In a
pallet racking which comprises at least one pair of spaced, parallel rails, and first and second wheeled carts mounted in rolling relation with said pair of railsand defining a load-carrying area, said second cart being capable of rolling over said first cart to overlie said first cart without movement-obstructing cantact therewith, the improvement comprising, in combination:
each rail of said pair comprising a vertical web and a pair of generally horizontal flange portions having upper surfaces extending outwardly in opposed directions from said web, the wheels of said carts riding on said flange portions, the wheelsof one of said carts riding on flange portions of each rail which are opposed to the flange portions on which the wheels of the other of said carts ride, at least a portion of said web extending above said flange portions to limit lateral movement ofsaid wheels.
When access to a rearwardly positioned
pallet racking is desired, one may simply remove the pallets in front of it with a lift truck or the like and cause the rearwardly positioned pallet to roll to the lift truck for access. Thus such systems can havea greater storage density of pallets, when compared with prior systems.
However, the systems of the prior art exhibit certain disadvantages. For example, the Doring patent requires rolling carts for holding pallets, which carts must have flanged wheels, and which must ride on wide, unprotected surfaces.
In accordance with this invention, a
pallet racking system is provided with rolling carts for holding the pallets in which the wheels of the carts are not flanged, which results in a reduction in manufacturing expense, and also permits less criticalcontrol in the control of dimensions of the wheels and their placement. Additionally, in accordance with this invention, the rails upon which the wheeled carts roll may be protected to a significantly increased extent against falling debris from thepallets and the like, so that the problem of obstructions to the free rolling of the carts is significantly reduced. Additionally, the vertical space in a stack of
pallet racking in accordance with this invention may be utilized in a particularlyefficient manner, for improvements in storage density.
