Pallet with integrated shift prevention features

Abstract

A pallet comprising an upper deck, a lower deck, a front wall, a rear wall, left and right sidewalls, and interlocking structure. The interlocking structure interconnect two or more pallets without external fasteners or tools and may include a number of spaced apart vertically extending protrusions and a number of recesses positioned between the vertically extending protrusions. The vertically extending protrusions may be equally spaced apart from each other or spaced apart from each other at discrete multiples of a predetermined unit distance. The vertically extending protrusions may be U-shaped teeth or of any other suitable geometry and may partially or fully extend between the upper deck and lower deck. The pallet may engage adjacent pallets via the interlocking structure in an offset arrangement so that the pallets engage opposing walls of a transportation enclosure. This prevents the pallets from shifting laterally during transport.

Having thus described various embodiments of the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent includes the following: 
     
         1 . A pallet comprising:
 an upper deck for supporting objects thereon, the upper deck having a front edge, a rear edge, a first side edge, and a second side edge;   a lower deck opposite the upper deck, the lower deck having a front edge, a rear edge, a first side edge, and a second side edge;   a front wall extending between the front edge of the upper deck and the front edge of the lower deck;   a rear wall extending between the rear edge of the upper deck and the rear edge of the lower deck;   a first sidewall extending between the first side edge of the upper deck and the first side edge of the lower deck;   a second sidewall extending between the second side edge of the upper deck and the second side edge of the lower deck; and   interlocking structure configured to interconnect with interlocking structure of an adjacent pallet to inhibit relative shifting of the pallets.   
     
     
         2 . The pallet of  claim 1 , wherein the interlocking structure is further configured to interconnect with the interlocking structure of the adjacent pallet such that the pallets are laterally offset from each other for inhibiting lateral shifting of the pallets relative to a transportation implement during transport. 
     
     
         3 . The pallet of  claim 2 , wherein the interlocking structure comprises a plurality of spaced apart vertically extending protrusions and a plurality of recesses between the vertically extending protrusions, the vertically extending protrusions being configured to engage recesses of the interlocking structure of the adjacent pallet and the recesses being configured to receive vertically extending protrusions of the interlocking structure of the adjacent pallet such that the vertically extending protrusions of the pallet and the vertically extending protrusions of the adjacent pallet cooperatively prevent the pallets from shifting laterally relative to each other. 
     
     
         4 . The pallet of  claim 3 , wherein the vertically extending protrusions are spaced from each other at discrete multiples of a predetermined unit distance such that the pallet can engage the adjacent pallet at one of a plurality of laterally offset distances, the laterally offset distances being multiples of the unit distance plus between zero and one half of the unit distance. 
     
     
         5 . The pallet of  claim 3 , wherein at least some of the vertically extending protrusions extend from the lower deck to the upper deck. 
     
     
         6 . The pallet of  claim 3 , further comprising lift channels extending from the first sidewalls to the second sidewalls, some of the vertically extending protrusions extending from the lower deck to the lift channels. 
     
     
         7 . The pallet of  claim 3 , wherein the interlocking structure comprises a plurality of interlocking structure groupings for interlocking with interlocking structure groupings of the adjacent pallet. 
     
     
         8 . The pallet of  claim 7 , further comprising lift channels extending from the sidewalls to the second sidewalls, wherein the interlocking structure groupings include outer groups positioned near corners of the pallet, lift channel groups positioned near the lift channels, and center groups positioned near midpoints of the first and second sidewalls. 
     
     
         9 . The pallet of  claim 8 , wherein the interlocking structure of the outer groups and the center groups extend from the lower deck to the upper deck and the interlocking structure of the lift channel groups extend from the lower deck to the lift channels. 
     
     
         10 . The pallet of  claim 9 , wherein the outer groups each include five vertically extending protrusions, the lift channel groups each include four vertically extending protrusions, and the center groups each include two vertically extending protrusions. 
     
     
         11 . The pallet of  claim 1 , wherein the interlocking structure is positioned on the first sidewall and the second sidewall for interlocking the pallet with adjacent pallets in a side-by-side arrangement. 
     
