THE FIELD OF TECHNIQUE THE INVENTION RELATES TO

The subject invention, generally observed, appertains in the field of packaging products intended for preservation and transport of goods from manufacturers to users or consumers, closely observed it belongs to the field of light eco-packaging, made of recycled material, old paper or wooden cuttings, which is being used for transport and storage of consumer goods, and kept in warehouses of major manufacturers, stores and other retail facilities.

In accordance with the International Patent Classification (MKP, Intel ⁸ ), the subject of invention is classified and labeled with the basic classification symbol B65D 19/00, by which are defined pallets or similar platforms, with or without side walls, for carrying the cargo that will be raised or lowered, respectively the secondary classification symbols B65D 19/20 that include pallets completely or mostly made out of paper, i.e. B65D 19/22 which relates to rigid pallets without side walls.

TECHNICAL PROBLEM

Technical problem that will be solved with the subject invention consists of following: How to construct transport pallet made of recycled material, firstly made of old paper or wooden cuttings, with enough mechanical stability, intended for transportation and preservation of different consumer goods, that is stored in warehouses of major manufacturers, stores and other retail facilities, and especially is, because of decreased possibility of contamination, suitable for transport of goods of food and pharmaceutical industries, and also because of significantly reduced weight which represents the significant expenditure factor, recommendable for transport in the air traffic, so its application completely substitutes the use of standard wooden and plastic pallets, the preservation of which creates problems because of necessity of wide storage space, wherein the production according to the invention takes place through the simple and efficient technological procedure without fallout, so it represents the ecological product, because after its use the product returns to the cycle of production.

BACKGROUND ART

Upon the development of transport, especially the transportation packaging, and especially in accordance with the expressed needs for savings that, considering its mass use, significantly influence the business costs, there has been a concomitant development of products that are concerning the adequate transport and storage of all types of goods. Recognizing the effects of savings in transport, and thus increasing the profit, in the realization of invention ideas authors oriented toward finding the packaging which is the safest, most efficient, economical for producing, and which is made in accordance with increasingly stringent ecological requirements. In that sense, especially those inventions that relate to packaging made of recycled materials are significant, whose use will successfully solve the problem of substitution of pallets made of wood and plastic, that are problematic for several reasons: firstly ecological and especially spatial, because it request special places and conditions for their keeping, preserving and storing.

Upon reviewing the available documentation and technical literature in the subject field was noticed that in the invention documentation of our country there is no reports available to public, nor published applications, or invention records that relate to pallets made of recycled material.

In the reviewed invention documentation of other countries were found in some respect similar inventions, as following:

In the granted patent EP 995691 Bl, published on March 28, 2007 under name 'Pallet made of paper and the procedure of packaging load', was displayed pallet that has load part made of paper on which is placed the cargo with legs also made of paper, that are fixed for load part in such way to support and strengthen the load part when it is burdened with cargo. By reviewing this invention application, it can be seen large width of instructions positioned in the middle of the pallet that makes the loading part, and are formed with legs of the pallet, so it is the question of this pallet stability under heavy burden.

In the granted patent EP 2903 Bl published on January 11, 2017 under the name 'Ecological pallet', pallet that comprises two semicircular supporting structures, which are the shape of elongated arches with openings which are on equal distance on one side of each of mentioned semicircular ancillary structures, where the mentioned carrying constructions are similar and interconnected with fabric. It is quite clear that this pallet can only serve for transport of light goods and materials.

In the granted application EP 2051911 B1 published on October 12, 2011 the invention under the name 'Transport pallet and method of its application' was represented, that refers to the pallet which can be made, at least partly, out of paper and paper materials, wherein is made in such way for core of the pallet to represent the outline made of one or several layers of laminated fibers, hard enough to carry the predicted burden. The pallet contains four angular points of positioned legs between which can be inserted manipulative levers of the fork truck. Structure of the used recycled material is based on wavy glued cardboard, so this pallet can be recycled.

