U.S. patent application number 11/306003 was filed with the patent office on 2007-06-14 for pallet assembly.
This patent application is currently assigned to GLOBAL PLASTIC INDUSTRIES CO., LTD.. Invention is credited to Ming-Che Wu.
Application Number | 20070131148 11/306003 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38138008 |
Filed Date | 2007-06-14 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070131148 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wu; Ming-Che |
June 14, 2007 |
PALLET ASSEMBLY
Abstract
A pallet assembly is composed of multiple pallet pieces and
multiple wedging elements. Each pallet piece has four corners with
four individual legs and multiples engaging holes defined on sides
of the pallet piece. Each leg is rectangular in transversal
cross-section and selectively has a mortise or a tenon to
detachably and engages with other corresponding leg on an adjacent
stacked pallet piece in the pallet assembly. Moreover, each wedging
element is clamped between two adjacent juxtaposed pallet pieces to
widen the pallet assembly. Thereby, the pallet assembly is
versatile in changing sizes, easy to be assembled and disassembled,
stable in use and convenient in storage.
Inventors: |
Wu; Ming-Che; (Putze City,
TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
NIKOLAI & MERSEREAU, P.A.
900 SECOND AVENUE SOUTH
SUITE 820
MINNEAPOLIS
MN
55402
US
|
Assignee: |
GLOBAL PLASTIC INDUSTRIES CO.,
LTD.
No. 2, 1st St. Putze Industrial Park Chiayi Hsien
Putze City
TW
|
Family ID: |
38138008 |
Appl. No.: |
11/306003 |
Filed: |
December 14, 2005 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
108/57.25 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65D 2519/00034
20130101; B65D 2519/00293 20130101; B65D 2519/00273 20130101; B65D
2519/00572 20130101; B65D 2519/00756 20130101; B65D 19/0018
20130101; B65D 2519/00318 20130101; B65D 2519/00288 20130101; B65D
2519/00069 20130101; B65D 2519/00338 20130101; B65D 2519/00363
20130101; B65D 2519/00268 20130101; B65D 2519/00308 20130101; B65D
2519/00323 20130101; B65D 2519/00104 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
108/057.25 |
International
Class: |
B65D 19/38 20060101
B65D019/38 |
Claims
1. A pallet assembly comprising: multiple pallet pieces, each
pallet piece being a rectangular board with four sides and four
corners and having four legs respectively formed at the four
corners and multiple engaging holes defined on each of the four
sides; and multiple wedging elements attached between adjacent two
of the multiple pallet pieces, each wedging element having two ends
respectively engaged the engaging holes on the adjacent two of the
multiple pallet pieces.
2. The pallet assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein each leg of
the pallet piece is composed of four blocks each having a distal
end and a mortise or a tenon alternatively formed at the distal
end.
3. The pallet assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein each wedging
element is a double-headed stick and has a middle flange and two
resilient forks with enlarged heads to firmly combine with the
corresponding engaging holes on the adjacent two of the multiple
pallet pieces.
4. The pallet assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein each wedging
element is a double-headed stick and has a middle flange and two
resilient forks with enlarged heads to firmly combine with the
corresponding engaging holes on the adjacent two of the multiple
pallet pieces.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a pallet assembly, and more
particularly to a pallet assembly comprising multiple pallet pieces
and multiple wedging elements easily and selectively combined
together to make the pallet assembly stable in use, flexible in
size and convenient in storage.
[0003] 2. Description of Related Art
[0004] Pallet is used to provide transportation convenience for
stacked goods on the pallet by spacing the stacked goods from the
ground so that a lift truck can rapidly move the stacked goods with
the pallet together, especially when the stacked goods are in huge
numbers. For industrial operation, the pallet must be changeable in
sizes and easily assembled in practice.
[0005] With regard to structure of a conventional pallet commonly
seen in present, the conventional pallet has a one-pieced structure
with a regular size after the conventional pallet is manufactured
so that area for stacking goods on an individual conventional
pallet is unchangeable. Therefore, the individual conventional
pallet can not be enlarged to provide more area for stacking more
goods. On the contrary, it is impossible to be diminished to
correspond with insufficient storage room. Therefore, the
conventional one-pieced pallet having the regular size is not
flexible in use.
[0006] Additionally, another conventional pallet has a combination
structure composed of multiple units that are modified for
improvement of manufacturing process not for size variation.
Therefore, use efficiency of the conventional pallet having the
combination structure is the same with the former one and the same
drawback has not been overcome yet.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The main objective of the present invention is to provide a
pallet assembly that comprises multiple pallet pieces and multiple
wedging elements to selectively and conveniently combine together
to perform different variations and then to correspond different
requirements for use.
[0008] To achieve the foregoing objective, the pallet assembly
comprises:
[0009] multiple pallet pieces, each pallet piece being a
rectangular board with four sides and four corners and having four
legs individually formed at the four corners and multiple engaging
holes defined on each of the four sides; and
[0010] multiple wedging elements attached between adjacent two of
the multiple pallet pieces, each wedging element having two ends
respectively combined to aligned two of the multiple engaging holes
on the adjacent two of the multiple pallet pieces.
