Tub (unit)

Tub was a unit of capacity or of weight used in Britain and elsewhere.

British unit for butter and cheese

British laws for the sale of goods defined a tub of butter as a receptacle of a size which could contain 84 pounds of butter.[1][2]

Definition

1 tub of butter or cheese = 84 pounds[1][2]

Conversion

1 tub = 1.5 Firkin (1 Firkin = 56 lbs)[1][2]

Metric equivalent

1 tub = 38 kg

Other commodities

The Oxford English Dictionary has quotations illustrating other values of a "tub" as a unit:[3]

  • Tea (1706): "about 60 pounds"
  • "Camphire" (1706): "from 56 to 86 pounds"
  • Vermilion (1706): "3 to 4 hundred weight" (i.e. 336-448 pounds)
  • Camphor (1858): "130 Dutch lbs"

In Newfoundland, Canada, a tub of coal was defined as 100 pounds, while a tub of herrings was 16 Imperial gallons and a tub of salt was 18 Imperial gallons.[4]

References
  1. Robinson, William (1825). The Magistrate's Pocket-book, Or, An Epitome of the Duties and Practice of a Justice of the Peace. C. Hunter. p. 50. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  2. Crabb, George (1841). A Digest and Index with Chronological Tables of All the Statutes: From Magna Charta to the End of this Last. A. Maxwell & son. p. 231. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  3. "Tub, n1, 1, d". Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  4. Rowlett, Russ. "How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement". Retrieved 9 April 2015.
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