Crate
The technological solution was to pack enameled bath ware into open crates, which allowed the shipment to be lighter and cheaper, the handlers to use more precautions knowing what merchandise was being shipped, and allowed the customer to inspect the purchase at arrival before opening it.
[4] Another early documented reference to a shipping crate in the United States is in a 1930 handbook, Technical Bulletin No.
The USDA Forest Service revised and expanded it in 1964 as the "Wood Crate Design Manual", Handbook 252.
If the sheathing (either plywood or lumber) can be removed, and a framed structure will remain standing, the container would likely be termed a crate.
When the gap is larger, the boards are often considered 'cleats' rather than sheathing thus rendering the crate unsheathed.
A Frame Crate is one that only contains a skeletal structure and no material is added for surface or pilferage protection.
When the dimensions of a crate side necessitate more than one piece of plywood be used in that crate side's construction, additional boards called 'battens' are used to cover and provide support to the seams between abutting pieces of plywood.
Some published standards only use those more descriptive terms and may never refer to these various lumber components as cleats.
"Skids" or thick bottom runners, are sometimes specified to allow forklift trucks access for lifting.
Every step of the transportation chain will result in different stresses from shock and vibration.
In some countries, any wooden crate being designed to ship overseas must be treated to ISPM 15 standards or commonly known as the “bug stamp” [7] to prevent the spread of disease and insects.
[8] Although the above definition almost always stands true, there are many slightly altered or 'sub-definitions' used by and in various organizations, agencies and documents.
This is the result of the small size of the industry and the fact that a single, finite definition of an item that is different every time it is made can be difficult to define.
