The present invention relates to a pallet of the type which provides a platform for stacking goods which may then be lifted using a fork-lift truck.

Conventionally, pallets are made of timber. There are many types but the so-called ^* four-way' pallet (i.e. a pallet which may be engaged by a fork-lift truck from four directions) comprises upper and lower parallel boards formed from planks of timber with corner blocks and central blocks between the boards and spaced across the board area to provide support when the pallet is loaded. The spaces between the corner and centre blocks provide openings for access by the forks of a fork-lift truck so that the loaded pallet can readily be moved.

However, conventional pallets are expensive because of the amount of timber used and the labour costs necessary for assembling the large number of component parts.

It would therefore be desirable to provide a pallet which has fewer component parts and is formed from cheaper materials than the prior art timber pallets but which has similar strength, is readily moveable using a fork-lift truck and can be placed on racks of all sizes.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a pallet comprising a deck having foot means secured to its underside at or immediately adjacent each of its corners wherein each foot means has a length longer than its width and the length extends at an acute angle to the adjacent peripheral edges of the deck.

The length of each foot means is preferably the maximum length of the foot means and the width of each foot means is preferably the maximum width of the foot means which extends at 90° to its length.

In one embodiment the deck is a one piece high density particle board.

Alternatively, the deck can be formed from conventional timber planks. In another embodiment the deck is formed from a polymeric or plastics material.

Preferably the angle of the length of each foot means to the respective edges of the deck is such that the pallet can be lifted by a fork-lift truck having a tine on either side of a foot means.

Typically the length of each foot means is angled to one peripheral edge of the deck at an angle within the range of 10 to 45 degrees.

For additional support, the pallet can include a central block secured to the underside of the deck.

In the first and second embodiments the deck is rectangular and the length of each foot means extends diagonally.

Optionally, strip-like baseboards are provided secured to the underside of the foot means and extending between a pair of foot means at diagonally opposite corners.

In order to strengthen the deck, stringers can be secured to the underside of the deck, between the foot means and the deck, and extending between a pair of foot means at diagonally opposite corners.

In the preferred embodiments, each foot means is a single block having a chamfered or tapered end.

Alternatively, each foot means may comprise two or more blocks.

Further features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and accompanying claims.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in

which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pallet forming a first embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the underside of the pallet of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an end view of the pallet of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a plan view of the underside of a pallet forming a second embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 is an exploded view of the foot means of the embodiment of Figure 4,

Figure 6 shows the foot means of Figure 5 attached to the underside of the pallet, and

Figure 7 is a plan view of a corner of the underside of a pallet forming a third embodiment of the present invention.

Figures 1 to 3 show a pallet 1 having a rectangular deck 3 formed from chipboard of a suitable thickness and hence strength to carry the desired weight. In the embodiment the board is water-repellent and is 15mra thick and measures lm x 1.2m. The skilled person will appreciate that it is possible to use other high-density particle board to form the deck 3 as a one-piece unit, or to use conventional timber planks to form the deck 3.

On the underside of the deck 3, feet 5 are arranged to provide support for the pallet 1 when loaded with goods. Each foot 5 is formed from a hexagonal shape wooden block having a length of more than treble its width. In the embodiment the blocks are formed from timber having a height of 95mm, a width of 95mm and a length (measured from vertex to vertex) of 300ram. The feet are arranged at the -corners of the deck 3

A with their respective longitudinal axes (i.e. lengths) lying along the respective diagonal of the rectangular deck 3.

A central rectangular timber block 7 of the same height (95_ιm) as the blocks is provided at the centre of the underside of the deck 3 so that its sides lie in line with the longitudinal sides of the hexagonal feet 5. Optional diagonally arranged stringers 11 are provided on the underside of the deck between the deck 3 and the feet 5 to provide additional strength to the pallet. In the embodiment, the pallet 1 is believed to be capable of supporting loads of up to 1.5 tonnes.

It will be noted that the pallet does not, in most cases, require conventional base boards and because of the one-piece deck 3 and limited number of supporting blocks, the pallet 1 is economical to manufacture since it uses few parts which may be quickly and simply assembled.

The one-piece chipboard deck 3 has the advantage that its smooth upper surface prevents damage to the load, and because of its low moisture content products which may be damaged by moisture, such as paper, can be transported on pallet 1 without damage.

The shape and arrangement of the supporting feet 5 is an important feature of the present invention.

In particular, the location of the feet at the corners of the deck enables access by a fork-lift truck from the four sides of the pallet as in conventional four-way entry timber pallets. Furthermore, because the feet are long and narrow and angled to the sides of the pallet, entry by a fork-lift truck is possible from the corners of the pallet. Thus, a fork-lift truck can approach a corner of the pallet with a fork either side of the corner foot 5 and enter underneath the pallet with the forks substantially parallel to the longitudinal sides of the corner foot 5. The hexagonal shape of the feet 5 is designed to guide the lifting forks into position either side of the corner foot. Thus,

if the pallet is approached from a corner, the corner foot 5 will deflect the lifting fork into a position parallel to its sides.

