Container

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Simple containers made from gourds being sold for use as calabash in Kenya. Pots for sale in Kenya.jpg
Simple containers made from gourds being sold for use as calabash in Kenya.
Display of a woven basket from the Maya peoples of Mexico. Little world, Aichi prefecture - Main exhibition hall - Woven basket - Maya people in Mexico.jpg
Display of a woven basket from the Maya peoples of Mexico.
A corrugated fiberboard box. MOVINGBOX.JPG
A corrugated fiberboard box.
A spine car with a 6 metres (20 ft) tank container and an open-top intermodal shipping container with canvas cover. Railroad car with container loads.jpg
A spine car with a 6 metres (20 ft) tank container and an open-top intermodal shipping container with canvas cover.
Intermediate bulk containers, commonly used in industrial settings for the handling, transport, and storage of liquids, semi-solids, pastes, or solids. 8205Plastic containers 03.jpg
Intermediate bulk containers, commonly used in industrial settings for the handling, transport, and storage of liquids, semi-solids, pastes, or solids.

A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. [1] Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term is most frequently applied to devices made from materials that are durable and are often partly or completely rigid.

Contents

A container can also be considered as a basic tool, [2] [3] consisting of any device creating a partially or fully enclosed space that can be used to contain, store, and transport objects or materials.

History

Humans have used containers for at least 100,000 years, and possibly for millions of years. [4] The first containers were probably invented for storing food, [4] [5] allowing early humans to preserve more of their food for a longer time, to carry it more easily, and also to protect it from other animals. The development of food storage containers was "of immense importance to the evolving human populations", and "was a totally innovative behavior" not seen in other primates. [6] The earliest containers were probably objects found in nature such as hollow gourds, [7] of which primitive examples have been found in cultures such as those of the Tharu people, [8] and native Hawaiian people. [9] These were followed by woven baskets, carved wood, and pottery.

Containers thereafter continued to develop along with related advances in human technology, and with the development of new materials and new means of manufacture. [10] Early glass bottles were produced by the Phoenicians; specimens of Phoenician translucent and transparent glass bottles have been found in Cyprus and Rhodes generally varying in length from three to six inches. [11] These Phoenician examples from the first millennium BC were thought to have been used to contain perfume. [12] The Romans learned glass-making from the Phoenicians and produced many extant examples of fine glass bottles, mostly relatively small. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, sizes for retail containers such as glass bottles had become standardized for their markets. [13]

In 1810, Frenchman Philippe de Girard came to London and used British merchant Peter Durand as an agent to patent his own idea for a process for making tin cans. [14] The canning concept was based on experimental food preservation work in glass containers the year before by the French inventor Nicholas Appert. Durand did not pursue food canning, but, in 1812, sold his patent to two Englishmen, Bryan Donkin and John Hall, who refined the process and product, and set up the world's first commercial canning factory on Southwark Park Road, London. By 1813 they were producing their first tin canned goods for the Royal Navy.

For transportation of goods on a larger scale, larger containers remained a problem, as customs officials inspecting imports had to deal with a lack of standardization in this field, and because predominantly wooden containers in use well into the twentieth century were prone to leaking or breaking. [13] The standardized steel shipping container was developed in the 1950s, and quickly became ubiquitous for the large-scale transportation of commercial goods.

Towards the end of the Twentieth century, the introduction of computer-aided design made it possible to design highly specialized containers and container arrangements, and also to make form-fitting labels for containers of unusual shapes. [15]

Modern characteristics

A number of considerations go into the design of modern containers:

The product characteristics that create utility for a container go beyond just providing shock and moisture protection for the contents. A well-designed container will also exhibit ease of use, that is, it is easy for the worker to open or close, to insert or extract the contents, and to handle the container in shipment. In addition, a good container will have convenient and legible labeling locations, a shape that is conducive to efficient stacking and storing, and easy recycling at the end of its useful life. [16]

Variety

Practical examples of containers are listed below.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Containerization</span> Intermodal freight transport system

Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers. Containerization, also referred as container stuffing or container loading, is the process of unitization of cargoes in exports. Containerization is the predominant form of unitization of export cargoes, as opposed to other systems such as the barge system or palletization. The containers have standardized dimensions. They can be loaded and unloaded, stacked, transported efficiently over long distances, and transferred from one mode of transport to another—container ships, rail transport flatcars, and semi-trailer trucks—without being opened. The handling system is mechanized so that all handling is done with cranes and special forklift trucks. All containers are numbered and tracked using computerized systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intermodal container</span> Standardized reusable steel box used for transporting goods

