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Development of the pallet
The pallet was developed in stages. Spacers were used between loads to allow fork entry,
progressing to the placement of boards atop stringers to make skids. Eventually boards were
fastened to the bottom to create the pallet. The addition of bottom boards on the skid, which
appeared by 1925, resulted in the modern form of the pallet. With the bottom deck, several
problems common to the single faced skid were addressed. For example, the bottom boards
provided better weight distribution and reduced product damage; they also provided better
stacking strength and rigidity. Lift truck manufacturers promoted the idea of using more
vertical area of a plant for stock storage.
In size, skids started narrow in order to pass through ordinary doors. As facilities were
rebuilt, many organizations optimized their buildings for larger pallets in order to reduce
labor costs.
The earliest referenced U.S. patent on a skid is Hallowell's 1924 "Lift Truck Platform."[1] In
1939, Carl Clark patented a recognizably modern pallet, although with steel stringers.[2] In
World War II, palleted material handling was rapidly perfected in order to transfer Allied war
materials. The patent activity picked up again after the war, as inventors claimed items they
improvised for the war effort. The first four direction pallet was claimed in 1945 by Robert
Braun.[3] At the end of 1948, Sullivan Stemple claimed the basic idea of a pallet designed to
be used with a fork lift; the pallet was to be stamped from steel.[4] During World War II, to
reduce the resupply time of warships, the first modern disposable four-way block pallet was
developed, and patented in early 1949 by Norman Cahners, a U.S. Navy Supply Officer in the
ordnance depot at Hingham, Massachusetts. [5][6] The first completely modern 2-direction
stringer pallet was described in 1949 by Darling Graeme.[7]
Impact of pallet on rail transport
Pallets and forklifts also provided much quicker turnaround of rail cars and ships. In 1931,
three days were required to unload a boxcar containing 13,000 cases of unpalletized canned
goods. When the same amount of goods were loaded into the railway trucks on pallets or skids,
the identical task took only four hours. With the entry of the U.S. into World War II, the
urgency for material handling reform changed almost overnight. Palletization was regarded as an
enormous opportunity to help the U.S. armed forces do more with less. Palletized loads could
handle more goods with fewer people, freeing up men for military duty; it also could increase
warehouse storage capacity and throughput, reducing the need for additional warehouse capacity.
Pallets were used somewhat in the European theater, but they were put to work extensively in
the Pacific.
Standardization and regulation
Dimensions (mm) Dimensions (inches) Wasted floor, ISO Container Region
1219 x 1016 48.00 x 40.00 3.7% North America
1200 x 1000 47.24 x 39.37 6.7% Europe, Asia; similar to 48x40".
1140 x 1140 44.88 x 44.88 8.1% Australia
1067 x 1067 42.00 x 42.00 11.5% North America, Europe, Asia
1100 x 1100 43.30 x 43.30 14% Asia
1200 x 800 47.24 x 31.50 15.2% Europe; fits many doorways
North American pallets
Of the top pallets used in North America, the most commonly used by far is the Grocery
Manufacturers' Association (GMA) pallet, which accounts for 30% of all new wood pallets
produced in the United States.[10] The ISO also recognizes the GMA pallet footprint as one of
its six standard sizes.
Dimensions (mm) Dimensions (in.) Production Rank Industries Using
1219 x 1016 48 x 40 1 Grocery, many others
1067 x 1067 42 x 42 2 Telecommunications, Paint
1219 x 1219 48 x 48 3 Drums
1016 x 1219 40 x 48 4 Military[11], Cement1219 x 1067 48 x 42 5
Chemical, Beverage
1016 x 1016 40 x 40 6 Dairy
1219 x 1143 48 x 45 7 Automotive
1118 x 1118 44 x 44 8 Drums, Chemical
914 x 914 36 x 36 9 Beverage
1219 x 914 48 x 36 10 Beverage, Shingles, Packaged Paper
889 x 1156 35 x 45.5 Unknown Military 1/2 ISO container, fits 36" standard
doors[12]
1219 x 508 48 x 20 Unknown Retail[13]
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