Base members for pallets

Claim 1

A base member for use in combination with one or more other members and tubes to provide a pallet of the type which consists of at least two elongate similar and essentially parallel base members through which tubes are transversely inserted to form the pallet, the base members being provided with means enabling engagement by the forks of a fork lift truck for lifting the pallets, the base members having upper and lower walls with flat exterior and interior surfaces and vertical parallel side walls with flat exterior surfaces, the side walls being apertured to provide a number of holes disposed through and in a direction perpendicular to the parallel side wall surfaces distributed along and with all of said holes being located closer to the upper wall surfaces of the base members than to their lower wall surfaces, the holes enabling tubes to be introduced therethrough with a friction fit so as to unite the base members to each other and enable the formation of a pallet, said means enabling engagement by the forks of a fork lift truck being recesses provided in the lower parts of the base member enabling passage of the forks of a fork lift truck transversely through the lower portion of said base member, the improvement being characterized in that the bases member comprises a pressed and folded flat wrapping material (11) which, after folding, constitutes a substantially hollow member defining an interior space including an interior space above said recesses and forms at least the aforesaid upper, lower and side walls and exterior surfaces (5,6,7,12) of said base member, that uppermost portions of at least some of the holes through said side walls are essentially coextensive with the interior surface of the base member upper wall and that stiffening parallelepipedical inserts (a-f, 13-23, 31) are included in substantially all part of the interior space of the folded hollow wrapping member, including the interior space above said recesses, which inserts are adapted to the interior dimensions of the wrapping, and bonding means are provided which bond said inserts at least to opposite inner sides of said wrapping.