Method of forming a pallet
First Claim
1. A method of forming a pallet comprising:
- thermoforming a first plastic sheet to provide a main body planar portion and a series of leg portions extending downwardly from said main body portion and defining a respective series of grooves opening in the upper face of said main body portion;
thermoforming a second plastic sheet to provide a main body planar portion corresponding generally in size and configuration to said first sheet main body portion and a plurality of hollow pins extending downwardly from said second sheet main body portion, opening in the upper face of said second sheet main body portion, and arranged to form a series of pin assemblies with each pin assembly comprising a plurality of pins arranged in a configuration corresponding generally in size and configuration to a respective groove; and
nestingly inserting each pin assembly into a respective groove and fusing material of the pin assembly to material of the groove to form the pallet.
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Abstract
A method is provided for forming a pallet including thermoforming a pair of plastic sheets and then fusing the two sheets together to form the pallet. One of the two sheets is thermoformed to provide a series of pin assemblies with each pin assembly including a plurality of hollow pin portions extending outwardly. The second sheet is thermoformed to provide a series of leg portions that define a corresponding series of grooves in the sheet, each groove corresponding to a respective pin assembly of the first sheet. The first sheet is assembled with the second sheet such that each pin assembly of the first sheet rests nestingly within the respective groove of the second sheet and then the material of the pin assemblies are fused to the material of the respective grooves. Web portions of the first sheet interconnect adjacent pin portions and are formed as folds extending outwardly in the same direction as the pin portions, but to a lesser extent.
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Citations
6 Claims
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1. A method of forming a pallet comprising:
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thermoforming a first plastic sheet to provide a main body planar portion and a series of leg portions extending downwardly from said main body portion and defining a respective series of grooves opening in the upper face of said main body portion; thermoforming a second plastic sheet to provide a main body planar portion corresponding generally in size and configuration to said first sheet main body portion and a plurality of hollow pins extending downwardly from said second sheet main body portion, opening in the upper face of said second sheet main body portion, and arranged to form a series of pin assemblies with each pin assembly comprising a plurality of pins arranged in a configuration corresponding generally in size and configuration to a respective groove; and nestingly inserting each pin assembly into a respective groove and fusing material of the pin assembly to material of the groove to form the pallet. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method of forming a pallet comprising:
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thermoforming a first plastic sheet to provide a generally planar main body portion, a plurality of hollow pin portions extending downwardly from said main body portion and opening in the upper face of said main body portion, and web portions interconnecting pairs of adjacent pin portions; thermoforming a second plastic sheet; and fusing said second plastic sheet to the bottoms of said pin portions; each web portion being formed as a fold extending downwardly from said main body portion to a location above the bottoms of said pin portions with adjacent portions of the fold fused together to form a seam in the upper face of said main body portion.
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Specification