Here’s a trivia question for all those industrial historians out there… When did steel drums first come into common usage?
I’m modeling a 1910 time period and I’m wondering if steel drums should have a place in my scenery.
Thanks!
Jim
Depends on what you’re putting in the steel drums…oil, for example, would go in steel drums regardless of era. Steel drums were already around, first.
Oil wasn’t always shipped in steel barrels, because there weren’t always steel barrels. Oil was originally shipped in wooden barrels and tanks cars.
Dave H.
To be safe, I’d use LARGE (whiskey barrel sized) wooden barrels. While a case could be made for using steel barrels in limited quantities, I’ve seen photos of barrel cars (flats designed to hold large number of wood oil barrels) running into the WWI era. Steel was still an expensive commodity in 1910, so it’s use would be small.
Jim:
Rolled steel barrels would be entirely appropriate for the 1910 era depending which specific industry you are modeling.
I suggest you visit the many historical sites on the net or, if you are modeling a local area, perhaps your county or city historical society and look through their collections of photographs to gain familiarity with the practices of enterprises you are interested in.
Keep a notebook handy and make some sort of quantitative estimate of wood vs steel usage across indistries. Will allow you to give some “texture” to your period industries.
Randy