FR2775662A1 - Crate pallet comprising semi-rigid pallet - Google Patents

Abstract

The semi-rigid cardboard pallet comprises a square shaped bottom panel (3). Two sheaths (2) are formed by parts hinged by folding lines. A reinforcing element (9) is housed in each sheath. Two flanges (11) are hinged by folding lines along two parallel edges to be erected perpendicular to the panel. These flanges laterally wedge a container to form the crate panel.

Description

PALLET IN SEMI-RIGID MATERIAL AND PALLET BOX
INCLUDING THIS PALETTE.

 The present invention relates to a new pallet made of a semi-rigid material such as cardboard or corrugated cardboard. The invention also relates to pallet boxes made from such a pallet.

 Many pallet boxes, comprising two separate parts, namely a pallet and a container made of a semi-rigid material, integral with this pallet and capable of being folded flat on the upper face thereof, have been proposed in the technique. The pallets can be of different types, either in wood or in a semi-rigid material, with parts forming sheaths in which are reinforcement elements, or even only in a semi-rigid material suitably folded, or finally in a cellular material . The container body is generally in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped and open at its upper part, where it can be capped with an independent cover.

 The present invention aims to provide a new pallet, made entirely of a semi-rigid material, possibly excluding reinforcing elements housed in a known manner in the parts forming sheaths of the pallet, which can be made integral in a simple manner the associated container, for example by gluing or stapling.

 To this end, the subject of the invention is a pallet made of a semi-rigid material such as cardboard or corrugated cardboard, this pallet box comprising a bottom panel of square or rectangular shape, to which are attached respectively, by two first parallel fold lines constituting two sides of this bottom panel, two sleeves made up of parts hinged together for fold lines parallel to the first fold lines, one of these parts being applied against the bottom panel and made integral with this, while another part is parallel to this bottom and serves as a seat for the pallet, a reinforcement element of appropriate shape being housed in each of the sleeves in order to stiffen them, so that they constitute a pallet with the bottom panel, this pallet being characterized in that it comprises, articulated respectively on the bottom panel by two fold lines arranged along two parallel edges es of this panel, two wings capable of being straightened perpendicular to this panel, to wedge laterally a container forming the body of the box pallet, and to be made integral therewith, by gluing or stapling.

 The bottom panel and the adjoining sheaths will come from the same blank of the semi-rigid material suitably cut and pushed back, from which the lateral wings may also come from, which will then be articulated by two parallel push-ups or parallel push-back portions according to two edges of the bottom panel perpendicular to the first fold lines.

 Another object of the invention is therefore constituted by such a blank, comprising a rectangular or square panel intended to form the first bottom panel, and two sets of four parts, adjoining respectively by a first fold line with two parallel sides of this bottom panel, the parts of each assembly being hinged together by fold lines parallel to these first fold lines, so that they can be folded and assembled to form a sheath, this blank being characterized in that, according to two sides of the rectangular or square panel perpendicular to the first fold lines, are contiguous, by two second fold lines, two strips capable of being straightened perpendicular to the bottom panel to form two parallel wings.

 The wings can also be separate from the blank from which the pallet comes, and then be adjoined by a fold line to a part intended to be made integral with the upper face of this pallet.

 The bottom panel may be full or comprise, in a manner known per se, a central cut, the edges of which are parallel to those of the bottom panel, this cut being intended to allow passage to a piston, in order to move a separate plate on which the packaged products rest, in order to fill or empty the pallet box.

 In the case where the bottom panel has a central cut, two flaps may be articulated on this panel by two continuous or discontinuous fold lines, merged with edges or portions of parallel edges of the cut, so that they can be folded down by pivoting in the direction of the adjoining portions of the panel, against parts of the container constituting the box of the pallet box, with a view to being made integral by gluing or stapling.

 The invention finally relates to a pallet box comprising a pallet of the type defined above and a container made of a semi-rigid material resting on this pallet, this pallet box being characterized in that the wings of the pallet are applied against two parallel walls of the container and made integral with the latter by gluing or stapling.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear in the detailed description which follows of various embodiments thereof. In this description, reference will be made to the appended schematic drawings, on which
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a blank of corrugated cardboard, pre-cut and pushed back (pre-folded), intended for the production of a first pallet according to the invention
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the pallet made from this blank
Figure 3 shows a variant of the blank of Figure 1
Figure 4 is a perspective view of the pallet made from the blank of Figure 3
FIG. 5 is a plan view of a blank of corrugated cardboard, precut and repressed, intended for the production of a third pallet according to the invention
Figure 6 is a perspective view of this third pallet
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a variant of the pallet of FIG. 6.

