Tun (unit)

The tun (Old English: tunne, Latin: tunellus, Medieval Latin: tunna) is an English unit of liquid volume (not weight), used for measuring wine,[1] oil or honey. Typically a large vat or vessel, most often holding 252 wine gallons, but occasionally other sizes (e.g. 256, 240 and 208 gallons) were also used.[2] The modern tun is about 954 litres.

The word tun is etymologically related to the word ton for the unit of mass, the mass of a tun of wine being approximately one long ton, which is 2240 pounds (1016 kg). The spellings "tun" and "ton" were sometimes used interchangeably.[3]

History

Originally, the tun was defined as 256 wine gallons;[nb 1] this is the basis for the name of the quarter of 64 corn gallons. At some time before the 15th century, it was reduced to 252 wine gallons, so as to be evenly divisible by other small integers, including seven.[nb 2]

In one Early Modern English example from 1507, a tun is defined as 240 gallons.

He that ys a gawner owght to understonde there ys in a tunne lx systerns and every systern ys iiii galons be yt wyne or oylle.	He that is a gauger ought to understand that there is in a tunne 60 sesters, and every sester is 4 gallons, be it wine or oil.
—Untitled manuscript, consisting of a list of various customs duties, dated 15 July 1507[2][4][5]

With the adoption of the Queen Anne wine gallon of 231 cubic inches in 1706 the tun approximated the volume of a cylinder with both diameter and height of 42 inches.[nb 3] These were adopted as the standard US liquid gallon and tun.

When the imperial system was introduced in 1824 the tun was redefined in the UK and colonies as 210 imperial gallons. The imperial tun remained evenly divisible by small integers.[nb 4] There was also little change in the actual value of the tun.[nb 5]

Standard tuns of wine came to serve as a measure of a ship's capacity.[6]

measure tun butt puncheon hogshead tierce barrel rundlet

comparisons tuns butts puncheons hogsheads tierces barrels rundlets 11⁄4 21⁄4 31⁄4 41⁄4 61⁄4 81⁄4 141⁄4 1⁄2 11⁄4 1+1⁄2 21⁄4 31⁄4 41⁄4 71⁄4 1⁄3 2⁄3 11⁄4 1+1⁄3 21⁄4 2+2⁄3 4+2⁄3 1⁄4 1⁄2 3⁄4 11⁄4 1+1⁄2 21⁄4 3+1⁄2 1⁄6 1⁄3 1⁄2 2⁄3 11⁄4 1+1⁄3 2+1⁄3 1⁄8 1⁄4 3⁄8 1⁄2 3⁄4 11⁄4 1+3⁄4 1⁄14 1⁄7 3⁄14 2⁄7 3⁄7 4⁄7 11⁄4

historically litres[nb 6] 950–960 475–480 316–320 237–240 158–160 118–120 68–69

imperial definitions gallons litres[nb 7] 2101⁄4  954.6789 1051⁄4 477.33945 701⁄4 318.2263 52+1⁄2 238.669725 351⁄4 159.11315 26+1⁄4 119.3348625 151⁄4 68.19135

US definitions gallons litres[nb 8] 2521⁄4  953.923769568 1261⁄4 476.961884784 841⁄4 317.974589856 631⁄4 238.480942392 421⁄4 158.987294928 31+1⁄2 118.29411825 181⁄4 68.137412112

Definitions

In the US customary system, the tun (symbol: US tu[7]) is defined as 252 US fluid gallons (about 954 litres).[7]

In the imperial system, the tun is defined as 210 imperial gallons (about 955 litres).

Conversions

Both the imperial and US tuns were subdivided into smaller units as follows.

