The present invention relates to a freight pallet of the type which exhibits at least two, and preferably three mutually parallel ribs on the underside thereof, said ribs elevating the freight-supporting upper surface of the pallet high enough above the foundation on which it rests to provide room for the fork of a fork lift truck to be inserted under¬ neath the pallet.

The freight pallet of the invention is primarily intended to be used as a disposable pallet for so-called light merchandise. Such pallets are finding ever wider application, as it is becoming more and more common to load items of house¬ hold merchandise on disposable pallets and transport the goods on these pallets to the retailing outlet. In some supermarket the merchandise even remains on the disposable pallet for disp in the store, with the customer then taking the merchandise directly from the pallet. .-

_ It is obvious that a very important goal in the manu¬ facture of such pallets is as low a production cost as possible Unless the pallet itself constitutes only a very small percenta of the price of the merchandise, it will not be feasible to transport the goods on a disposable pallet. One inexpensive pallet of this type which is very common consists of a thick plate of corrugated cardboard with three ribs of porous plastic affixed to the underside. Despite this simple construction and the relatively inexpensive materials used, the price of this pallet lies at the upper limit of the permissible for a dispos¬ able pallet. In addition, the plastic generates a noxious and for some types of plastic, dangerous, smoke when destroyed.

The object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a freight pallet, in particular a disposable pallet, which is simple and inexpensive to produce and which can be destroyed

without generating noxious fumes and smoke.

This is obtained according to the invention with a freight pallet of the type defined above, which is characterize in that the pallet is formed of a flat plate of lightweight, rigid material which is reinforced on both sides with a high tensile strength, easily bent foil, there being fashioned in both sides of said plate V-shaped, parallel grooves having a 90° or approximately 9O ⁰ angle of ^' opening whose apex extends all the way or almost all the way to the inner surface of the foil on the opposite side of the plate, and that each rib is formed by bending parts of the plate 90° or approximately 90 from the plane of the plate at the V-shaped grooves, there being provided for the formation of each rib two upwardly-facin grooves for folding of the sides of the rib in relation to the bottom of the rib, and two grooves open toward the other side of the plate for folding of the sides of the rib in relation to the upper surface of the pallet.

The pallet thus consists of a uniform, plate-shaped material which can be produced very inexpensively. The above- mentioned V-shaped grooves are milled or sawed out of the plate material, and the plate can then quite simply be folded uo form a pallet having, for example, three parallel ribs.

A practical embodiment of the invention is character¬ ized in that the angle of the grooves is somewhat less than 90° Thus, when the plate is folded to form the ribs of the pallet, the angle between the sides and bottom of the ribs or legs will be greater than 90 , and the legs, seen in cross section,, will have a downwardly tapering shape. This shape strengthens the legs against laterally-directed forces. Imagine, for example, a pallet placed on a truck bed with the direction of its legs running crosswise to the longitudinal direction of the loading bed. If the truck brakes suddenly, the goods on the pallet will impart a relatively strong laterally-directed force, a parallel displacement force, against the plate parts forming th legs of the pallet. However, if the sides of the legs form an oblique angle, as in this embodiment, one obtains a componen which is directed to oppose a parallel displacement of the plat parts in the legs.

An embodiment of the pallet according to the invention is characterized in that a flat plate is attached to the upper plate of the pallet. If a box or carton is used for packaging the merchandise, the bottom of this can be fastened directly to the upper side of the top side of the pallet, for example, by means of staples.

An auxiliary device for use in the production of the pallet is characterized by a flat surface having a plurality of parallel channels, corresponding to the ribs of the pallet. The device is preferably made of a hard material, for example, steel, such that it resists penetration by staoles and is suited fo bending; them. In production, then, the plate with the grooves is quite simply laid parallel to the channels in the auxiliary device, with the strips of plate which are to form the bottom of the ribs lying immediately above the channels in the device. The application of light pressure will then cause the pallet to be formed. The upper plate, or a cardboard box, can be stapled to the pallet in this position, the staoles becoming bent against the hard surface of the auxiliary device.

The advantage of the freight pallet of the invention is that it is very inexpensive, easy to use, and can be destroyed without evolving noxious smoke and the like.

The invention will be elucidated in greater detail in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Figure 1 shows the pallet blank seen from the top,

Figure 2 shows the pallet blank seen from the edge,.

Figure 3 shows a section of the pallet blank, containing one groove,

Figure shows a corner formed by folding the section shown in Figure 3-

Figure 5 shows a finished, folded pallet in perspective,

Figure 6 shows a device for use in the production of the pallet, together with a finished pallet, and

Figure 7 gfhΦWfa & section through one leg e & allet according to a practical embodiment of the invention.

The blank 1 for the pallet according to the invention

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consists of a plate 2 of a ligh ⁴ tweight, inexpensi•ve materi•a ^* l,, preferably porous wood fiber plate, having a thickness of, for example, 12 mm. The plate is coated on both sides with a high tensile strength coating 3,4. A plurality of V-shaped grooves

5 and 6 are cut into both sides of the plate. The grooves have an angle of opening of 0° and extend from one flat side of the plate all the way to the inside surface of the coating on the other side. Between these grooves, a number of parallel strips are formed, which are hinged to the adjacent strips by means of the high tensile strength coating. The strips in Figure 1, starting from the left-hand side of the drawing, are: edge strip 7 _> side strip 8, bottom strip 9 _> side strip 10, top plate strip 11, side strip 12, bottom strip 1 , side strip 14., top strip 15, side strip 16, bottom strip 17, side strip 18 and edge strip 19. Each of the three ribs 20, 21, 22 (Figure 5) thus consists of three strips, for example, strips 3,9 _> 10.

Figure 6 shows how the pallet is folded by means of an auxiliary device 24 made of a solid material, for example, steel. The device consists of a plate with three parallel channels 5J 26, 27 _> whose dimensions and the distance they are spaced apart correspond to the finished ribs 21, 22, 23 of the pallet. The plate 1 is placed on top of the device 24 and the bottom strips 9,13,17 pressed down into the channels 25,26,27, thus forming the finished pallet, as shown in Figure 6. The pallet can subsequently be stapled to a plate (not shown), or the bottom 28 of a carton or the like 29 can be fastened by means of staples 30 to the upper plate parts 7,11,15,19 on the pallet. _χ Figure 7 shows an embodiment in which the legs have a downwardly tapering shape, i.e., the grooves 5 , 6 have _. n angle o less than 90 - such that the angle between the bottom part and the rib sides 8 and 10 is greater than 9O ⁰ . The same is true for the angle between the rib sides 8,10 and the side flap 7 a d the intermediate part 11. In this way, one obtains greater stability against lateral forces which might arise, for example, when a loaded pallet rests on a truck bed with its legs directed transversely to the direction of driving, and the truck brakes suddenly. The mass of the goods will then transmit a lateral

force against the parts forming the legs of the pallet. This will be effectively counteracted by means of the embodiment shown in Figure. " .