Barrel

Wood barrels

Barrelis an oldEnglishword for a big holder ofliquids,such aspetrol,beer,wineoroil.Barrels are most commonly made of eitherwoodormetalbut many areplastic

Barrels are used to agewine,and otherbeveragessuch aswhiskyandbeer.Most of those are made ofoakwood.

A barrel is also used tomeasureliquids. One barrel of oil is 158.987litres(42US gallons). It is shortened as "bbl". This use may have come from the earlyPennsylvanianoil fields where wooden barrels were used to store and move oil around. In 1866, the people ofWest Virginiastarted using it regularly. At this time, the amount was set to 42 American gallons. It was later world-wide for measuring amounts of oil andpricingit. Today, oil is rarely stored ortransportedin actual barrels, but the term "barrel" is still used to mean a 42-gallon measurement.

A barrel can also be used to measure dry goods. For example, a barrel can mean 196 pounds (about 89 kilograms) of flour.

Different sizes

The size of some standard barrels is not the same in allcountries.Some countries have different sizes for different liquids.

• In theUnited Kingdom,there is a standard barrel for beer. It is 36imperial gallons(163.659 litres).
• In theUnited States,a standard barrel for liquids is 31.5 US gallons (about 119.2 litres). For beer, the standard barrel is 31 US gallons (117.348 litres), because oftaxlaws.
• A physical metal barrel for oil or chemicals usually holds 55 US gallons (208.198 litres), but the word "barrel" used as a measurement refers to a 42-gallon measurement.

History

The first people to start using barrels were theCeltsabout 350 BC. The Roman Empire started using barrels after trading with the Celts. Barrels remained popular for shipping items until the 20th century.