Patent Application
20190322300
This patent disclosure relates generally to a pallet trolley and method of moving a pallet using a pallet trolley and, more particularly, to a pallet trolley for moving long pallets that sag as they are lifted by a fork truck.
Pallets have long been used as a platform upon which freight is loaded. The pallet provides openings that allow the forks of a fork truck to enter the pallet and thereby lift the pallet and load of freight together. Many pallets are rectangular in shape and while not all the sides are necessarily of the same length, they may be similar in length. Fork trucks excel at lifting and moving such pallets.
However, some pallets are designed for elongated loads. Such pallets have two sides much longer than the other two sides. These pallets have two relatively short ends and two long sides. Fork trucks often lift and move such pallets by inserting the forks in one of the short ends and then attempt lift the pallet and load by raising the forks. Sometimes that pallets are so heavy and long, that the unsupported end of the pallet will sag significantly when the pallet is lifted and moved. Such sagging may result in the pallet being more difficult to move than a typical load. The pallet may need to be lifted higher than what is typically desired in order for the sagging end to clear the ground or other low obstacles. In extreme cases, sagging of the unsupported end of the pallet may cause handlers to partially unload the pallet before movement of the pallet for fear of breaking the pallet during a movement operation.
An apparatus and method of moving long pallets is desired to alleviate the difficulties mentioned above and other difficulties when moving and lifting long pallets.
The foregoing needs are met to a great extent by embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure, wherein in some embodiments, provides an apparatus and method of moving long pallets to alleviate the difficulties mentioned above and other difficulties when moving and lifting long pallets.
In one aspect, the disclosure describes a pallet trolley. The pallet trolley includes: a frame having two ends, the frame defining a longitudinal axis; a handle assembly attached to the frame; a first wheel assembly attached to the frame at one end; and a second wheel assembly attached to the frame at the other end, the first and second wheel assemblies are oriented to allow the pallet trolley to roll in a direction other than parallel to the longitudinal axis of the frame.
In another aspect, the disclosure describes a method of moving a pallet. The method includes: providing a pallet trolley having: a frame having two ends, the frame defining a longitudinal axis; a handle assembly attached to the frame; a first wheel assembly attached to the frame at one end; a second wheel assembly attached to the frame at the other end, the first and second wheel assemblies are oriented to allow the pallet trolley to roll in a direction other than parallel to the longitudinal axis of the frame; locating the first and second wheel assemblies under a pallet; lowering the pallet onto the trolley; and moving the pallet on the trolley and a fork truck.
In yet another aspect, the disclosure describes a pallet trolley. The pallet trolley including: a frame having two ends, the frame defining a longitudinal axis; a handle assembly attached to the frame; a first wheel assembly attached to the frame at one end; a second wheel assembly attached to the frame at the other end, the first and second wheel assemblies are oriented to allow the pallet trolley to roll in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the frame; and a first and second support plate located over the first and second wheel assemblies respectively.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, certain embodiments of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof herein may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional embodiments of the invention that will be described below and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of embodiments in addition to those described and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein, as well as the abstract, are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Additional features, advantages, and aspects of the disclosure may be set forth or apparent from consideration of the following detailed description, drawings, and claims. Moreover, it is to be understood that both the foregoing summary of the disclosure and the following detailed description are exemplary and intended to provide further explanation without limiting the scope of the disclosure as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate aspects of the disclosure and together with the detailed description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. No attempt is made to show structural details of the disclosure in more detail than may be necessary for a fundamental understanding of the disclosure and the various ways in which it may be practiced. In the drawings:
The aspects of the disclosure and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting aspects and examples that are described and/or illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. It should be noted that the features illustrated in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, and features of one aspect may be employed with other aspects as the skilled artisan would recognize, even if not explicitly stated herein. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques may be omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the aspects of the disclosure. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the disclosure may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the aspects of the disclosure. Accordingly, the examples and aspects herein should not be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure, which is defined solely by the appended claims and applicable law. Moreover, it is noted that like reference numerals represent similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
As shown in
As shown in
There are attaching holes 48 in the trolley bracket 36 to allow the trolley assembly 34 to attach to the frame 12 via fasteners 30 as shown in
In some embodiments, and as shown in the FIGS., the trolley assembly 34 may include multiple wheels 50. Other embodiments may only include a single wheel 50 per trolley assembly 34. The wheels 50 (or wheel 50) attach to the bracket 36 with an axle 52 that may extend through axle holes 54 in the trolley bracket 36. The wheels 50 are oriented to allow the pallet trolley 10 roll at an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis A-A (see
In some embodiments (best shown in
Similarly to the trolley assembly 34 being located on one side or the other of the axis A-A, the support plates 38 may be located on one side or the other of the axis A-A. For example, in some embodiments 60% or more of the support plate 38 may be located on one side of the axis A-A and at least 60% of the other support plate 38 may be located on the other side of the the axis A-A. In other embodiments at least 70%, 80%, or 90% of the support plate 38 is located on one side or the other of the axis A-A. These percentage determinations may be made by the surface area of the support plate 38 or by mass of the support plate 38.
In other embodiments, the trolley assemblies 34 and/or support plates 38 may be more centered on the axis A-A and the two trolley assemblies 34 and/or support plates 38 may be more aligned with each other and the axis A-A rather than being primarily located more to one side or the other. In some embodiments, the support plates 38 may be aligned (or more closely aligned) with the axis A-A even when the trolley assemblies 34 are not. This may be accomplished by moving where the support plates 38 are mounted on the trolley assemblies 34, using angled or curved mounts to mount the support plates on the trolley assemblies 34, or by other suitable methods.
In some embodiments, the fork truck 72 may move the loaded pallet 56 and the pallet trolley 10 may move along with the loaded pallet 56 due to the adhesion between the pallet 56 and the pallet trolley 10 due do the weight of the loaded pallet 56 and/or the gripping projections 42 (see
As shown in
While the disclosure has been described in terms of exemplary aspects, those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosure can be practiced with modifications in the spirit and scope of the appended claims. These examples given above are merely illustrative and are not meant to be an exhaustive list of all possible designs, aspects, applications or modifications of the disclosure.
