Patent ID: 8141500

Claim:
A method for making a pallet comprising an upper deck comprising material having a first melting point; a plurality of first joining members that project downwardly from the upper deck, each first joining member integrally molded with the upper deck and including an outer sleeve; a lower deck comprising material having the first melting point; a plurality of second joining members that project upwardly from the lower deck, each second joining member integrally molded with the lower deck and including an inner sleeve; at least one of the upper and lower decks including a plurality of channels between top and bottom surfaces thereof, the method comprising: forming a plurality of sleeved reinforcing rods, each sleeved reinforcing rod comprising a reinforcing rod having opposing ends and side surfaces therebetween, and a sleeve enclosing the side surfaces of the reinforcing rod, with there being relative movement between each sleeve and corresponding reinforcing rod; providing respective deck molds for the upper and lower decks; positioning the plurality of sleeved reinforcing rods in at least one of the deck molds to define the plurality of channels therein, with each channel extending from a side edge to an opposing side edge of the at least one of the upper and lower decks allowing a reinforcing rod therein to be later removed from the channel; forming the upper and lower decks including their respective first and second joining members, with the upper and lower decks each comprising material having a first melting point, and with each sleeve comprising material having a second melting point higher than the first melting point so that outer surfaces of the sleeves are partially melted to the material of the at least one of the upper and lower decks with the defined plurality of channels therein; and positioning the inner sleeves of the plurality of second joining members for receiving the outer sleeves of the plurality of first joining members to define a plurality of support blocks joining the upper and lower decks.