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.