The use of fork-lifts and pallets for handling materials is well known. A typical fork-lift is a vehicle having at its front end a mast and hoist structure, at the lower end of which is a fork comprising a pair of horizontal, forwardly extending tines insertable beneath a load. The hoist is used to raise the load and the fork-lift truck carries the load to an unloading point. Pallets are used for receiving the load initially so as to permit the handling of heavy and bulky loads or to enable the stacking of several articles to comprise the load. Normally the load and pallet are shipped as a unit.
A conventional pallet is a wooden structure made up of several parallel, horizontal stringers and several cross boards, all nailed together to form a rectangular element. In two-way pallets, the fork tines enter between the stringers and engage the cross boards from below. In a four-way pallet, the stringers are cut out in two areas each to provide inverted U-shaped openings spaced apart to receive the fork. The fork may enter, selectively, from any of the four sides of the pallet, whereas in the two-way pallet entry can occur from only two opposite sides.
All conventional pallets are not exactly alike, but are dimensioned so as to accommodate most fork-lifts. The fork entry openings are made wide enough to accommodate different tine spacings as well as to enable easy entry without precise maneuvering of the fork-lift. Nevertheless, it is not always easy for the fork-lift operator to view the entry openings and consequently, the tips of the tines engage the stringers out of registration with the openings, resulting in damage to the stringers such that they must be repaired, replaced or the pallet discarded, all of which leads to excessive cost and down-time. Additionally, breakage of the stringers occurs due to radial cracks occurring at the corners of the stringer openings caused by the fork-lift tines as well as stresses caused by the load on the stringers.
A need has thus arisen for a device for the protection of stringers in the areas of the openings for fork tine entry in a pallet and more specifically, for a plate for preventing and/or substantially minimizing radial breakage at the corners of stringers in the areas of fork tine entry.