In the patent application EP 0741083 Al published on November 6, 1996 it was given the solution of the finding under the name 'Pallet for the transport of cargo'. Represented pallet consists of two layers of paper and/or pulp of the cellulose reject obtained though the specific procedure of cellulose pulp formation. The upper and lower layers are shaped longitudinally with lateral ribs facing the center of the pallet. The thickness of the ribs corresponds to the thickness of two layers of paper, while the height of ribs is double to four times larger than the thickness of ribs. Ribs are made in such way, for one layer ribs are diagonally sloping in relation to the ones in the other layer. The lower layer has supportive leg opened on the top, and the upper layer has the corresponding cuts. This pallet is also adequate only for transport of low weight cargo.

In the patent application ES 2129301 Al published on June 1, 1999 under the name 'Procedure for production of pallets made of the recycled paper cellulose that can be recycled and completely bio degraded, in different sizes and capacities of burden, and pallets made out of the means of this procedure. The emphasize is placed on the procedure of production, as the author notes, of completely ecological pallets, which is defined as the series of regular processes for obtaining of cellulose or pulp obtained out of the recycled paper or cardboard as the raw materials. Liquid foundation, according to this procedure, goes into the casting machine which with the help of different processes of vacuuming water, pressing/inflating fibers, injecting the currents of sprayed steam and hot air, crated completely moist pallet made of recycled paper cellulose, where the process ends after the phase of drying in which evaporates all the moisture contained therein. The pallet itself is made in such way to rely on nine symmetrically deployed legs which are mutually laterally and diagonally connected by reinforcing gutters which give it necessary solidity.

In the patent application WO 2010-086883 published on August 5, 2010 under the name ^' Reinforced pallet made of material that can be recycled ¹ was represented invention which relates to the pallet made of recycled paper or plastic material, of rectangular shape with surface for loading with reinforced counters that are spreading diagonally toward opposite angles. The counters in the adjacent corners have the orthogonal direction one toward another and can be assembled. The pallet is also reinforced with multiple cone legs that have lightly elongated shape, with fiat bottom and with the supportive side walls for reinforcement, which eases the stacking of empty pallets.

In the patent application WO 2005-120967 Al published on December 22, 2005 under the name’Pallet and procedure for its production’ it was represented the pallet and the procedure of its obtaining which consists of the pallet body, net for reinforcement of the pallet body and means for interconnection of the pallet body and the net. The pallet body and the net are being poured out of the mixture which consists of around 40-60 weight % of fibers mixture and around 15-45 weight % of adhesions, that are shaped in the mold cavities, after which they are being subjected to pressing under the pressure of around 435 to 870 psi. Molten product is being removed from the mold cavity after the mixture was shaped and subjected to drying and on the molten material it is placed the reinforcing net for achieving the requested consistence of the pallet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The essence of the invention is reflected in the constructive solution of the pallet made of the recycled material, respectively the recycled paper, i.e. the paper pulp, made in the form of rectangular plate on which there are equally deployed nine hollow legs of rectangular diameter with openings oriented on the upper side, and wherein interconnected by reinforcing counters made in the form of honey combs, by which it was obtained carrying pallet surface of extraordinary hardness so that it can withstand heavy loads, where the subject pallet is significantly lighter than wooden or plastic pallet that are today widely used. The essence of the invention also makes the fact that for obtaining the transportation pallets made of recycled material, as the basic raw material can he used the rejected wooden cuttings, especially when these pallets are predicted for transport of heavy weight.

The essence of the invention is the fact that the legs of the pallet are made in the form of hollow pyramids with derived reinforcing spacers on the sides which enable easy stacking of empty pallets while the pallets stacked this way occupy very small space.

The novelty of this invention reflects in the allocation of legs which ease the work of operators, because it enables equally easy approach to the leverages of the fork truck from the both longer and shorter side of the pallet.

