The invention relates to a method for moving goods by sliding them over a substrate, comprising the following steps:

• providing a transport slab,
• placing a sliding surface of the transport slab on the substrate,
• placing the goods on a bearing surface of the transport slab,
• exerting a force on the transport slab such that this is slid over the substrate.

Such a method is known, inter alia from US-A 5 613 447. In this publication a transport slab that consists of a polymer is used for transporting goods with the aid of a fork-lift truck with a push/pull device. An example of a fork-lift truck of this type is disclosed in US-A 4 624 620. The goods that are accommodated on the transport slab can be slid onto the forks of the fork-lift truck by means of the push/pull device or can be pushed off these.

It is known to make such slabs of plastic, as mentioned above, or of cardboard. Cardboard has the disadvantage that it has poorer ability to withstand moisture. In the moist state cardboard loses cohesion, as a result of which it can tear when it is gripped and a pull is exerted on it. Plastic has the disadvantage that the costs are relatively high.

The aim of the invention is, therefore to provide a method that does not have these disadvantages. This aim is achieved in that a transport slab is used that is made of a rubber material. The embodiment where the rubber material is a recycled material, for example obtained from used car tyres, is particularly advantageous. The material concerned can be devulcanised rubber material, or ground rubber material that has been made up to a cohesive whole by means of an adhesive. Other materials can also be added.

Major advantages can be obtained by this means. It is known that the quantity of car tyres discarded annually is increasing. Up to now no good recycling for such discarded car tyres has been found. By now using the raw material obtained from these car tyres for the transport slabs concerned it is possible for the price thereof to remain low and a solution for the waste problem associated with the discarded car tyres is also within reach. It is particularly advantageous if the rubber concerned is devulcanised rubber from car tyres.

The invention also relates to a transport slab made of a rubber material for use in the method described above, having a bearing surface on which the goods can be accommodated, a sliding surface that can be slid over the substrate and at least one edge that can be gripped by a transport member for sliding the slab over the substrate.

Although reference has been made to a transport slab above, the invention relates to any type of transport member that has a fairly small thickness compared with the transverse dimensions, such as a transport sheet, transport mat and the like. The surface dimensions are approximately the same as those of a standard pallet for road transport.

As mentioned, the rubber material can be obtained from discarded car tyres. In this context the material can be either the variant where such rubber material has been devulcanised or the variant where such rubber material has been ground and has been made up to a cohesive whole by means of an adhesive and the like.

The recycled rubber is preferably obtained from a vulcanised synthetic rubber, where the vulcanised synthetic rubber has been prepared by vulcanisation of a synthetic rubber selected from the group comprising polyisoprene, polybutadiene, poly(styrene-butadiene), poly(styrene-isoprene), ethene-propene copolymers (EPM), ethene-butene copolymers (EBM), ethene-propene-diene copolymers (EPDM), styrene-butadiene-styrene terpolymers (SBS), styrene-isoprene-styrene terpolymers (SIS), styrene-ethene-butadiene-styrene polymers (SEBS) and styrene-ethene-propene-styrene polymers (SEPS), where the synthetic rubber preferably has a Mooney viscosity [ML(1+4), 100 °C] according to ASTM D-1646 of 5 to 200.

Reference is made to the state of the art as disclosed in US-B 6 374 753. This publication relates to a pallet that has been produced from a mixture of fragments of material that have been obtained by grinding or otherwise comminuting rubber tyres. Fragments of plastic waste material are also incorporated in the mixture. Epoxy-based material is added to the mixture of such fragments of material as a bonding agent, as a result of which a mixture that can be formed is obtained. The mixture that can be formed thus obtained is then introduced into a mould that has the desired shape of the pallet.

Apart from the fact that the state of the art as disclosed in US-B 6 374 753 does not relate to a transport slab that is used when sliding goods, but to a pallet, this known pallet consists of a different material.