Abstract:
Pallets and other structures with runners used in storing and transporting material may be fitted with wheels. The wheels permit the pallets and other structures, and the material placed thereon, to be moved by hand. The wheels may also facilitate movement of some pallets or the like with mechanical assistance. The wheels may be removably attached to both double deck and single deck pallets or other structures with runners and are retained thereon by a snug resilient fit. Installation may be accomplished by hand or with simple tools, such as by a hammer. Installation forces resilient walls of the wheel assembly over a deckboard or stringer board of the structure. The resilient walls may include retaining structure, such as barbs, to assist in holding the wheel assemble on the structure.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to the field of material handling equipment. More particularly, this invention relates to equipment used in storing and transporting palletized materials or used with other structures having runners such as refrigeration cases. 
     2. Brief Description of the Prior Art 
     Many materials are stored and transported on pallets. The materials may be placed on pallets at the place of manufacture and stored in a warehouse for later shipping to purchasers. Movement of the palletized materials typically requires use of a motorized forklift truck or a hand dolly. These machines are expensive and take up space. In many instances, particularly with small lots of material, it would be more convenient and more economical, if palletized material could be moved by hand without the use of a dolly. 
     The following U.S. Patents are incorporated by reference herein: D U.S. Pat. Nos. 363,209, 2,049,344, 4,576,391, 5,503,417 and 5,934,634. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide wheel assemblies which may be attached to conventional pallets or to other structures with runners. It is another object to provide wheel assembles which may be removably attached to the component boards of conventional pallets. It is also an object to provide wheel assemblies for pallets that permit the pallets to be moved by hand without the use of forklift trucks or dollies. It is a further object to provide removable wheel assemblies for both single deck and double deck pallets. 
     The present invention permits palletized material, and the pallets on which material may be stored, to be moved by hand without the use of a dolly. The invention provides wheel assemblies which may be attached to conventional pallets. The wheel assemblies may be attached and removed easily by hand or with a minimum of tools, often with only a hammer. Embodiments of the invention are available for use with both double deck and single deck pallets. It will be appreciated also that the wheel assemblies of the present invention may be used on other structures with runners. 
     The wheel assemblies of one embodiment of the invention clip to the deck boards of a pallet. A further embodiment of the wheel assemblies clips to the stringer boards of a pallet, refrigeration case or other such structure. The wheel assemblies may use fixed wheels or may use wheels that swivel. The wheel assemblies are typically made of strong and durable material. The wheel components may be made of conventional material, such as rubber, steel and plastic with conventional bearings and steel axles, for example, with sealed bearings. The clip portions of the wheel assemblies are preferably made of steel, such as spring steel, or an equivalent resilient material. 
     The invention summarized above comprises the constructions hereinafter described, the scope of the invention being indicated by the subjoined claims. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING 
     In the accompanying drawings, in which several of various possible embodiments of the invention are illustrated, corresponding reference characters refer to corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a double deck pallet with wheel assemblies in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a single deck pallet with wheel assemblies of the invention; 
     FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the single deck pallet and wheel assembly as shown in FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 is a side view of the single deck pallet and wheel assembly shown in FIG. 3, in partial cross-section; 
     FIG. 5 is a side view, in partial cross-section, of the double deck pallet and wheel assembly shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of the double deck pallet and wheel assembly shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the clip portion of the wheel assembly shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 8 is an exploded view of a further embodiment of a wheel assembly; 
     FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a single deck long pallet with wheel assemblies of the invention; and, 
     FIG. 10 is a partial cross-sectional view of the single deck long pallet and wheel assembly shown in FIG.  9 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional double deck pallet  20  is shown. Pallet  20  has three stringer boards or runners  22  and top slats or deckboards  24 . Pallet  20  also has bottom slats or deckboards  26  and  27 . Bottom deckboards  27  are placed at each end of pallet  20 , while bottom deckboards  26  are placed between bottom deckboards  27  with wider gaps  29  between adjacent bottom deckboards  26  and  27 . 
     As shown in FIGS. 1,  5  and  6 , wheel assemblies  28  of the invention are installed on pallet  20  on end bottom deckboards  27  at each end of pallet  20 . However, wheel assemblies  28  may also be installed on bottom deckboards  26  or on the inner side of bottom deckboards  27  through gaps  29 , if desired. As illustrated in the drawings, wheel assemblies  28  use a conventional wheel  30  with a conventional axle  32  mounted in a bight or U-shaped mount  34 . As shown in FIG. 5, U-shaped mount  34  may include a stamped strengthening bulge  35 , as is known in the art. While mount  34  is shown as U-shaped, it will be appreciated that it may be of other shapes, for example as a single depending plate, not shown, on which a suitable axle and wheel combination is mounted. 
     Wheel assemblies  28  also include an attaching bracket  36 , shown in more detail in FIG.  7 . Attaching bracket  36  and mount  34  may be formed as an integral piece, as is known in the art. Attaching bracket  36  and mount may also be made as separate pieces and joined by conventional means, such as by welding or the use of suitable fasteners, as is known in the art. As shown in FIG. 7, attaching bracket  36  encompasses a space  38  which receives a deckboard, such as deckboard  27  shown in FIG.  5 . Space  38  is bounded by a bottom plate  40  and a top plate  42 . Top plate  42  is resiliently biased toward bottom plate  40  to tightly confine deckboard  27  when deckboard  27  is received in attaching bracket  36 . 
