Who invented the pallet jack?

We have provided all the information you need on pallet jacks besides who Invented the Pallet Jack? According to Wikipedia the pallet jack was created by George Raymond and Bill House. The first prototypes were sleds. They had no centre supports and were lifted by a single lift platform. Later came the addition of a centre stringer and a bottom face or deck, in conjunction with the use of forks to lift and transport the load. The pallet had arrived.

When Was the Pallet Invented?

Raymond and House did not accurately signal the invention of the pallet, for that had come earlier in the 1930s with the addition of the bottom deck to the skid, which had already been in use for a few decades at least. There were earlier stringer pallet patents. An earlier Raymond patent from the late 1920s had to do with the development of a load platform, which was a timber platform with metal legs on the sides. At the time the pallet was referenced in trade publications as early as 1930.

Raymond and House success was none-the-less worthy. It allowed for the construction of a pallet out of low-cost wood rather than employing metal legs or stringers and simplified functionality not only with forklifts but with a gapped spacing of bottom deck boards to also allow utilization by pallet trucks, which needed wheel openings in the pallet bottom deck.

Previously, pallet trucks were used with single faced pallets (skids) only and would not work with full double face pallets.

Why the move from a single lift platform on lift trucks to the use of forks

In conjunction with the introduction with the middle stringer, it is said it was done to reduce the width of the pallet deck. It was an important design improvement that allowed much thinner deck boards to be used without severe bend.

It was an interchange to maximize performance with the lowest cost pallet. It sometimes makes sense financially to invest in some equipment such as fork attachments to reduce the cost of a great many more pallets.

When it comes to setting up roller conveyors and other equipment today, this design challenge still surfaces, is it worth the investment in closer roller spacing.

The history of the pallet jack might be entwined, but it is very much a shop floor history. Items such as patents and trade publications accounts and the occasional oral account.