Rack support system for plastic pallets

Abstract

A metal deck is received on the front and rear beams of a conventional rack system and is specially configured to receive a conventional nine leg plastic pallet. Weight and cost efficiency in the deck is achieved by concentrating the deck mass in those segments of the deck which make contact with the legs of the plastic pallet, and more particularly by recognizing that the center row of pallet legs carries a greater fraction of the pallet load then each of the outside rows of pallet legs. Closely spaced parallel front to back wire sections define pallet leg row support segments for the three rows of posts or legs of a plastic pallet, distributing the load of each leg over multiple wire segments. Front to back wires with an upwardly opening v-section are connected by struts to the wires within each support segment. Thus a single truss is formed as a part of each side support segment, and two trusses are formed as a part of the center support segment. A wire is fixed to the front of the deck support segments to serve as a quake stop or restraint against supported pallets moving in response to tremors. Hooks and downwardly extending front and rear structure retain the deck on a rack, while wires are bent upwardly and connected to define side stops and a rear stop which restrain the pallet legs on the deck. The deck support segments may be formed as stamped or roll-formed segments of steel sheet.