A bucket, also called a pail, is typically a watertight, vertical cylinder

Cylinder (geometry)

A cylinder is one of the most basic curvilinear geometric shapes, the surface formed by the points at a fixed distance from a given line segment, the axis of the cylinder. The solid enclosed by this surface and by two planes perpendicular to the axis is also called a cylinder...

 or truncated

Truncation (geometry)

In geometry, a truncation is an operation in any dimension that cuts polytope vertices, creating a new facet in place of each vertex.- Uniform truncation :...

 cone

Cone (geometry)

A cone is an n-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a base to a point called the apex or vertex. Formally, it is the solid figure formed by the locus of all straight line segments that join the apex to the base...

, with an open top and a flat bottom, usually attached to a semicircular carrying handle

Handle (grip)

A handle is a part of, or attachment to, an object that can be moved or used by hand. The design of each type of handle involves substantial ergonomic issues, even where these are dealt with intuitively or by following tradition...

 called the bail

Bail Handles

In France, during the early 18th century bail handles were beginning to be used on several pieces of furniture. This was during the style of Rococo....

. A pail can have an open top or can have a lid.

Buckets come in various sizes (e.g. 5, 10, 15 litres, 5, 10 US gallons) and materials (e.g. metal and polyethylene

Polyethylene

Polyethylene or polythene is the most widely used plastic, with an annual production of approximately 80 million metric tons...

). The handle can be made of metal or plastic handle.

Types and uses

There are many types of pails and buckets;

• Household and garden uses are often for carrying liquids and granular products
• Elaborate ceremonial or ritual buckets in bronze
  Bronze
  Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
  
  , ivory
  Ivory
  Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
  
   or other materials are found in several ancient or medieval cultures and are known by the Latin for bucket, situla
  Situla (vessel)
  Situla, from the Latin for bucket or pail, is a term for a variety of elaborate bucket-shaped vessels from the Iron Age to the Middle Ages, usually with a handle at the top...
  
  .
• Farm chemicals often come in pails and buckets and can be reused for many farm tasks
• Large scoops or buckets are attached to Loader (equipment)
  Loader (equipment)
  A loader is a heavy equipment machine often used in construction, primarily used to load material into or onto another type of machinery .-Heavy equipment front loaders:A loader A loader is a heavy equipment machine often used in construction, primarily used to load material (such as asphalt,...
  
   and Telehandler for agricultural and earthmoving purposes.
• Open headed and closed headed pails are used as shipping container
  Shipping container
  A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes...
  
  s for chemicals and industrial products
• A Lunch box
  Lunch box
  The lunch box, also referred to as a lunch pail or lunch kit, is used to store food to be taken to work or school. The concept of a food container has existed for a long time, but it wasn't until people began using tobacco tins to haul meals in the early 20th century, followed by the use of...
  
  is often called a lunch pail
• Food containers

Bucket drumming is where a person drums on five gallon plastic buckets.http://www.bucketbeats.com/2007/08/how-to-bucket-drum_13.html

Buckets can be recycled into items such as seats, tool caddies, hydroponic gardens, chamberpots, "street" drums, livestock feeders.

History

Building materials and solvents have been packaged in large metal pails, but in recent decades plastic buckets have been greatly favored. Plastic buckets have more uses due to the popularity of plastic for food products and the tendency of metal pails to rust.

External links

Articles on 5 gallon bucket as Americana

• "Passing the Bucket: How the five-gallon plastic bucket came to the aid of grassroots environmentalists" by Michelle Nijhuis
• "Five-gallon farm collectibles" by Jennifer M. Latzke
• "How To Bucket Drum"