     
         12 . The pallet of  claim 1 , wherein the interlocking structure is positioned on the first sidewall and the second sidewall for interlocking the pallet with adjacent pallets in a side-by-side arrangement and the front wall and rear wall for interlocking the pallet with adjacent pallets in a front-to-back arrangement. 
     
     
         13 . The pallet of  claim 1 , wherein the pallet is laterally symmetric and longitudinally symmetric. 
     
     
         14 . The pallet of  claim 1 , wherein the interlocking structure is integrally formed in the pallet. 
     
     
         15 . A pallet comprising:
 an upper deck for supporting objects thereon, the upper deck having a front edge, a rear edge, a first side edge, and a second side edge;   a lower deck opposite the upper deck, the lower deck having a front edge, a rear edge, a first side edge, and a second side edge;   a front wall extending between the front edge of the upper deck and the front edge of the lower deck;   a rear wall extending between the rear edge of the upper deck and the rear edge of the lower deck opposite the front wall;   a first sidewall extending between the first side edge of the upper deck and the first side edge of the lower deck;   a second sidewall extending between the second side edge of the upper deck and the second side edge of the lower deck opposite the first sidewall;   a plurality of lift channels extending from the first sidewall to the second sidewall; and   interlocking structure integrally formed in the pallet, the interlocking structure comprising:
 a plurality of spaced apart vertically extending protrusions; and 
 a plurality of recesses between the vertically extending protrusions, 
   the vertically extending protrusions being configured to engage recesses of interlocking structure of an adjacent pallet and the recesses being configured to receive vertically extending protrusions of the interlocking structure of the adjacent pallet such that the vertically extending protrusions of the pallet and the vertically extending protrusions of the adjacent pallet cooperatively prevent the pallets from shifting laterally relative to each other.   
     
     
         16 . The pallet of  claim 15 , wherein some of the vertically extending protrusions extend from the lower deck to the lift channels. 
     
     
         17 . The pallet of  claim 15 , wherein the interlocking structure comprises a plurality of interlocking structure groupings for interlocking with interlocking structure groupings of the adjacent pallet. 
     
     
         18 . The pallet of  claim 17 , wherein the interlocking structure groupings include outer groups positioned near corners of the pallet, lift channel groups positioned near ends of the lift channels, and center groups positioned near midpoints of the first and second sidewalls. 
     
     
         19 . The pallet of  claim 18 , wherein the interlocking structure of the outer groups and the center groups extend from the lower deck to the upper deck and the interlocking structure of the lift channel groups extend from the lower deck to the lift channels. 
     
     
         20 . The pallet of  claim 19 , wherein the outer groups each include five vertically extending protrusions, the lift channel groups each include four vertically extending protrusions, and the center groups each include two vertically extending protrusions. 
     
     
         21 . A pallet comprising:
 an upper deck for supporting objects thereon, the upper deck having a front edge, a rear edge, a first side edge, and a second side edge;   a lower deck opposite the upper deck, the lower deck having a front edge, a rear edge, a first side edge, and a second side edge;   a front wall extending between the front edge of the upper deck and the front edge of the lower deck;   a rear wall extending between the rear edge of the upper deck and the rear edge of the lower deck opposite the front wall;   a first sidewall extending between the first side edge of the upper deck and the first side edge of the lower deck;   a second sidewall extending between the second side edge of the upper deck and the second side edge of the lower deck opposite the first sidewall;   a plurality of lift channels extending from the first sidewall to the second sidewall; and   interlocking structure integrally formed in the pallet, the interlocking structure comprising:
 a plurality of vertically extending protrusions spaced from each other at discrete multiples of a predetermined unit distance; and 
 a plurality of recesses between the vertically extending protrusions, 
   the vertically extending protrusions being configured to engage recesses of interlocking structure of an adjacent pallet and the recesses being configured to receive vertically extending protrusions of the interlocking structure of the adjacent pallet such that the pallet can engage the adjacent pallet at one of a plurality of laterally offset distances, the laterally offset distances being multiples of the unit distance plus one half of the unit distance so that the vertically extending protrusions of the pallet and the vertically extending protrusions of the adjacent pallet cooperatively prevent the pallets from shifting laterally relative to each other and relative to a transportation implement.