Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A 200-litre drum (known as a 55-gallon drum in the United States and a 44-gallon drum in the United Kingdom and the rest of the world) is a cylindrical container with a nominal capacity of 200 litres (55 US or 44 imp gal). The exact capacity varies by manufacturer, purpose, or other factors.
The common 55-gallon size of drum for storing and transporting various products and wastes is sometimes confused with a barrel, though it is not a standard measure. In the U.S., single servings of beverages are usually measured in fluid ounces. Milk is usually sold in half-pints (8 fluid ounces), pints, quarts, half gallons, and gallons.
In 1824, these units were replaced with a single system based on the imperial gallon. [a] Originally defined as the volume of 10 pounds (4.54 kg) of distilled water (under certain conditions), [b] then redefined by the Weights and Measures Act 1985 to be exactly 4.546 09 L (277.4 cu in), the imperial gallon is close in size to the old ale gallon.
The sizes of gallon used in these two systems were different from each other: the first was based on the wine gallon (equal in size to the US gallon), and the second one either the ale gallon or the larger imperial gallon. By the end of the 18th century, there were three definitions of the gallon in common use:
In 1832, in the absence of any direction by Congress, the United States Treasury chose the second smallest gallon, the "Queen Anne gallon" of 231 cubic inches (3.785 litres), to be the official gallon in the United States for fiscal purposes. Sixteen US fluid ounces make a US pint (8 pints equals 1 gallon in both customary and imperial systems).
[nb 1] (This was the basis for calling 64 gallons a quarter.) At some time before the 15th century, it was reduced to 252 gallons, so as to be evenly divisible by other small integers, including seven. [nb 2] Note that a 252-gallon tun of wine has a mass of approximately 2060 pounds, [4] between a short ton (2000 pounds) and a long ton (2240 ...
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
Typically a large vat or vessel, most often holding 252 wine gallons, but occasionally other sizes (e.g. 256, 240 and 208 gallons) were also used. [2] The modern tun is about 954 litres. The word tun is etymologically related to the word ton for the unit of mass, the mass of a tun of wine being approximately one long ton , which is 2 240 pounds ...