The concept of pallet to pallet transfer has been around almost as long as pallets themselves.
The earliest models were usually referred to as load tippers or tipplers and were invariably put together in local workshops. 180 degree inverter attachments on forklift trucks were also developed early on, with Cascade’s Turnaload being among the first commercially […]

Metal wire pallets were tested at the Hingham MA Naval Materials Handling Laboratory during World War 2, and saw some action in the field. This analysis, undertaken by the Bayonne NJ station, is dated 1947.
Metal Pallet 1947 A.pdf
Metal Pallet 1947 B.pdf

Several years ago I first heard about the attached 1954 US Naval document outlining specifications for pallet procurement. The US Armed Forces of the day used more pallets than any other organization, and the Navy was the largest consumer of pallets within that group. The document shows insight that would have served as […]

Norman Cahners, U.S. Navy pallet expert and later the head of America’s premier trade press empire, was active in the arena of pallet design after World War 2. Operating an entity known as Materials Handling Laboratories, he licensed the construction of a 4-way entry timber pallet through various pallet companies of the day, […]

Palletization in the brewing industry has changed markedly since 1969, and continues to evolve. This study provides a snapshot of the beer pallet market of the late 1960s. While the brewing industry in the US and some international markets make considerable use of plastic pallets today, it was not predicted back in 1969:

All […]

A 1986 paper from the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station
ne_rp580.pdf

There are often lessons to be learned from the past. In the case of pallets, as in many other aspects of material handling, best practices of the past sometimes fell out of fashion or were otherwise discontinued over time. Click on the link below to see one of my favorite columns of recent […]

Alvin P. Stauffer wrote the most comprehensive study of World War 2 materials handling, and in no small part, documented the roles of pallets and palletization. The rare monograph, entitled Quartermaster Depot storage and distribution operations, was published in 1948, by the Historical Section of the Office of the Quartermaster General. Harvard-educated Stauffer […]

Here are a couple of more poor quality reprints from microfiche, reporting on the materials handling innovations, including the pallet, which helped boost efficiencies.  There are some decent pictures of 2-way pallets in the “Army Streamlines…” piece, in contrast to the 8-way pallets described in the most recent entry.
Materials Handling 1942.pdf   Army Streamlines Materials Handling […]

The quality isn’t the best on the pdf file below, which is from a photocopy of a microfiche, but it announces the development of a major material handling innovation in a time when pallets had predominantly been only of 2-way entry.  It also includes a picture of the Naval Ordnance Material Handling Laboratory in Hingham […]