An intermodal container, often called a shipping container or ISO Container, is a large standardized container designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport – such as from ships to trains to trucks – without unloading and reloading their cargo. Intermodal containers are primarily used to store and transport materials and products efficiently and securely in the global containerized intermodal freight transport system, but smaller numbers are in regional use as well. These containers are known under a number of names. Based on size alone, up to 95% of intermodal containers comply with ISO standards, and can officially be called ISO containers. Many other names are simply: container, cargo or freight container, shipping, sea or ocean container, container van or sea van, sea can or C can, or MILVAN, SEAVAN, or RO/RO. The also used term CONEX (Box) is a technically incorrect carry-over usage of the name of an important predecessor of the international ISO containers, namely the much smaller prior steel CONEX boxes used by the U.S. Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Box</span> Type of container

A box is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small or very large and can be used for a variety of purposes, from functional to decorative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jar</span> Rigid, approximately cylindrical container with a wide mouth or opening

A jar is a rigid, cylindrical or slightly conical container, typically made of glass, ceramic, or plastic, with a wide mouth or opening that can be closed with a lid, screw cap, lug cap, cork stopper, roll-on cap, crimp-on cap, press-on cap, plastic shrink, heat sealed lidding film, an inner seal, a tamper-evident band, or other suitable means. The English word "jar" originates from the Arabic word jarra, which means an earthen pot or vessel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Packaging</span> Enclosure or protection of products for distribution, storage, and sale

Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a coordinated system of preparing goods for transport, warehousing, logistics, sale, and end use. Packaging contains, protects, preserves, transports, informs, and sells. In many countries it is fully integrated into government, business, institutional, industrial, and for personal use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pallet</span> Flat structure to transport goods

A pallet is a flat transport structure, which supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, a pallet jack, a front loader, a jacking device, or an erect crane. Many pallets can handle a load of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). While most pallets are wooden, pallets can also be made of plastic, metal, paper, and recycled materials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slip sheet</span> Unit load handling aid using sheet

A Slip sheet is “a corrugated, solid fiber, or plastic sheet onto which a unit load can be assembled. A protruding short panel can be grasped by the jaws of a pull-pack truck and the load pulled back onto the pull-pack platform.”

Dunnage is inexpensive or waste material used to load and secure cargo during transportation; more loosely, it refers to miscellaneous baggage, brought along during travel. The term can also refer to low-priority cargo used to fill out transport capacity which would otherwise ship underweight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardboard box</span> Type of packaging

Cardboard boxes are industrially prefabricated boxes, primarily used for packaging goods and materials. Specialists in industry seldom use the term cardboard because it does not denote a specific material. The term cardboard may refer to a variety of heavy paper-like materials, including card stock, corrugated fiberboard, and paperboard. Cardboard boxes can be readily recycled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intermediate bulk container</span> Industrial-grade storage and transport container for fluids and solids

Intermediate bulk containers are industrial-grade containers engineered for the mass handling, transport, and storage of liquids, semi-solids, pastes, or solids. The two main categories of IBC tanks are flexible IBCs and rigid IBCs. Many IBCs are reused or repurposed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plastic milk container</span> Plastic bottle used to store commercially sold milk

Plastic milk containers are plastic containers for storing, shipping and dispensing milk. Plastic bottles, sometimes called jugs, have largely replaced glass bottles for home consumption. Glass milk bottles have traditionally been reusable while light-weight plastic bottles are designed for single trips and plastic recycling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulk box</span> Pallet-size shipping box

A bulk box, also known as a bulk bin, skid box, pallet box, bin box, gaylord, or octabin, is a pallet-size box used for storage and shipping of bulk quantities.

Insulated shipping containers are a type of packaging used to ship temperature sensitive products such as foods, pharmaceuticals, organs, blood, biologic materials, vaccines and chemicals. They are used as part of a cold chain to help maintain product freshness and efficacy. The term can also refer to insulated intermodal containers or insulated swap bodies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breakbulk cargo</span> Shipping goods that are loaded individually

In shipping, break-bulk, breakbulk, or break bulk cargo, also called general cargo, is goods that are stowed on board ship in individually counted units. Traditionally, the large numbers of items are recorded on distinct bills of lading that list them by different commodities. This is in contrast to cargo stowed in modern intermodal containers as well as bulk cargo, which goes directly, unpackaged and in large quantities, into a ship's hold(s), measured by volume or weight.

