Crate

A crate is a large shipping container, often made of wood, typically used to transport or store large, heavy or awkward items. Steel and aluminium crates are also used. Specialized crates were designed for specific products, and were often made to be reusable, such as the "bottle crates" for milk and soft drinks.

Crates can be made of wood, plastic, metal or other materials. The term 'crate' often implies a large and strong container. Most plastic crates are smaller and are more commonly called a case or container. Metal is rarely used because of its weight. When metal is used, a crate is often constructed as an 'open crate' and may be termed a 'cage'. Although a crate may be made of any material, for these reasons, the term 'crate' used alone often implies one constructed of wood.

A wooden crate has a self-supporting structure, with or without sheathing. For a wooden container to be a crate, all six of its sides must be put in place to result in the rated strength of the container. Crates are distinct from wooden boxes. The strength of a wooden box is rated based on the weight it can carry before the top (top, ends, and sides) is installed, whereas the strength of a crate is rated with the top in place. In general conversation, the term crate is sometimes used to denote a wooden box.

The first documented reference to a shipping crate in the United States is in a 1930 handbook, Technical Bulletin No. 171 written by C. A. Plaskett for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His writing implies that crates were defined before that time. Plaskett was known for his extensive testing and defining of various components of transport packaging. The USDA Forest Service revised and expanded it in 1964 as the "Wood Crate Design Manual", Handbook 252.

Although the definition of a wooden crate, as compared to a wooden box, is clear, construction of the two often results in a container that is not clearly a crate or a box. Both wooden crates and wooden boxes are constructed to contain unique items, the design of either a crate or box may use principles from both. In this case, the container will typically be defined by how the edges and corners of the container are constructed. 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. If removal of the sheathing results in no way of fastening the lumber around the edges of the container, the container would likely be termed a wooden box.

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