1 tun	≡	2	butts or pipes
	≡	3	puncheons or tertians
	≡	4	wine hogsheads[7]
	≡	6	tierces
	≡	8	wine barrels
	≡	14	rundlets
Conversions of the imperial tun are as follows.
1 imperial tun	≡	210	imperial gallons
	≡	1680	imperial pints
	≡	954.6789	litres[nb 7]
	≡	0.9546789	cubic metres[nb 7]
	≈	58258	cubic inches
	≈	33.7142	cubic feet
	≈	252.199484	US fluid gallons
	≈	2017.595875	US fluid pints
Conversions of the US tun are as follows.
1 US tun	≡	252	US fluid gallons[7]
	≡	2016	US fluid pints[7]
	≡	953.9237769568	litres[nb 8]
	≡	0.953923769568	cubic metres[nb 8]
	≡	58212	cubic inches
	≡	33.6875	cubic feet
	≈	209.833895	imperial gallons
	≈	1678.671156	imperial pints

English wine cask units[8] gallon rundlet barrel tierce hogshead puncheon, tertian pipe, butt tun 1 tun 1 2 pipes, butts 1 1+1⁄2 3 puncheons, tertians 1 1+1⁄3 2 4 hogsheads 1 1+1⁄2 2 3 6 tierces 1 1+1⁄3 2 2+2⁄3 4 8 barrels 1 1+3⁄4 2+1⁄3 3+1⁄2 4+2⁄3 7 14 rundlets 1 18 31+1⁄2 42 63 84 126 252 gallons (wine) 3.785 68.14 119.24 158.99 238.48 317.97 476.96 953.92 litres 1 15 26+1⁄4 35 52+1⁄2 70 105 210 gallons (imperial) 4.546 68.19 119.3 159.1 238.7 318.2 477.3 954.7 litres

Explanatory notes

1. 256=2^8
2. 252 = 2^2×3^2×7
3. The volume, V, of this cylinder may be approximated from the height, h, and the radius, r, as follows.

   V	= πr^2h
   	≈ 22⁄7×(21 in)^2×42 in	since π ≈ 22⁄7
   	= (2^2×3^2×7)×(3×7×11) cu in
   	= 252×231 cu in

4. 210 = 2×3×5×7
5. The imperial tun is only about 0.0792% larger than the US tun assuming current definitions. Note that 5 imp gal ≈ 6 US gal.
6. The conversion to litres is approximate and given as a range to reflect the varying definitions of the gallon and the tun in terms of the gallon.
7. The conversion to litres is exact assuming the current 4.54609-litre definition of the imperial gallon.
8. The conversion to litres is exact assuming the current 25.4-millimetre definition of the international inch.

See also

• Tonelada

References

1. Cardarelli, F. (2003). Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures. Their SI Equivalences and Origins. London: Springer. pp. 49. ISBN 978-1-4471-1122-1.
2. Zupko, Ronald E. (1985). "A Dictionary of Weights and Measures for the British Isles: The Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century, Volume 168". Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society. 168. American Philosophical Society. ISBN 9780871691682. Quoting Gras (1918), p. 706
3. For an example of "tun" meaning the avoirdupois ton of mass: Douglas, Charles (1731). Ne plus ultra: or, A sure Guide to Youth in Arithmetick. Edinburgh: R. Fleming and Company. p. 14.
4. Gras, Norman S.B. (1918). Early English Customs Systems. Cambridge. p. 706. Quoting Forgon (1507)
5. Forgon, T. (15 July 1507). Untitled manuscript, consisting of a list of various customs duties. Reproduced at sizes.com.
6. "Naval Architecture for All". United States Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Retrieved October 13, 2008.. "Historically, a very important and standard cargo for European sailing vessels was wine, stored and shipped in casks called tuns. These tuns of wine, because of their uniform size and their universal demand, became a standard by which a ship's capacity could be measured. A tun of wine weighed approximately 2,240 pounds, and occupied nearly 60 cubic feet." (Gillmer, Thomas (1975). Modern Ship Design. United States Naval Institute.) "Today the ship designers standard of weight is the long ton which is equal to 2,240 pounds."
7. Cardarelli, F. (2003). Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures. Their SI Equivalences and Origins. London: Springer. pp. 43. ISBN 978-1-4471-1122-1.
8. "wine barrel". Sizes. 2009-02-02. Retrieved 2018-03-27.