Rotatable, stackable pallet container

Abstract

A pallet container includes a bottom, side walls that extend from the bottom upwards, widening conically and/or in stages, towards a peripheral container edge, and skids that allow a fork of a forklift truck or other industrial truck to be inserted. The bottom and the side walls are shaped such that the pallet container can be nested in an identical pallet container oriented the same way and can be stacked on an identical pallet container that has been rotated relative to the pallet container by 180° only in relation to a vertical axis. The outer contour of the skids aligns with the outer contour of the side walls.

1 . A pallet container comprising:
 a bottom;   side walls that extend upwards from the bottom towards a circumferential container rim in a conical and/or stepped manner; and   skids each having at least two engagement openings that allow engagement of a fork of a lift truck or other industrial truck under the bottom,   the bottom and the side walls of the pallet container being shaped in such a way that the pallet container is nestable in an identically constructed pallet container having an orientation that is either identical to an orientation of the pallet container or is rotated 180° relative to the orientation of the pallet container with respect to a vertical axis,   the skids comprising an outer contour that follows an outer contour of the side walls.   
     
     
         2 . The pallet container according to  claim 1 , wherein the skids each have an outer edge, each outer edge having at least one s-shaped portion. 
     
     
         3 . The pallet container according to  claim 2 , wherein the s-shaped portions extend in a common plane. 
     
     
         4 . The pallet container according to  claim 3 , wherein undersides of the skids facing away from the bottom extend in the common plane of the s-shaped portions. 
     
     
         5 . The pallet container according to  claim 2 , wherein the outer edges each have two end portions extending in a straight line. 
     
     
         6 . The pallet container according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 support recesses are provided on the circumferential container rim, into which lower support regions of skids of the identically constructed pallet container are received when the identically constructed pallet container is stacked onto the pallet container,   the at least two engagement openings are each provided in the skids, said at least two engagement openings allowing engagement of the fork of the lift truck or other industrial truck transversely with respect to the skids,   the support recesses comprise lower surfaces that extend in a first common plane,   lower surfaces of the at least two engagement openings extend in a second common plane, and   a depth of the support recesses of the pallet container is less than or equal to a distance between the second common plane of the lower surfaces of the at least two engagement openings of the pallet container and the first common plane of the lower surfaces of the support regions of the skids of the pallet container.   
     
     
         7 . The pallet container according to  claim 1 , wherein the circumferential container rim is configured to cantilever outwards to allow the to allow engagement of the fork of the lift truck or other industrial truck. 
     
     
         8 . The pallet container according to  claim 7 , wherein at least one recessed grip is provided at an underside of the container rim, said at least one recessed grip being oriented such that the at least one recessed grip is grippable from below. 
     
     
         9 . The pallet container according to  claim 8 , wherein at least one opening is provided at an upper end of the at least one recessed grip, said at least one opening extending from the at least one recessed grip in a direction away from a container interior region bounded by the bottom and the side walls, so that when the pallet container is positioned upside down, water collected in the at least one recessed grip is drainable at least partially to an outside of the pallet container. 
     
     
         10 . The pallet container according to  claim 9 , wherein the at least one opening extends at least partially upwards from the at least one recessed grip. 
     
     
         11 . The pallet container according to  claim 9 , wherein the circumferential container rim comprises a ribbed structure. 
     
     
         12 . The pallet container according to  claim 11 , wherein the at least one recessed grip is formed by a u-shaped rib of the rib structure, the u-shaped rib comprising an opening directed downwards and a rim facing away from the container interior region, said rim being adjoined by an outer wall that encloses the at least one recessed grip together with the u-shaped rib. 
     
     
         13 . The pallet container according to  claim 1 , further comprising at least one shock absorber on an outer side of one of the side walls, said at least one shock absorber being arranged in a container height direction below the circumferential container rim and projecting from said outer side at least to such an extent that the at least one shock absorber is tangent to or intersects a plane spanning between an outer edge of the bottom and an outer edge of the circumferential container rim, so that, when a tilting movement of the container occurs about an outer edge of the bottom, the at least one shock absorber hits a flat bottom before the circumferential container rim and at least partially dissipates an impact acting laterally on the pallet container while undergoing elastic and/or plastic deformation. 
     
     
         14 . The pallet container according to  claim 13 , wherein the side walls comprise four side walls and the at least one shock absorber comprises four shock absorbers, each shock absorber arranged in a corner region of the pallet container. 
     
     
         15 . The pallet container according to  claim 13 , wherein an underside of the at least one shock absorber runs parallel to the circumferential container rim and said underside forms a stop for limiting a nest depth when nesting several identically constructed containers.