ORIGIN OF THE 42-GAL. BARREL The men who buy, sell, produce, transport, refine and market petroleum never give a thought why the American oil barrel of commerce contains 42 gal., when the laws of the United States decree that a barrel, particularly the wine barrel, shall have a capacity of gal. The origin of the 42-gal. oil barrel is an interesting story, and should have a place in your book. I challenge you to find anyone, geologist, producer or refiner among your acquaintances who can relate its origin. It follows: One of the difficulties at the outset of the petroleum industry in the United States was the scarcity of packages to serve as con tainers for the crude product in transportation from the well to the refinery. The demand for barrels outgrew the supply, and any cask fit to retain fluid was impressed into the service of the producer. The unit of measure at the outset being the gallon, sales were made on that basis, therefore the size of the package was not a necessary condition of trade. But later on, when the barrel became the unit, discrepancy in the size of barrel became a matter of embarrassment to the producer. The resources of the seaport towns were drawn upon for coopers, and as a conse quence men from the Eastern States were among the first to recognize the importance of establishing barrel works in the oil fields.
The whaling industry, at the time unprofitable, owing to the extended voyage and hardships of the chase, had a fully developed cooperage industry, and mechanics drawn from this trade found employment in the oil-producing country. The capacity of the barrel became a matter of comment among producers about the time of the advent of the whale-oil men, who brought casks of enormous size with them, which in periods of surplus production, were offered and accepted as ordinary barrels. Therefore, the
necessity for a uniform barrel was clearly apparent. As a result of these discussions, 40 gal. became the trade-custom barrel for crude oil, and this continued from 1860 to 1866, when representative producers got together and issued the following: "Whereas, it is conceded by all producers of crude petroleum on Oil Creek that the present system of selling crude oil by barrel without regard to size is injurious to the oil trade, alike to the buyer and seller, as buyers with the ordinary size barrels cannot compete with those with large ones, we therefore mutually agree and bind ourselves that from this date we shall sell no crude oil by barrel or package, but by the gallon only. An allowance of 2 gal. will be made on the gauge of each and every 40 gal. in favor of the buyer." It will be seen that the barrel by resolution differs from the barrel of adoption only in the addition of 2 gal. for tare or waste. Later on, after the establishment of pipe lines, buyers began to demand 42 gal. net with the addition of 2 per cent for tare, which is the accepted barrel of to-day, plus 1 per cent, although the construction placed upon the barrel by the Government during the period of excise—April 1, 1865, to March 1, 1866—was: "Any vessel containing not more than 45 gal. and not less than 28 gal." This amount was subject to a duty of $1.