What is Crate?
[[File:Perspective Wooden Crate.svg |thumb|right|200px|{{Center|Wood crate}}]] A '''crate''' is a type of [[container]] often used in [[shipping]]. It can be made of [[wood]], but crates made to carry [[bottle]]s are often [[plastic]]. Steel and aluminium crates are also used. == History == The word crate comes from the word: {{lang-la|cratis}}.<ref name=Twede3.5>Diana Twede; Susan E. M. Selke, ''Cartons, Crates and Corrugated Board: Handbook of Paper and Wood Packaging'' (Lancaster, PA: DEStech Publications 2005), pp. 3–5</ref> The earliest [[containers|packaging materials]] were made of [[wood]] and [[Wood fibre|wood fiber]].<ref name=Twede3.5/> The first crates used to transport anything were hampers or baskets. They were made of [[twig]]s, strips of wood, [[root]]s, and [[Reed (plant)|reeds]]. Whatever was available that could be woven into a container. Baskets were used to hold and [[transport]] food and [[Good (economics)|goods]]. Later [[glass]] and [[ceramic]] [[Jug (container)|jugs]] were protected by baskets.<ref name=Twede3.5/> 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 US Department of Agriculture. His writing implies that crates were defined before that time. C. A. Plaskett was known for his extensive testing and defining of various components of transport packaging. == Construction == While both can be used for shipping, a crate is different from a [[box]]. A crate has a [[wikt:frame|frame]] while a box generally does not. Crates are [[wikt:rigid|rigid]] containers built for the purpose of [[wikt:protect|protect]]ing the [[wikt:content|content]]s. Crates can be made of wood, plastic, metal or other materials.<ref name=USA16-1>United States, Department of the Army, ''Preparation of Freight for Air Shipment'' ([Washington, DC: Departments of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Defense Supply Agency, 1989), p. 6-1</ref> Crates usually need to be designed to exactly fit what it i