 We will first refer to Figures 1 and 2.

 The pallet 1 shown in these figures comprises a bottom panel 3, of rectangular shape, with two parallel sides of which are adjoined, by two first fold lines 4, two sets each comprising three rectangular strips 5, 6, 7, and shutters 8a, 8b, adjoining each other and to the panel 3 by fold lines parallel to the lines 4.

 The strips 5 and the adjoining flaps are folded so as to form a sheath 2, here of square section, the strips 5 and 7 being perpendicular to the panel 3, while the flaps 8a, 8b are applied against this panel and made integral with that -this by gluing or stapling, the strips 6 being parallel to the bottom and serving as a seat for the pallet 1. In the sleeves 2 thus produced by the strips and the flaps are housed reinforcement elements of appropriate shape, here made up of blocks 9 of expanded polystyrene.

 In its central part, the panel 3 has a rectangular cutout 10, the edges of which are parallel to those of the panel 3.

 According to the invention, two strips 11, articulated on the panel 3 by second fold lines 12 coinciding with the edges of this panel perpendicular to the first fold lines 4, can be straightened perpendicular to this panel to form wings, suitable laterally wedging the container (not shown) constituting the box associated with the pallet 1, to form a pallet box, and coming to be applied against the external face of two side walls of this container, to be made integral by bonding or stapling. At the lower part of the wings 11 protrude opposite the ends of the sleeves 2 of the pins 13, which bear on the ends of the reinforcement blocks 9, in order to keep the wings 11 perpendicular to the panel 3.

 Note the simplicity of design of this palette.

 Naturally, the reinforcements 9 can be produced completely differently, as will be seen further below.

 The pallet 1 ′ illustrated by FIGS. 3 and 4 is a simple variant of the pallet 1 which has just been described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 and the members already described therein are designated by the same reference numbers assigned to the index'. In this variant, the strip 11 'is divided into three strips ll'a, ll'b, ll'c, by two fold lines parallel to the line 12. The strip ll'a can thus be erected perpendicular to the panel 3' to which it is attached by the line 12 ', while the middle strip ll'b is folded against the strip ll'a, to reinforce it, and that the strip ll'c is applied against the upper face of the panel 3' and is made integral by gluing or stapling.

 It will be noted that, in this variant, the reinforcements of the sleeves 2 ′ consist of two belts 14 ′ and 15 ′, made of corrugated cardboard with rectangular cross section, fitted one inside the other, which constitutes a simple and inexpensive way. expensive to make reinforcements.

 In the embodiment of FIGS. 5 and 6, the lateral wedging and securing wings of the container constituting the box equipping the pallet no longer come from the starting blank of the pallet, but are attached to them.

 In this embodiment, the sleeves 15 of the pallet 16 consist of four bands 17, 18, 19, 20 adjoining them and to the bottom panel 21 by fold lines parallel to each other and to two parallel sides 22 of the panel 21. This comprises a central cutout 23 whose edges are parallel to those of the panel 21.

 The wings 24, which wedge the container shown diagrammatically at 25, and are intended to be applied and glued between it, are adjoined by a fold line perpendicular to the lines 22 and substantially coincident with the corresponding edge of the panel 21 to a strip. 25 glued against the upper surface of this panel.

In this variant of the pallet according to the invention, flaps 26 are articulated by fold lines on the edges of the cutout 23 perpendicular to the edges 22 of the panel 21, in order to be able to be folded down in the direction of the contiguous parts of this panel against corresponding parts of the base of the container 25, in order to be made integral by gluing or stapling and to lock them in position
Here, the reinforcements 28 are constituted by beams of cellular cardboard.

 The embodiment of Figure 7 is a variant of that of Figure 6 and the bodies already described with reference to this Figure 6 are designated by the same reference numerals, assigned the index '.