Certainly it is a prominent feature of the pallet, according to the invention, that they are completely ecological, because they are made out of the ecological materials, and damaged pallets are easy to be recycled again, so while use and production there are no rejects and waste.

Beside the above mentioned, the subject invention has the following advantages in relation to the familiar technical solutions, of which the most important are:

- much shorter time of production;

- significantly less space for storage before recycling;

- by using the recycled raw materials forests will he saved significantly, respectively natural sources will be preserved which are being used in the wooden industry and along with it, pollution of environment will be decreased for 74%;

- technological procedure for production can he carried out in mobility so the equipment could be, %% here necessary, installed in places where it is expedient, i.e. where there are recycling raw materials;

- during the production of subject pallets, it is realized the saving of about 60% of the electrical energy and about 50% of water.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES AND DRAWINGS

With the goal of easier understanding of the invention, and because of representing how it can be realized in practice, the author, for the example, just refers to the attached drawings that relate to the subject application, whereby: - Figure 1. represents the axonometric appearance of the subject transportation pallet made of recycled material viewing from above,

- Figure 2. represents the axonometric appearance of the subject transportation pallet made of recycled material viewing from below,

- Figure 3. represents the appearance of the subject pallet viewing from the upper side,

- Figure 4. represents the appearance of the subject pallet viewing from the lower side,

- Figure 5. represents the appearance of the subject pallet viewing from the longer side,

- Figure 6. represents the appearance of the subject pallet in the intersection 1-1 viewing from the longer side,

- Figure 7. represents the appearance of the subject pallet in the intersection 2-2 viewing from the longer side,

- Figure 8. represents the appearance of the subject pallet viewing from the shorter side,

- Figure 9. represents the appearance of the subject pallet in the intersection 3-3 viewing from the shorter side,

- Figure 10. represents the schematic display of stacking the pallets,

- Figure 11. represents the schematic display of the technological procedure of the subject pallets production.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

By observing the images of the attached drawing it is easily perceived that the subject invention presents the transportation pallet made of recycled material, intended for preservation and transport of goods from the manufacturer to the users, respectively the consumers and besides that it serves for storing and for disposal of consumer goods which is kept in warehouses of large manufacturers, stores and other retail facilities.

According to the inventive idea based on the request that newly constructed pallet should be easy, firm, that when it is empty it can be easily stored in the small space and it can be made out of recycled materials, which would significantly lower the cost of production, made out of the biodegradable material i.e. paper pulp which is easily degradable in the nature, so it represents the ecological product, completely adjusted to the strictest regulations in this area.

Body 1 of the pallet is made in the shape of rectangular plate and on it there are equally deployed nine legs 2, 3 shapes of the truncated four sided hollow pyramids oriented in such way for their openings to be turned up, while their narrowed ends are closed with flat rectangular surfaces 4, 5 and on them the pallet is leaning to the foundation. By careful observation, it is easily perceived that the angular legs 2 and legs between them, along the shorter side of the pallet, are larger than legs 3 which are deployed symmetrically along the longer side of the pallet. Observed from figures 1 and 2, it is visible that legs 2, 3 are spaced from the edge of the body 1, which is significant because in that way circumferential surface 12 was formed, which significantly contributes to the larger consistence of the pallet. From these figures it is also easily perceived that on the plate of the body 1 of the pallet, on the inner side of the circumferential surface 12 it is made rectangular counter 6 which in the intersection has the appearance of the equally sided trapezoid with tighter side, observed aside, and oriented down. In the middle part of the plate of the body 1 by limited circumferential surface 12 it is produced reinforcing net made out of interconnected wider counters 6 and narrow counters 7. This net provides for the pallet necessary firmness and it is produced in the shape of honey combs, so the counters 6, 7 form eight mutually equal pentagonal surfaces 8, four smaller interconnected and along the longer side positioned modified pentagonal surfaces 9 and two oppositely along the shorter side of the pallet, mutually symmetrically trapezoid surfaces 10. Observed from the figure 2, it is visible that the bottom surface of the pallet is made out of the circumferential frame 11, and within it is deprived net reinforcement formed out of counters 13, 14 and leg 3, wherein these counters, deprived in the shape of honey combs are analog to the counters 6, 7, observed from the upper side of the pallet. Legs 3, deployed by shorter sides of the body 1 of the pallets are mutually spaced in such way for them to enable easy approach to the levers of the fork truck on both sides of the pallet, which significantly ease the operators work while lifting and lowering the pallets during the preparation for the transport. Observed from the above, in the figure 2 it is visible that at the middle of the sides of legs 2, 3 the slope of the reinforcement 15 is deprived, which is spreading up to the half of their heights that at the same time represent the limiters to which the pallets mutually lay while stacking, making it much easier to be separated while re-extracting in the case of a need for new application. From the figure 8 it is also visible that the empty subject pallets, placed one on another, occupy very little storage space.

