Plastic Pallet

Abstract

A plastic pallet and method of construction that permits plastic pallets of numerous different sizes and options to be easily produced from only a very small inventory of parts and without requiring a user to purchase or construct numerous different shapes and sizes of molds in order to produce a wide variety of pallets of various shapes, sizes and options.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A plastic pallet comprising:
 a plastic top plate comprising a textured pattern formed on at least one side thereof;   two or more plastic stringers;   at least one bottom board, said at least one bottom board comprising a textured pattern surface; and   a first plurality of fasteners securing said bottom boards to said stringers.   
     
     
         2 . The plastic pallet of  claim 1  further comprising a second plurality of fasteners securing said plastic top plate to said two or more plastic stringers. 
     
     
         3 . The plastic pallet of  claim 1  wherein said stringers are integrally formed in said plastic top plate. 
     
     
         4 . The plastic pallet of  claim 1  wherein said top plate comprises a plurality of corner pieces projecting from a top thereof. 
     
     
         5 . The plastic pallet of  claim 1  further comprising a first IBC attached thereto. 
     
     
         6 . The plastic pallet of  claim 5  wherein said top plate comprise a void formed at a location below an outlet of the first IBC. 
     
     
         7 . The plastic pallet of  claim 5  wherein said bottom board comprises an opening that aligns with an inlet of a second IBC when said plastic pallet is placed atop said second IBC. 
     
     
         8 . The plastic pallet of  claim 5  wherein said bottom board is sized to sit inside of a frame for a second IBC. 
     
     
         9 . The plastic pallet of  claim 5  wherein said stringers extend beyond said at least one bottom board by at least 1.5 inches on each end. 
     
     
         10 . The plastic pallet of  claim 1  further comprising one or more barrel retention spaces formed on said top plate, said barrel retention spaces defined at least partially by one or more corner pieces. 
     
     
         11 . The plastic pallet of  claim 10  wherein said barrel retention spaces are further defined by one or more barrel spacers. 
     
     
         12 . The plastic pallet of  claim 10  wherein said plastic pallet comprises four or more barrel retention spaces formed on said top plate. 
     
     
         13 . The plastic pallet of  claim 1  wherein said two or more plastic stringers comprise a stiffener cutout. 
     
     
         14 . The plastic pallet of  claim 13  further comprising at least one stiffener extending from at least one of said two or more stringers to at least one other of said two or more stringers. 
     
     
         15 . The plastic pallet of  claim 1  wherein said first plurality of fasteners comprises metal screws. 
     
     
         16 . A plastic pallet comprising:
 a plastic top plate comprising two or more integrally formed stringers;   at least one bottom board; and   a first plurality of metal screws securing said bottom boards to said stringers.   
     
     
         17 . The plastic pallet of  claim 16  further comprising an IBC attached to a top thereof and wherein said plastic top plate comprises a void formed at a location below said IBC. 
     
     
         18 . A method for forming a plastic pallet comprising:
 attaching a plastic top plate to two or more plastic stringers; and   attaching at least one bottom board to the two or more plastic stringers with a plurality of metal fasteners.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  wherein attaching a plastic top plate to two or more plastic stringers comprises integrally forming the two or more plastic stringers into the plastic top plate. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising forming the plastic top plate from a compression mold and wherein the at least one bottom board is at least partially formed from the compression mold. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20  further comprising at least partially forming the at least one bottom board by cutting it to a desired size.