Wood pallet with multi-ply laminated lead boards

Abstract

A wood pallet includes a top deck affixed atop a plurality of spaced-apart wood spacer members such that openings for receiving tines of a forklift are defined between the spacer members. The top deck is formed by a plurality of elongate wood boards arranged parallel and side-by-side one another, the boards including two lead boards respectively located at two opposite edges of the top deck, and a plurality of intermediate boards disposed between the two lead boards. The intermediate boards are solid virgin wood boards. Each of the lead boards is a multi-ply laminated wood board made up of a plurality of wood material sheets adhesively laminated one atop another. The laminated wood boards have a capacity to withstand a greater number of edgewise forklift impacts of a given magnitude without failing, in comparison with the solid virgin wood boards.

1 . A wood pallet, comprising:
 a top deck affixed atop a plurality of spaced-apart wood spacer members such that openings for receiving tines of a forklift are defined between the spacer members, wherein the top deck comprises a plurality of elongate wood boards arranged parallel and side-by-side one another, the boards including two lead boards respectively located at two opposite edges of the top deck, and a plurality of intermediate boards disposed between the two lead boards, wherein the intermediate boards comprise solid virgin wood boards, and each of the lead boards comprises a multi-ply laminated wood board made up of a plurality of wood material sheets adhesively laminated one atop another, the laminated wood boards having a capacity to withstand a greater number of edgewise forklift impacts of a given magnitude without failing, in comparison with the solid virgin wood boards.   
     
     
         2 . The wood pallet of  claim 1 , wherein each of the wood material sheets making up the lead boards has a predominant grain direction, and each lead board has at least one of the wood material sheets oriented with the predominant grain direction parallel to a first direction and at least one of the wood material sheets oriented with the predominant grain direction parallel to a second direction different from the first direction. 
     
     
         3 . The wood pallet of  claim 2 , wherein the first and second directions are perpendicular to each other. 
     
     
         4 . The wood pallet of  claim 3 , wherein each lead board is made up of 7 to 15 wood material sheets arranged with the predominant grain directions alternately parallel to the first direction and parallel to the second direction. 
     
     
         5 . The wood pallet of  claim 1 , wherein the wood material sheets are from hardwood species of wood. 
     
     
         6 . The wood pallet of  claim 5 , wherein the lead boards comprise Russian birch plywood made up of plies of birch. 
     
     
         7 . The wood pallet of  claim 6 , wherein each lead board is made up of 11 to 15 plies of birch. 
     
     
         8 . The wood pallet of  claim 5 , wherein each lead board comprises a plurality of bamboo wood material sheets adhesively laminated together. 
     
     
         9 . The wood pallet of  claim 8 , wherein each lead board is made up of 7 to 11 plies of bamboo wood material sheets. 
     
     
         10 . The wood pallet of  claim 1 , wherein each lead board has at least one relatively soft wood material sheet and at least one relatively hard wood material sheet. 
     
     
         11 . The wood pallet of  claim 1 , wherein each lead board has a core of relatively soft wood and at least one relatively hard wood material sheet disposed on at least one side of the core. 
     
     
         12 . The wood pallet of  claim 11 , wherein each lead board has at least one relatively hard wood material sheet disposed on each side of the core. 
     
     
         13 . The wood pallet of  claim 1 , wherein each lead board has hard and soft wood material sheets disposed in an alternating hard/soft fashion. 
     
     
         14 . The wood pallet of  claim 1 , wherein the laminated wood boards have a capacity to withstand at least three times as many edgewise forklift impacts of a given magnitude without failing, in comparison with the solid virgin wood boards, when tested by an incline impact test according to ASTM D 1185 or equivalent. 
     
     
         15 . The wood pallet of  claim 1 , wherein the laminated wood boards have a capacity to withstand at least four times as many edgewise forklift impacts of a given magnitude without failing, in comparison with the solid virgin wood boards, when tested by an incline impact test according to ASTM D 1185 or equivalent. 
     
     
         16 . The wood pallet of  claim 1 , wherein the laminated wood boards have a capacity to withstand at least five times as many edgewise forklift impacts of a given magnitude without failing, in comparison with the solid virgin wood boards, when tested by an incline impact test according to ASTM D 1185 or equivalent. 
     
     
         17 . A pallet comprising:
 a top deck affixed atop a plurality of spaced-apart wood spacer members such that openings for receiving tines of a forklift are defined between the spacer members, wherein the top deck comprises a plurality of elongate boards arranged parallel and side-by-side one another, the boards including two lead boards respectively located at two opposite edges of the top deck, and a plurality of intermediate boards disposed between the two lead boards, wherein the intermediate boards comprise solid virgin wood boards, and each of the lead boards comprises a multi-ply laminated board made up of a core of solid virgin wood and at least one face sheet disposed on at least one side of the core, wherein the core is relatively soft compared to the at least one face sheet.   
     
     
         18 . The pallet of  claim 17 , wherein the at least one face sheet is a polymer-based material. 
     
     
         19 . The pallet of  claim 17 , wherein the at least one face sheet comprises a hardboard sheet. 
     
     
         20 . The pallet of  claim 17 , wherein the at least one face sheet comprises bamboo.