A Pail is a type of cylindrical container

Container

Container may refer to:* Items used to contain, store, and transport products, such as:** Carton** Bottle** Can , several meanings* Shipping containers include** Crate** Wooden box...

 with a capacity of about 1 to 12 gal (3 to 50 L). It can have straight or slanted sides and usually has a handle or bail

Bail Handles

In France, during the early 18th century bail handles were beginning to be used on several pieces of furniture. This was during the style of Rococo....

.

Construction

Pails can be made of

• Steel, tinplate
• Aluminium
  Aluminium
  Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
  
  
• Fiber, paperboard
  Paperboard
  Paperboard is a thick paper based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker than paper. According to ISO standards, paperboard is a paper with a basis weight above 224 g/m2, but there are exceptions. Paperboard can be single...
  
  
• Plastic
  Plastic
  A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
  
  s

Pails are either "open head" with removable covers or are "tight head" with sealed heads and a screw closure.

Uses

Pails are used for a variety of fluids and flowable materials. When properly constructed and certified, they may be used for dangerous goods

Dangerous goods

Dangerous goods are solids, liquids, or gases that can harm people, other living organisms, property, or the environment. They are often subject to chemical regulations. "HazMat teams" are personnel specially trained to handle dangerous goods...

 shipments.

Pails are shipping container

Shipping container

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...

s that are shipped individually, shipped as secure unit load

Unit load

A unit load combines individual items or items in shipping containers into a single "unit" that can be moved easily with pallet jack or forklift truck...

s on pallets, or shipped in corrugated fiberboard boxes.

Books, general references

• Soroka, W, "Fundamentals of Packaging Technology", IoPP, 2002, ISBN 1-930268-25-4
• Yam, K. L., "Encyclopedia of Packaging Technology", John Wiley & Sons, 2009, ISBN 978-0-470-08704-6
• ASTM D4504 - -Specification for Molded Polyethylene Open-Head Pails for Industrial Shipping of Nonhazardous Goods