Talk:Skip (container)

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[edit] Different container types

I wonder... What is the correct english term for containers like those? Is it the same word used for open and closed containers?

The correct term for these type of skips is RORO skips (roll on/roll off)so called because instead of being lifted onto a skip loader wagon by chains, they are literally rolled on to an eight wheel wagon by hydraulic hook. They are mainly used in industry and are not suitable for the domestic market. They range in capacity from 14 cubic yards to 50 cubic yards. They are mostly open topped but can also take the form of 'compactor' skips which are covered and almost conical in shape so the waste can be compacted in (to fit in more tonnage) and then can slide out easily on disposal. For further information, including dimensions of these and other types of skips, visit [Topskips.com][1] Katy Attwood 11:23, 22 December 2006 (UTC)Katy Attwood

I have to correct You, Katy, about the sizes. I assume You speak from an English or American p.o.w. - The containers at the photos are actually 7.5 m3 (open) and 18 m3 (closed) - I've measured them myself, and I took the pic's. In the company I work for, we have down to 4.5 m3, but the usual sizes are from 8 m3 and up.
Some of our containers (assumed 20%) are built for loading by hook, but all our trucks actually load with two wires that we fasten underneath the container/skip. This goes for both ordinary containers and compacting equipment. Eventually see da:Containerbil at #2 (and #1 should be the hydr. hook?). G®iffen 19:58, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

I am coming from a British perspective. In the skip industry, we still use imperial and not metric measurements so this may appear confusing to Europeans. We do offer a conversion chart on our website for all those who prefer to work in metric skip sizes



Who invented the skip? (person or company). Where are those mostly used? (countries). Dis-/advantages?

The origin of the word ‘Skip’

To get to the bottom of the mystery, we must first turn to the ancient art of bee-keeping. Before wooden framed hives came into use, European and British beekeepers either used inverted straw or wicker baskets or hollow logs to house their honeybee colonies. The straw "skep" proved the most portable and adaptable to beekeepings' improving techniques, slowly the log and then the wicker skep went out of use. In continental Europe, where traditional agricultural systems survived until after the second world war, the straw skep retained some popularity, but in Britain where land use lost its traditional forms in the 18th century, the skep came to be seen as part of the old order and by the 19th century was no longer regarded as a suitable permanent home for the honeybee colony.

The word ‘skep’ then, once a common name for any type of basket is nowadays only used in relation to this traditional artform. But before it disappeared from the common tongue, it was adopted by the cotton mill workers of Lancashire who referred to the huge wheeled baskets they placed their woven cotton into as ‘skeps’. In addition, a method of drying the material in the cloth-method process was called ‘wuzzing’. Damp cloth was placed into a ‘wuzzing skep’ – a basket attached to a pole - and whirled around making a wuzzing noise. Centrifugal force forced the water out of the cloth.

From the cotton mills then to the coal mines. At the beginning of the industrial revolution, when technology was still in its rudimentary stages, coal was dug and measured in terms of ‘skeps’. In the mining industry a skep was a basket with an arched handle used as a measure of coal. We know that in Denmark a skep held 17.4 litres, so presumably an English skep would have been around the same. As industrial innovation progressed, railway lines were built into the mines, the skeps were once again wheeled, and coal hauled out of the mines more efficiently. It soon became evident that straw was not the most robust material for shifting hunks of coal and manufacturers developed steel versions of skeps. Over the years skep became skip and the containers are still referred to as such in modern coal mines. When the bins we use came over from Germany in the early sixties, the shape of them resembled the coal skips so it was a logical step to name them thus.

There is a magazine totally dedicated to skips called originally The Skip[2]. For all skip related news and stories, visit the website. Katy Attwood 11:23, 22 December 2006 (UTC)Katy Attwood

G®iffen 13:44, 11 April 2006 (UTC) expanded G®iffen 21:49, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rubbish skip?

Just wondering, do people actually say "rubbish skip"? Cause in Ireland, all I've ever heard is just "skip". I've never heard it called "rubbish skip". Do we have a source for "rubbish skip"? - EstoyAquí(t • c • e) 08:27, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

I have heard "rubbish skip" used, but I wouldn't say it was exactly common usage. 87.81.140.191 (talk) 23:15, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
Agreed (British here). I'm going to slightly amend the lead to take account of this. 86.143.48.55 (talk) 03:53, 27 January 2008 (UTC)