engineered profile (b) a double wall of said sheet material. 
     
     
         11 . The pallet as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein the engineered profile and/or the double wall of said sheet material is provided in a manner to increase bend resistance at the bottom of the beam. 
     
     
         12 . The pallet as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein the engineered profile and/or the double wall of said sheet material is provided in a manner to increase second moment of inertia at the bottom of the beam. 
     
     
         13 . The pallet as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein the beams of at least one of the first and second set of beams are quadrilateral in cross section and the engineered profile is a flange of said sheet metal extending into the interior or the beam. 
     
     
         14 . The pallet as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein the beams comprise of both a single ply of said sheet material wall construction and double ply of said sheet material wall construction. 
     
     
         15 . A pallet for carrying a load and is able to be lifted by tines of a forklift, the pallet comprising a planar deck for receiving the load thereon and a chassis below the deck for supporting the deck, the deck having a top portion for supporting the load and a bottom portion opposite the top portion, at least four sides, the at least four sides comprising a first pair of opposed sides and a second pair of opposed sides, the chassis being in a grid formation and comprising a first set of at least two spaced apart and parallel beams extending between the first pair of opposed sides of the deck but spaced apart from the second pair of opposed sides of the deck, and a second set of at least two spaced and parallel beams extending between the second pair of opposed sides of the deck but spaced apart from the first pair of opposed sides of the deck,
 wherein the first set of beams are orthogonal to the second set of beams,   wherein at each intersection of two beams of the grid a first of said two beam has a notch or a slot to allow a second beams to pass through the first beam.   
     
     
         16 . The pallet as claimed in  claim 15 , wherein the beams are hollow beams of constant quadrilateral cross section, the beams spanning parallel to the plane of the deck and each oriented with vertical sidewalls facing perpendicular to the plane of the deck and horizontal sidewalls facing parallel to the plane of the deck. 
     
     
         17 . The pallet as claimed in  claim 15  wherein the notch or the slot is formed by removing both the vertical sidewalls of the said first beam. 
     
     
         18 . The pallet as claimed in  claim 15  wherein the slot is formed by removing both of its vertical sidewalls removed and one of the horizontal sidewalls of said first beam, one of the horizontal sidewalls being proximal to the deck. 
     
     
         19 . A single deck pallet comprising:
 a deck having a top portion for supporting a load and a bottom portion opposite the top portion, at least four sides, the at least four sides comprising a first pair of opposed sides and a second pair of opposed sides, the bottom portion comprising a chassis, the chassis comprising a plurality of orthogonal hollow beams of constant quadrilateral cross section in a grid formation to act in bending to assist in pallet load support, the beams spanning parallel to the plane of the deck and each oriented with vertical sidewalls facing perpendicular to the plane of the deck and horizontal sidewalls facing parallel to the plane of the deck,   wherein at intersections of two beams of the grid a first of said two beams has both of its vertical sidewalls removed to allow a second of said two beams to pass through the first beam.   
     
     
         20 . The pallet of  claim 19 , wherein the grid formation is provided of at least two first set of said beams extending between the first pair of opposed sides of the deck and at least two second set of said beams extending between a second pair of opposed sides of the deck.