A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of international shipping trade, "container" or "shipping container" is virtually synonymous with "intermodal freight container", a container designed to be moved from one mode of transport to another without unloading and reloading.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Package testing</span>

Package testing or packaging testing involves the measurement of a characteristic or property involved with packaging. This includes packaging materials, packaging components, primary packages, shipping containers, and unit loads, as well as the associated processes.

Reusable packaging is manufactured of durable materials and is specifically designed for multiple trips and extended life. A reusable package or container is "designed for reuse without impairment of its protective function." The term returnable is sometimes used interchangeably but it can also include returning packages or components for other than reuse: recycling, disposal, incineration, etc. Typically, the materials used to make returnable packaging include steel, wood, polypropylene sheets or other plastic materials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Package handle</span> Packaging component

Package handles, or carriers, are used to help people use packaging. They are designed to simplify and to improve the ergonomics of lifting and carrying packages. Handles on consumer packages add convenience and help facilitate use and pouring. The effect of handles on package material costs and the packaging line efficiencies are also critical. A handle can be defined as “an accessory attached to a container or part for the purpose of holding or carrying.” Sometimes a handle can be used to hang a package for dispensing or use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Packaging waste</span> Post-use container and packing refuse

Packaging waste, the part of the waste that consists of packaging and packaging material, is a major part of the total global waste, and the major part of the packaging waste consists of single-use plastic food packaging, a hallmark of throwaway culture. Notable examples for which the need for regulation was recognized early, are "containers of liquids for human consumption", i.e. plastic bottles and the like. In Europe, the Germans top the list of packaging waste producers with more than 220 kilos of packaging per capita.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fuel container</span>

A fuel container is a container such as a steel can, bottle, drum, etc. for transporting, storing, and dispensing various fuels.

References

  1. ↑ Soroka, W (2008). Illustrated Glossary of Packaging Terms. Institute of Packaging Professionals. p. 51. ISBN   978-1-930268-27-2.
  2. ↑ David P. Braun, "Pots as Tools", in J. A. Moore and A. S. Keene, eds., Archaeological Hammers and Theories (1983), pp. 108–134.
  3. ↑ Karen Gayle Harry, Stephanie Michelle Whittlesey, Trixi Bubemyre, Pots, Potters, And Models: Archaeological Investigations at the SRI Locus of the West Branch Site, Tucson, Arizona (2005), p. 283: "The perspective taken in this chapter is that ceramic containers are tools (Braun 1983) and, as a crucial part of the technological repertoire, can provide considerable information about activity organization, production technology, food-preparation and storage technology, settlement function, and economic organization".
  4. 1 2 Clive Gamble, Origins and Revolutions: Human Identity in Earliest Prehistory (2007), p. 204.
  5. ↑ David A. Munro, A Place For Everything (1968), p. 92.
  6. ↑ Bernard Grant Campbell, Human Evolution: An Introduction to Mans Adaptations (2009), p. 306.
  7. ↑ Chuck Groth, Exploring Package Design (2005), p. 3.
  8. ↑ Sameera Maiti, The Tharu: Their Arts and Crafts (2004), p. 178.
  9. ↑ Irving Jenkins, The Hawaiian Calabash (1989), p. 5.
  10. ↑ Lewandowski, Krzysztof (2016). "Growth in the Size of Unit Loads and Shipping Containers from Antique to WWI". Packaging Technology and Science. 29 (8–9): 451–478. doi:10.1002/pts.2231. ISSN   1099-1522. S2CID   113982441.
  11. ↑ Perrot and Chipiez, Histoire de l'art, v iii, 734–744.
  12. ↑ George Rawlinson, History of Phoenicia, 1889, Green Longmans publisher, 583 pages
  13. 1 2 Warren Belasco, Roger Horowitz, Food Chains: From Farmyard to Shopping Cart, pp. 98–99.
  14. ↑ Geoghegan, Tom (2013-04-21). "The story of how the tin can nearly wasn't". BBC News. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  15. ↑ Geoff A. Giles, Design and Technology of Packaging Decoration for the Consumer Market (2000), p. 82: "Container designers also found that shrink sleeves gave them new-found freedom to design containers that until then had been viewed as impossible to decorate".
  16. ↑ Anthony F. Buono, Henri Savall, Socio-economic Interventions in Organizations (2007), p. 231.

Sources

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