     Top plate  42  may have a guide lip  44 , as shown in FIG.  7 . Guide lip  44  is bent upwardly and outwardly from top plate  42  to guide a deckboard  26  or  27  into space  38  where it is tightly confined between top plate  42  and bottom plate  40 . As shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, top plate  42  may also have retaining barbs  46  which are stamped into top plate  42 . If desired, bottom plate  40  could also have retaining barbs, not shown. Retaining barbs  46  are biased toward bottom plate  40  an additional distance and may be pointed to dig into the surface of a deckboard  26  or  27 , as shown in FIG.  5 . Retaining barbs  46  assist in providing a firm attachment between wheel assembly  28  and a pallet  20 . 
     Referring to FIGS. 2 through 4,  8  and  10 , further embodiments of the invention are shown which may be used with single deck pallets and also with double deck pallets, for example if installed in gaps  29  of a double deck pallet as shown in FIG.  1 . As shown in FIG. 2, a single deck pallet  60  has runners or stringer boards  62  with slats or deck boards  64 . Wheel assemblies  68  having wheels  70  are mounted to stringer boards  62 . Wheel assembly  68  may have a conventional wheel  70  and axle  72  as previously described for the embodiment of FIG.  1 . Further, wheel  70  may be mounted in a U-shaped mount or bight  74  , which may have a strengthening bulge  75 , as previously described for mount  34 . Mount  74  is attached to a mounting bracket  76 , as shown in FIG. 10, or  77  as shown in FIG.  8 . Mount  74  could be a fixed wheel mount as previously described for the embodiments of FIG. 1 through 6. However, the embodiments shown in FIGS. 8,  9  and  10  have further features. 
     In FIGS. 9 and 10, U-shaped mount  74  is attached to mounting bracket  76  by a swivel pin  78 . Swivel pin  78  permits relative rotating movement between U-shaped mount  74  and mounting bracket  76 . This feature may also be included in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Further, mounting bracket  76 , or attaching bracket  36  of FIG. 1, could be fitted with a socket to receive the post of a caster type roller, not shown, which would also permit relative rotating movement. 
     Mounting bracket  76 , shown in FIG. 10, has walls  80  which are biased toward each other to receive and confine a stringer board  63  of a single deck pallet  61 . A similar structure is shown in FIG.  3 . The upper portion of walls  80  may have guides  84 , as shown, to guide a stringer board  63  into mounting bracket  76 . Walls  80  of mounting bracket  76  may also have retaining barbs, not shown, such as retaining barbs  46  previously described. When mounting bracket  76  is attached to a runner on a refrigeration case or the like, guides  84  may be elongated laterally for support (not shown). 
     Wheel assemblies  28 , and also  68 , may be modified to have pivoting or relative rotating movement between the mounting bracket and the wheel mount to permit pallets to be moved by hand with additional convenience. In addition, long pallets such as those shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 with reference number  61  may be conveniently moved by a forklift machine  100 . For example, if deck boards  65  of pallet  61  are heavily loaded or the load is out of balance, forklift truck  100  may not be able to lift and move pallet  61 . However, with wheel assemblies  68  forklift truck  100  can move pallet  61  without lifting it, by pushing pallet  61  like a wheelbarrow. 
     Referring to FIG. 8, a further modification is shown which permits the wheel assembly to be adjusted to stringer boards of a variety of widths. It is preferred that wheel assembly  69  have a snug fit to the stringer board on which it is installed. The snug fit is primarily accomplished by having the walls of the mounting bracket bear resiliently on the stringer board. Wheel assembly  69 , with continued reference to FIG. 8, can be adjusted to fit a variety of stringer boards with walls  81  and  83  resiliently pressed against the stringer board. 
     As shown in FIG. 8, wheel mount  74  has upper surface  89 . Upper surface  89  has a series of threaded holes  91  formed thereon. Wall  81  of mounting bracket  77  is not fixed to wheel mount  74  and has an inwardly turned lip  93  at its base. Similarly, wall  83  is not fixed to wheel mount  74  and has an inwardly turned lip  95  at its base, as shown. Lip  93  has a plurality of slots  97  therein, as shown, which mate with threaded holes  91 . Lip  95  also has a plurality of slots  99  which mate with threaded holes  91 . Walls  81  and  83  can be assembled on upper surface  89  of wheel mount  74  and adjusted to accommodate stringer boards of varying widths by telescoping lips  93  and  95  over threaded holes  91  and fastening lips  93  and  95  to upper surface  89  by threaded fasteners  101 , one of which is shown. The adjustment may be close enough to achieve a snug fit of wheel assembly  69  to a stringer board and for walls  81  and  83  to resiliently bear on the stringer board. The top of wall  81  may have guides  85  and the top of wall  83  has guide portion  85  to assist with the installation of the wheel assembly  69  onto a stringer board with the described snug fit. 
     The snug fit achieved by the invention, as disclosed for all of the embodiments, normally permits wheel assemblies  28 ,  68  and  69  to be installed on stringer boards, or deckboards, without the use of additional fasteners, such as nail or screws, though such fasteners may be used if desired. Installation of wheel assemblies  28 ,  68  and  69  normally requires only a hammer to force assemblies  28 ,  68  and  69  onto stringer boards, or deckboards, with walls  40 - 42 ,  80  and  81 - 83  in snug resilient contact with their associated stringer boards or deckboards. 
     In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results attained. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the examples and embodiments given here are for purposes of example. Many variations and modifications may be made in the details of the disclosed structure without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, the orientation of the retaining barbs may be changed as desired, the wheel used may be of the type having locks or not, or the direction of the adjusting lips may be changed. These and other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The invention is not to be restricted to the details given here by way of example, but is to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.