Patent ID: 6926142

Claim:
A package unit of product and packaging structure wherein the product is of substantial length and is relatively lightweight and flexible such as extruded plastic or fiberglass molding strips, deck planks, or the like which will tend to droop at its ends when stacked on pallets, wherein said product is vertically stacked in layers and wherein the upper and lower surfaces of each layer are substantially planar, said packaging structure comprising a divider of fairly rigid material interposed between each said layer and having opposing sides edges and end edges, each said divider being provided at each of its side edges with at least two tabs projecting laterally outwardly therefrom, each said tab having an aperture formed therethrough, said apertures of superimposed dividers being vertically aligned and posts being inserted frictionally thru the aligned apertures, wherein a plurality of dividers are employed for each layer and are overlapped at their adjacent end edges such that the apertures in the adjacent tabs of the overlapped dividers are aligned and receive the same posts, wherein said divider material is heavy corrugated paper board having a density of from about 2.5 to about 4.0 oz./ft 2 , and wherein the stack of layered product and dividers is laterally banded whereby a topmost divider and a bottom divider of the stack are sufficiently deformed to frictionally and strongly bind the posts against the edges of the apertures of said topmost and bottom dividers.