[0011] Further benefits and advantages of the present invention
will become apparent after a careful reading of the detailed
description with appropriate reference to the accompanying
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pallet piece in the pallet
assembly in accordance with the present invention;
[0013] FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view showing an engagement
of the pallet piece and a wedging element;
[0014] FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view showing an engagement
of two adjacent pallet pieces stacked in the pallet assembly;
[0015] FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an engagement of two
adjacent pallet pieces juxtaposed in the pallet assembly;
[0016] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the pallet assembly in
accordance with the present invention, wherein the pallet assembly
is shaped in a square; and
[0017] FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional side view showing the
engagement of two adjacent stacked pallet pieces in the pallet
assembly.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0018] A pallet assembly in accordance with the present invention
comprises multiple pallet pieces and wedging elements. Each pallet
piece has four corners with legs and multiples engaging holes
defined on sides of the pallet piece. Each leg is rectangular in
transversal cross-section and selectively has at least one mortise
or at least one tenon to detachably and engages with other
corresponding leg on an adjacent pallet piece stacked thereto in
the pallet assembly. Moreover, each wedging element is clamped
between two adjacent juxtaposed pallet pieces to widen the pallet
assembly. Thereby, the pallet assembly is versatile in changing
sizes, easy to be assembled and disassembled, stable in use, and
convenient in storage.
[0019] With reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 5, a pallet assembly 10 in
accordance with the present invention comprises multiple pallet
pieces 1 and multiple wedging elements 2.
[0020] Each pallet piece 1 is a rectangular board with four legs
111 respectively formed at fours corners and has multiple engaging
holes 12 evenly defined on sides of the rectangular board. Each leg
11 on the pallet piece 1 is composed of four blocks each having a
distal end and a tenon 111 or a mortise 112 alternatively formed at
the distal end (as shown in FIG. 3).
[0021] Each wedging element 2 is a double-headed stick having a
middle flange 21 and two resilient forks with enlarged heads 22
that make the wedging element 2 secured on the pallet piece 1 when
the resilient forks respectively penetrate two corresponding
engaging holes 12 on two adjacent juxtaposed pallet pieces 1.
Moreover, the flange 21 keeps the wedging element 2 from entirely
passing through the engaging holes and positions the pallets pieces
1 with the enlarged head 22 after combining. Therefore, the
combined juxtaposed pallet pieces are kept firm together without
separation by simply using the engaging element 2. As shown in FIG.
5, the pallet assembly 10 can be widened to carry more goods
thereon.
[0022] By having the structure of the pallet piece 1, the goods
enable to be located on a top face of the pallet piece 1 because
the pallet piece 1 has multiple legs 11 on a bottom face. Two
pallet pieces 1 are juxtaposed closely and combined together by
inserting two wedging elements 2 into the corresponding engaging
holes 12 at adjacent sides on the two pallet pieces 1 (as shown in
FIG. 4) to elongate the pallet assembly. Moreover, four pallet
pieces 1 can be arranged into a square to enlarge the pallet
assembly 10 and combined by the wedging elements 2 in the same
manners to accord with different lift trucks. Selectively, multiple
pallet pieces 1 can be arranged into an L-shape to accord to
irregular storage space.
[0023] Additionally, the pallet assembly can be varied in height as
shown in FIGS. 3 and 6. The legs 11 having mortises and tenons on
one pallet piece 1 correspondingly combine other legs 11 on an
adjacent pallet piece 1 by matching the mortises and the tenons as
shown in FIG. 6. Therefore, the pallet assembly performs a
double-sided structure and is heightened (thickened) to become
strengthened to stably support heavy stacked goods. When the ground
is muddy or uneven, the pallet assembly has the double-sided
structure can provide more abutting area (more than three-fourths
or two-thirds of the face) on a lower pallet piece to contact and
firmly grip the ground so that stability of the pallet assembly is
improved.
[0024] According to above description, the pallet assembly in the
present invention has the following advantages:
[0025] 1. The pallet pieces 1 are conveniently and flexibly
assembled together in different shapes to make the pallet assembly
versatile to correspond with different requirements of the stacked
goods or storage room.
[0026] 2. When the pallet pieces 1 are combined with legs to legs,
the pallet assembly 10 can be strengthened to stably support heavy
goods stacked thereon.
[0027] 3. Each pallet piece 1 of the pallet assembly is much
smaller than the conventional pallet having the one-pieced
structure. When the pallet piece downsizes, module cost for
manufacturing the pallet piece is significantly diminished since
the size of the module positively relates to the module cost.
Moreover, the diminished pallet piece 1 is easy to be transported
or stored and flexible in use.
[0028] Although this invention has been described in its preferred
form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that
the present invention of the preferred form has been made only by
way of example and that numerous changes in the details of
construction and the combination and arrangement of parts any be
resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention.
* * * * *