I remember a novel use of 200 litre drums. Many years ago I made a trans-Sahara trip by Land Rover across the Tanezrouft. (I was a fee-paying passenger). The 650 km piste was marker by two 200 litre drums on top of each other at 500m intervals. The drums were painted black and the top one had a huge number painted on it the distance to the end of the piste.
BTW, at the same time, a certain gentleman traveling southwards as part of the Paris-Dakar rally called Mark Thatcher chose to go off-piste, broke down and was lost for a week. _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John M. Steele Sent: 17 August 2010 02:15 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:48392] Re: Two hundred litre drum At least in the US, the 55 gallon drum holds 55 gallons (208 L) of net contents and has a little larger physical capacity, about 218L. See Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum_(container) "55-gallon drum A 55-gallon drum (known as a 44-gallon drum in the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, South Africa) is a cylindrical container drum with a nominal capacity of 55 US gallons (46 imp gal; 208 L). The exact capacity varies with wall thickness and other factors. Standard drums are 22.5 inches (572 mm) in diameter and 33.5 inches (851 mm) high (these dimensions yield a total volume of ~218 L). Exact dimensions are specified in ANSI MH2. The drums are typically made of steel with a welded top and ribbed outer wall to improve rigidity and durability. They are commonly used for transporting oils and fuels, but can be used for storing various chemicals as well. The construction and performance of drums used for shipment of dangerous goods or hazardous materials are strictly governed by UN, country, and carrier regulations." Lubricating oil and 2-cycle oil is sold in them in bulk. See example as a "net contents" on this page. http://www.domo-online.com/bulk2cycle They would not be allowed to short the customer and contain 55 gallons of product with headspace for expansion. _____ From: Pat Naughtin <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, August 16, 2010 7:35:13 PM Subject: [USMA:48389] Two hundred litre drum On 2010/08/17, at 07:55 , Martin Vlietstra wrote: Many people might be familiar with the Jerry can. I understand that it was so named because if was developed by the German forces during WWII it was much more ergonomically designed that the equivalent Allied equipment and the design was quickly copied. BTW, the Jerry can hold 20 litres. Dear Martin and All, As I understand it the 'Jerry Can' was a decimal division of the 200 litre drum that is still in common use. This drum was designed to hold 200 litres of liquid and to have an air space of about 8 litres to allow for expansion (I think that oil and oil products have fairly high coefficients of expansion but please correct me if I am wrong). Matching the 200 litre drum and the 20 litre 'Jerry Can' gave the convenience of being able to do decimal calculations of fuel requirements in a military setting. There is an interesting history of the 'Jerry Can' at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerrycan but no mention is made of the oil drum in this article. The 200 litre drum came to be called the 55 gallon drum in the USA (200 ÷ 3.8 = 52.6 USA gallons) and the 44 gallon drum in the UK and the Commonwealth countries (200 ÷ 4.5 = 44.4 UK gallons). It is common to see four-wheel drive vehicles in Australia with two welded frames on their backs that are designed to carry two of the 20 litre 'Jerry Cans' often with one for fuel and one for water. The idea of having a large (about 200 L) and a small (about 20 litre) container goes back a long way. Consider this quotation from the Bible with my comments from http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/MetricationTimeline.pdf Ezekiel 45 Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth part of an homer: the measure thereof shall be after the homer. Here's another decimal division but with two names this time bath for wet goods and ephah for dry goods. I t is curious that the homer, at about 200 litres, is nearly the same size as the standard 200 litre petrol and oil drum designed in Germany in the 1930s. The bath, at one tenth of this amount, is equivalent to the small square-shaped fuel carrier that became known in many English-speaking countries as the 'jerry-can' from its German origins. For most of the 20th century, the 200 litre drum was known as a 44 gallon drum in the UK and its colonies, and as the 55 gallon drum in the USA because of their gallons of different sizes. Cheers, Pat Naughtin Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/ to subscribe.