This construction of the body 1 of the pallet consisting of integrally formed legs 2, 3, counters 13, 14, counters 6, 7 and circumferential rectangular frame 11, jointly make the net reinforcement in the shape of honey combs, that make the pallet consistent and adequate for storage and transportation of heavy load goods. Thus made pallet of recycled material, beside it is significantly lighter in relation to the classic transportation packaging, possesses the corresponding elasticity, so it is less breakable and pervious to cracking.

The process of pallet production made of recycled paper, according to the invention, presented on the figure 11, starts with inserting the specific amount of raw materials (old papers previously cleaned from impurities: resin, sand, metals, clay, polyethylene , glues and other), from container 16 in the canister for melting— hydrapulper 17. After that, from pools 18 and 19 in the hydrapulper it is inserted recycled water and other supplements (glue, fixation mean, agencies against creation of foam, colors and other) by which it is increased the consistency of the final product significantly, after which by mixing in the mixer 23 it is performed soaking of paper until obtaining the homogenous gel mass which we name pulp. This way obtained paper pulp is transferred by pumps 22 in the first and second pool 20, 21, until achieving the concentration and purity at the requested level. Depending on the defined technical characteristics of the products, additives (NaOH, H ₂ 0 ₂ , NaSi0 ₃ , oleic acid, Ca2+ /I. and other) are added in the pulp. Such obtained paper pulp is transferred by pumps in the vessel with molds 24 where the pallets, according to the invention are shaped, and after that the produced pallet is transferred to the transportation line and goes to the drying device 25. After drying, the pallets goes to the hot press 26, and then to the packaging unit 27, where they are stored. In the process of production, according to the invention, there is no reject, because irregular product is going back to the production cycle.

It is specifically emphasized that during experiment and checking the technical characteristics of the subject pallet, experiments were performed in which the paper pulp was replaced with the raw material which was obtained by using the reject cuttings. This way pallets made of cuttings which arc completely the same by its form with the pallets made out of recycled paper, during the testing displayed number of advantages, because by adding the specific additives in the small cuttings better firmness was made, while the technological procedure in the process of producing these pallets was the same as previously described procedure for obtaining the pallets made out of recycled paper.

INDUSTRIAL OR OTHER APPLICATIONS OF THE INVENTION

Industrial production of the subject invention is absolutely possible in factories for making the cardboard packaging, and even in well-equipped workshops for making the packaging out of the recycled paper or small cuttings, pursuant to the technical documentation which professionals from the subject field can easily make by using the description and drawings from this application.

The invention is suitable for series production, and because of the mobile equipment it is easily applicable for building the production drives near the place where the raw materials exist.

Application of the invention is especially recommended in cases when because of the lack of space it is harder to keep the larger number of empty packaging pallets or when because of ecological and esthetic reasons it is forbidden, and during the transport of goods by planes, respectively when in the international transport there is the problem with the wooden packaging.