The length and angle of the corner feet on the pallet has further advantages in enabling the pallet to be readily placed on beam racking of a variety of sizes. This is because the feet span a substantial distance along the length/width of the pallet 1. The feet 5 must be placed on the beams of the racking so that a space is formed beneath the deck 3 for fork access. Thus, referring to Figure 3, the pallets can be racked end-on having a spacing of between X and Y as illustrated in Figure 3. It will be appreciated that the pallets can similarly be racked side-on on racking having a similarly wide range of spacings.

Furthermore, it will be appreciated that this arrangement of feet means that the pallet can be racked without the need for baseboards. However, baseboards can be provided with these pallets and when provided it is preferred to provide stringer-shaped baseboards which extend diagonally on the underside of the deck between diagonally opposite corner feet 5.

It will be understood that the same advantages could be obtained by using several spaced blocks to form each corner foot. The additional labour costs for assembling the extra blocks would be compensated for by the reduction in material quantity.

Figure 4 shows a pallet forming a second embodiment of the present invention in which features corresponding to the features of the first embodiment have been given like reference numerals.

In this embodiment, the pallet 1 has a rectangular deck 3 formed from a plastics material. The skilled person will appreciate that the deck can be formed of any suitable polymeric material as is well known in the art.

The deck 3 has four generally rectangular s ^" haped feet 5 on its

underside to provide support for the pallet when loaded. The feet 5 are located at the corners of the deck with their respective lengths lying along the respective diagonal of the deck in the same way as the feet of the first embodiment. Thus the arrangement of the feet in this embodiment provides the same advantages as those described in relation to the first embodiment. In this embodiment the ends of the feet 5 are chamfere .

As is known in the art, the plastics deck 3 is moulded in a ribbed or reticular structure so as to provide a sufficiently rigid platform to support the load and prevent flexure and bowing of the deck whilst at the same time using a minimum quantity of plastics material.

In addition, extra support may be required (to avoid 'point loading' problems associated with stacking loaded pallets) on the underside of the deck. Such support could be provided in the form of a central transverse support extending parallel to the sides of the deck. • The skilled person will understand that a further central support could be provided extending perpendicular to the first support so as to form a cross-shaped support on the underside of the deck.

Alternatively, extra support could be provided by additional blocks located centrally between the corner feet, and adjacent the sides of the deck, on the underside of the deck.

The feet 5 are removably secured to the underside of the deck 3 as shown in Figures 5 and 6. The feet 5 comprise moulded reticular plastics blocks 5a which have plugs 17 which push fit into complementary sockets 19 moulded within the underside of the deck 3. A resilient latch arrangement 21 secures the feet on the underside of the deck. It will be understood that any method of releasably fastening the feet 5 to the deck 3 may be used and the illustrated method is merely exemplary. The feet 5 additionally each have a cover 5b of a hard wearing plastics or other material which can be releasably fastened over the blocks 5a (in the same way-as the blocks 5a are

fastened to the deck 3) to protect the feet from wear. It is envisaged that the number of socket mouldings could be provided at each corner on the underside of the deck so that the feet could be secured with their respective lengths one of a number of different angles relative to a side of the deck. For instance the feet could be arranged at one of 30", 45° and 60° to a side of the deck.

The position the pallet of the second embodiment would take on racking of the two conventional spacings is illustrated in figure 4 in dashed 1ines.

An advantage of the feet 5 being removable from the deck is that they can be replaced if damaged. The feet need not be plastics but it is economical to use plastics since the feet contain relatively little material. The upper surface of the deck may be provided with a smooth cover which may be permanently or releasably secured onto the deck.

Figure 7 shows a modified version of the pallet of Figure 4 which forms a third embodiment of the present invention. In this third embodiment, the pallet 1 has a rectangular deck 3 (only one corner of the deck is shown), formed from a plastics or polymeric material, which has diagonally extending ribs 25 on its underside. These ribs 25 provide the pallet 1 with additional torsional strength.

A foot 5 is integrally moulded to the underside of the deck 3 at each of its corners to provide support for the loaded pallet. The feet 5 are of a reticular structure which matches the ribs 25 on the underside of the deck. Thus, as shown in Figure 7, the ribs of each foot 5 align with the ribs of the deck, thereby providing additional strength.

The foot 5 shown in Figure 7 is heptagonal with its two parallel longest sides 27a and 27d, lying parallel to the diagonally extending ribs 25. The remaining sides 27b,c,e,f and g conform with the recticular structure of the deck'3 or are otherwise shaped to maximise the strength of the pallet whilst keeping the volume of material used

in the foot to a minimum.

Accordingly, each foot 5 extends generally diagonally along the deck 3 and thus can be racked on beam racking of different spacing (as shown by beam racking indicated in dotted outline). Also the pallet can be entered from eight directions (the four sides and the four corners) as with the previously described embodiments. This embodiment also has the advantages described in relation to the first and second embodiments as well as using a minimum amount of material to reduce costs whilst maximising the strength of the pallet.

Pallets made according to the described embodiments are 'nestable' so that they can be stacked one upwards, one downwards with the boards slightly out of line so that the space between the stacked pallets is minimised. In this way, it is possible to stack a far larger quantity of pallets in a given space such as in a vehicle for transport of the unloaded pallets.

It will be appreciated that the longest sides of the foot need not be precisely parallel to each other as shown in the diagrams and the number of sides of the foot could be more or less than the number used in the embodiments.

Various modifications may be made to the described embodiment and it is intended to include all such variations and modifications that fall within the scope of the accompanying claims.