Freight pallet

Claim 1

A pallet for receiving freight such as airfreight for transport by air or for an air drop release from air planes by means of parachutes, comprising: a laterally extending core; a pair of cover plates disposed, respectively, above and below said core and sandwiching said core therebetween; a shoulder strip extending around the periphery of said core and extending between said cover plates, said shoulder strip defining at least four edges of said pallet, at least one said pallet edge being provided with a plurality of openings therethrough; internal connecting members holding structures mounted within said core between said cover plates and communicating with said pallet edge openings; a plurality of connecting members, each said connecting member being removably insertable into said shoulder strip openings and said internal connecting member holding structures; and means for releasably securing said connecting members to said pallet with a portion of each connecting member so secured projecting outwardly of said one pallet edge, whereby a pair of such pallets may be substantially ridigly joined together edgewise by insertion and securing of such connecting members into the openings and internal connecting member holding structures of respective facing edges of the two pallets, said pallet being of a rectangular configuration and said internal holding structures comprise at least one first take-up tube extending between and affixed to the shoulder strips defining two pallet edges generally normal to said one said pallet edge, and at least two second take-up tubes, each attached at one end thereof to said first take-up tube and are attached at the opposite end thereof to the shoulder strip defining said one pallet edge, the axially outermost portions, with respect to said pallet, of each said first and second take-up tubes communicating with openings provided in said pallet edge shoulder strips.