 In this embodiment, however, as in that of FIGS. 1 and 2, the wings 29 are contiguous to the panel 21 ′ by folding lines merged with two parallel edges of this panel, while the flaps 26 ′, mounted pivotally with respect to this panel by portions of double upsets parallel to the edges which have just been mentioned, have curved profiles on either side of the upsets, as described in the French patent application NO 9 09349, filed on July 23, 1997 by the Applicant.

 In this variant, the reinforcements 30 of the sleeves 15 ′ consist of simple corrugated cardboard belts, of rectangular cross section.

 In all these embodiments, the pallet according to the invention therefore has the advantage of being of a particularly simple design and of being able to be made integral with a container in an easy way, to form a box pallet.

Claims (10)

 1. Pallet in a semi-rigid material such as cardboard or corrugated cardboard, this pallet box comprising a bottom panel (3, 3 ', 21, 21') of square or rectangular shape, to which are attached respectively, by first two parallel fold lines constituting two sides of this bottom panel, two sleeves (2, 2 ', 15, 15') made up of parts articulated together by fold lines parallel to the first fold lines, one of these parts being applied against the bottom panel and made integral therewith, while another part is parallel to this bottom and serves as a seat for the pallet, a reinforcing element of appropriate shape (9, 14'- 15 ', 28, 30) being housed in each of the sleeves in order to stiffen them, so that they constitute a pallet with the bottom panel, this pallet being characterized in that it comprises, articulated respectively on the bottom panel by two fold lines arranged in two parallel edges of this panel, two wings (11, 11 ', 24, 29) capable of being straightened perpendicular to this panel, for laterally wedging a container forming the body of the pallet box, and of being made integral with the latter , by gluing or stapling.  2. Pallet according to claim 1, in which the bottom panel (3, 3 ', 21') and the adjacent sleeves (2, 2 ', 15') are produced from the same blank of the pre-cut semi-rigid material and upset, characterized in that the wings (11, 11 ', 29) come from the same blank and are articulated on the bottom panel by two parallel upsets or portions of parallel upsets, along two edges of this panel perpendicular to the first lines folding,  3. Pallet according to claim 2, characterized in that lugs (13) adjoining the wings (11) protrude opposite the ends of the sleeves (2).  4. Pallet according to claim 1, in which the bottom panel (21) and the adjoining sleeves (15) come from the same blank of the pre-cut and repressed semi-rigid material, characterized in that the wings (24) are attached to the bottom panel (21) and are adjoined by fold lines arranged along two edges of this panel perpendicular to the first fold lines to parts (25) made integral with this panel by gluing or stapling.  5. Pallet according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the bottom panel (3, 3 ', 21, 21') comprises in a manner known per se a central cutout (10, 10 ', 23, 23 '), whose edges are parallel to those of the bottom panel.  6. Pallet according to claim 5, characterized in that two flaps (26, 26 ') are articulated on the bottom panel (21, 21') by two continuous or discontinuous fold lines, merged with edges or portions of parallel edges of the cutout (23, 23 ').  7. Pallet according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the reinforcing elements housed in the sleeves comprise at least one continuous belt (30) of rectangular section made of a semi-rigid material.  8. Pallet according to claim 7, characterized in that the reinforcing elements comprise two belts (14 ', 15') with rectangular section fitted one inside the other.  9. blank in a semi-rigid material, precut and pressed, for the production of a pallet according to one of claims 2 and 3, this blank comprising a rectangular or square panel (3.3 ', 21') intended for form the first bottom panel, and two sets of four parts, adjoining respectively by a first fold line with two parallel sides of this bottom panel, the parts of each set being hinged together by fold lines parallel to these first fold lines, so that they can be folded and assembled to form a sheath (15, 15 '), this blank being characterized in that, along two sides of the rectangular or square panel perpendicular to the first fold lines, are contiguous, by two second fold lines, two strips (11, 11 ', 29) able to be straightened perpendicular to the bottom panel to form two parallel wings.  10. Pallet box comprising a pallet according to one of claims 1 to 8 and a container made of a semi-rigid material resting on this pallet, this pallet box being characterized in that the wings (11, 11 ', 24, 29) of the pallet are applied against two parallel walls of the container and made integral with the latter by gluing or stapling.