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A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage,
packaging 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 co ...
, and transportation, including shipping. 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. A container can also be considered as a basic tool, 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.Clive Gamble, ''Origins and Revolutions: Human Identity in Earliest Prehistory'' (2007), p. 204. The first containers were probably invented for storing
food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...
, 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. The earliest containers were probably objects found in nature such as hollow gourds, of which primitive examples have been found in cultures such as those of the Tharu people, and native Hawaiian people. 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. 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. These Phoenician examples from the first millennium BC were thought to have been used to contain perfume. 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.Warren Belasco, Roger Horowitz, ''Food Chains: From Farmyard to Shopping Cart'', pp. 98–99. In 1810, Frenchman Philippe de Girard came to London and used British merchant
Peter Durand Peter Durand (21 October 1766 – 23 July 1822) was an English merchant who is widely credited with receiving the first patent for the idea of preserving food using tin cans. The patent (No 3372) was granted on August 25, 1810, by King George III ...
as an agent to patent his own idea for a process for making tin cans. The canning concept was based on experimental
food preservation Food preservation includes processes that make food more resistant to microorganism growth and slow the oxidation of fats. This slows down the decomposition and rancidification process. Food preservation may also include processes that inhibit ...
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 John Hall may refer to: Academics * John Hall (NYU President) (fl. c. 1890), American academic * John A. Hall (born 1949), sociology professor at McGill University, Montreal * John F. Hall (born 1951), professor of classics at Brigham Young Unive ...
, 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. 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 Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...
made it possible to design highly specialized containers and container arrangements, and also to make form-fitting labels for containers of unusual shapes.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".


Modern characteristics

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


Variety

Practical examples of containers are listed below. * Ceramic cylindrical vessels including: ** Ancient vessels, including
Amphora An amphora (; grc, ἀμφορεύς, ''amphoreús''; English plural: amphorae or amphoras) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storag ...
s, Kvevri,
Pithos Pithos (, grc-gre, πίθος, plural: ' ) is the Greek name of a large storage container. The term in English is applied to such containers used among the civilizations that bordered the Mediterranean Sea in the Neolithic, the Bronze Age and ...
, and Dolium ** Bottles, similar to a jar in being traditionally symmetrical about the axis perpendicular to its base and made of glass ** Jars, traditionally cylindrical and made of glass * Cylindrical vessels including: **
Barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...
s, made of wooden staves bound by rope, wooden or metal hoops. **
Can Can may refer to: Containers * Aluminum can * Drink can * Oil can * Steel and tin cans * Trash can * Petrol can * Metal can (disambiguation) Music * Can (band), West Germany, 1968 ** ''Can'' (album), 1979 * Can (South Korean band) Other * C ...
s, traditionally cylindrical and sheet-metallic. **
Drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...
s, similar to a can but definitely cylindrical and not necessarily metallic ** Tub * Rectilinear vessels including: **
Box A box (plural: boxes) is a container used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very large (like a shipping box for furniture), and can ...
es **
Crate A crate is a large shipping container, often made of wood, typically used to transport or store large, heavy items. Steel and aluminium crates are also used. Specialized crates were designed for specific products, and were often made to be reusa ...
s, a box or rectilinear exoskeleton, designed for hoisting or loading **
Wooden box A wooden box is a container made of wood for storage or as a shipping container. Construction may include several types of wood; lumber (timber), plywood, engineered woods, etc. For some purposes, decorative woods are used. Boxes as ship ...
es ** Lift-vans **
Corf A corf (pl. corves) also spelt corve (pl. corves) is a container of wood, net, chicken wire, metal or plastic used to contain live fish, eels or crustaceans (such as crayfish) underwater, at docks or in fishing boats. Origin of term 1350–140 ...
** Certain waste containers * Flexible containers including: ** Bags, such as shopping bags, mail bags,
sick bag A sickness bag (also known as a sick sack, airsick bag, airsickness bag, emesis bag, sick bag, barf bag, vomit bag, disposal bag, waste bag, Doggie bag or motion sickness bag) is a small bag commonly provided to passengers on board airplanes and ...
** Luggage, including satchels, backpacks, and briefcases ** Packets **
Gunny sacks A burlap sack or gunny sack, also known as a gunny shoe, hessian sack or tow sack, is an inexpensive bag, traditionally made of fibres which are also known as "tow," such as hessian fabric (burlap) formed from jute, hemp or other natural fib ...
, flour sacks ** Wallets * Shipping containers, including: **
Corrugated box Corrugated box design is the process of matching design factors for corrugated fiberboard boxes with the functional physical, processing and end-use requirements. Packaging engineers work to meet the performance requirements of a box while control ...
es, made of
corrugated fiberboard Corrugated fiberboard or corrugated cardboard is a type of packaging material consisting of a fluted corrugated sheet and one or two flat linerboards. It is made on "flute lamination machines" or "corrugators" and is used for making corrugated ...
** Intermodal containers, a.k.a. ship container or cargo container ***
Twenty-foot equivalent unit The twenty-foot equivalent unit (abbreviated TEU or teu) is an inexact unit of cargo capacity, often used for container ships and container ports.Rowlett, 2004. It is based on the volume of a intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box whic ...
s, an industry standard intermodal container size ** Intermediate bulk containers ** Unit load devices, similar to a crate **
Flexible intermediate bulk container A flexible intermediate bulk container (FIBC), jumbo, bulk bag, super sack, big bag, or tonne bag is an industrial container made of flexible fabric that is designed for storing and transporting dry, flowable products, such as sand, fertilizer, ...
s


References


Sources

* Yam, K.L., "Encyclopedia of Packaging Technology", John Wiley & Sons, 2009,


External links

* * {{Authority control Food packaging Packaging