Patent ID: 8596207

Claim:
A flat pallet, comprising identical first and second boards, each board having a bottom side formed with two channels for receiving a steel pipe, each board having at least one length side provided with an identical hingeable coupling mechanism comprising at least one gripping element and at least one adjacent receiving element, wherein the at least one gripping element disposed on the first board engages the at least one receiving element disposed on the second board and the at least one gripping element disposed on the second board engages the at least one receiving element disposed on the first board, when the boards are interlocked, wherein at least one gripping element is constructed as a hook projecting from an edge of the first and second boards and oriented parallel to the at least one length side, and the at least one receiving element is formed by a groove with a length-side-proximal rib, said length-side-proximal rib having a height and being oriented parallel to and spaced from an edge of the at least one length side, wherein the hook is constructed so that in closely abutting relationship of the first and second boards, when an edge of the first board is substantially collinear with an edge of the second board, the hook of each board engages behind the length-side proximal rib of the other board when the boards are pivoted with respect to each other at an angle less than a predetermined angle, with the predetermined angle defined by the height of the length-side proximal rib and a spacing of the length-side proximal rib from the edge, so as to interlock the two boards, and the hook of each board disengages from the length-side proximal rib when the boards are pivoted with respect to each other at an angle greater than the predetermined angle, thereby allowing the first and second board to be decoupled in a direction perpendicular to the at least one length side.