Today in 1963, US Patent 3105599 A was issued, an invention of Henry O. Hausermann, assigned to the Blitz Weinhard Co., for his “Barrel Loading.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
Thus it is an object of the invention to provide an improvided pallet construction which accommodates easy rolling of beer kegs onto the pallet and nesting of the kegs in position with the kegs snugly packed thereon.
Another object of the invention is to provide a pallet that employs a panel of relatively simple construction as a supporting means, the latter being effective to hold the bottom sides of beer kegs firmly in place and above possible contact with the forks of a forklift truck inserted beneath the pallet, and to provide such a pallet that is capable of being lifted from all sides.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a slip sheet for stacking one tier of barrels or kegs over another, such a slip sheet taking the form of a panel having cutouts effective to seat on the top sides of a lower tier of barrels and seat the lower sides of an upper tier of barrels.
Another object of the invention is to provide a pallet and Islip sheet construction that enables the stacking of barrels on their sides and in tiers, one over another, with the barrels of an upper tier aligned with the barrels of a lower tier. This is important for space reasons, as most barrels are longer than they are Wide, and many vehicles can only be fully loaded if the barrels of successive tiers are aligned and extend all in the same direction.
