CHAPTER V 

 SLACK COOPERAGE 



GENERAL 



COOPERAGE is the art of making vessels, or containers, of pieces of 

 wood bound together by hoops. The industry is a very ancient art, as 

 early historical records show that various forms of cooperage were in 

 common use among the Romans at the beginning of the Christian era 

 and even in early Biblical times. 



Slack cooperage is made up of three forms of wood: Staves, heading 

 and hoops. Each of these forms is commonly made at separate plants, 

 although in many of the larger cooperage establishments both staves and 

 heading are made in one plant. The manufacture of hoops is quite dis- 

 tinct, however, and it really constitutes a separate industry. Tight 

 cooperage is distinguished from slack cooperage in its ability to contain 

 liquids. 



Although a large percentage of slack cooperage products refers to 

 barrels, it is also inclusive of such containers as tubs, buckets, pails, kegs, 

 churns, firkins, etc. There are many grades of slack cooperage barrels; 

 the finest product has tongued and grooved staves and is used for the 

 shipment of flour and sugar; semi- tight cooperage stock, which is classi- 

 fied with slack cooperage, is used for making vessels required for butter, 

 lard, paste, paint, mince-meat, etc., while cheaper grades of slack cooper- 

 age are used for the shipment of apples and various forms of agricultural 

 products such as vegetables, fruits, etc. Still cheaper and more roughly 

 constructed slack cooperage barrels are utilized for the shipment of hard- 

 ware, crockery, rosin, etc. 



A good portion of our slack barrels is utilized for the shipment of 

 cement (an equivalent of over 100,000,000 barrels of cement are produced 

 annually), flour, sugar, apples and vegetables. Other commodities 

 shipped in slack barrels are various chemicals, meal, crackers, starch, 

 salt, cranberries, candy, tobacco, dried fish, lime, powder, and many other 

 materials. 



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