Oriented fiber reinforced monolithic plastic foam pallet
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A monolithic pallet construction, comprising:
- an upper deck,a plurality of depending legs attached to said upper deck, anda plurality of bottom supports attached to said depending legs, said bottom supports, said upper deck and said plurality of depending legs being integrally formed of a rigid plastic foam,and oriented reinforcing fibers incorporated into said rigid plastic foam;
within said upper deck, said oriented reinforcing fibers being oriented substantially parallel to a long axis of said upper deck;
within said bottom supports, said oriented reinforcing fibers being oriented substantially parallel to a long axis of said bottom supports.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A new and improved unitary plastic foam four-way entry pallet (10) comprising: a top deck (11), with perforated apertures (12), buttressed by a plurality of elongated support runners (13) which are profiled to receive material handling equipment; the runners are joined to a plurality of bottom members (14), perpendicular to the plane of the support runners. All the components are monolithically cast, in a mold, utilizing rigid plastic foam reinforced with oriented strand fibers to form homogenous matrix (16), which has a seamless, smooth finish (15), provided by the use of self-skinning foams.
-
Citations
30 Claims
-
1. A monolithic pallet construction, comprising:
-
an upper deck, a plurality of depending legs attached to said upper deck, and a plurality of bottom supports attached to said depending legs, said bottom supports, said upper deck and said plurality of depending legs being integrally formed of a rigid plastic foam, and oriented reinforcing fibers incorporated into said rigid plastic foam;
within said upper deck, said oriented reinforcing fibers being oriented substantially parallel to a long axis of said upper deck;
within said bottom supports, said oriented reinforcing fibers being oriented substantially parallel to a long axis of said bottom supports. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
-
-
4. A monolithic pallet construction, comprising:
-
an upper deck, a plurality of depending legs attached to said upper deck, and a plurality of bottom supports attached to said depending legs, said bottom supports, said upper deck and said plurality of depending legs being integrally formed of a rigid plastic foam, a nonfoamed plastic skin covering all exterior surfaces of said pallet, and oriented reinforcing fibers incorporated into said nonfoamed plastic skin;
within said upper deck, said oriented reinforcing fibers being oriented substantially parallel to a long axis of said upper deck;
within said bottom supports, said oriented reinforcing fibers being oriented substantially parallel to a long axis of said bottom supports. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A monolithic pallet construction, comprising:
-
an upper deck formed by injecting plastic foam containing fiber strands into a mold along a long axis of said upper deck such that said fiber strands are oriented substantially parallel to said long axis of said upper deck, a plurality of support runners attached to said upper deck, said plurality of support runners formed by injecting plastic foam containing fiber strands into said mold along a long axis of said plurality of support runners such that said fiber strands are oriented substantially parallel to said long axis of said plurality of support runners, and a plurality of bottom supports attached to said plurality of support runners, said plurality of bottom supports having a long axis perpendicular to said long axis of said support runners, said plurality of bottom supports formed by injecting plastic foam containing fiber strands into said mold along said long axis of said plurality of bottom supports such that said fiber strands are oriented substantially parallel to said long axis of said plurality of bottom supports. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
15. A method of manufacturing a pallet, comprising the steps of:
-
forming an upper deck by injecting plastic foam containing fiber strands into a mold along a long axis of said upper deck such that said fiber strands are oriented substantially parallel to said long axis of said upper deck; forming a plurality of support runners attached to said upper deck by injecting plastic foam containing-fiber strands into said mold along a long axis of said plurality of support runners such that said fiber strands are oriented substantially parallel to said long axis of said plurality of support runners; and forming a plurality of bottom supports attached to said plurality of support runners, said plurality of bottom supports having a long axis perpendicular to said long axis of said support runners, by injecting plastic foam containing fiber strands into said mold along said long axis of said plurality of bottom supports such that said fiber strands are oriented substantially parallel to said long axis of said plurality of bottom supports. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
-
Specification