Containers

A column that holds two quantities

On this page11

This shelf records a shipping weight for 249 of 253 containers Take one family, the glass boston round, and read all fifteen rows Three colors of the identical bottle, differing by a factor of three Then read the largest and the smallest in the same family So capacity rises tenfold and the recorded weight falls by about a hundredfold The reading that makes both rows sensible is that they are different units And nothing in the record says which applies to which row So no page in this library quotes a shipping weight as a fact Which is the principle this catalog runs on, stated the hard way And it is the exact counterpart of the rule above References

The 50 mL bottle records 0.13 pounds. The 5 mL bottle records between 12 and 35.

This shelf records a shipping weight for 249 of 253 containers

Which looks like good coverage. It is not usable, and the demonstration does not need any classification or any assumption.

Take one family, the glass boston round, and read all fifteen rows

At 5 mL in a case of 765: amber 12.0669 pounds, blue 35.4200, clear 12.5669. At 10 mL in a case of 768: amber 11.5100, blue 44.0700, clear 10.9825.

Three colors of the identical bottle, differing by a factor of three

Same capacity, same family, same material, same case pack. Nothing physical distinguishes a blue 5 mL boston round from an amber one by twenty three pounds.

Then read the largest and the smallest in the same family

The 50 mL amber row, in a case of 264, records 0.1288 pounds. The 5 mL rows record twelve to thirty five.

So capacity rises tenfold and the recorded weight falls by about a hundredfold

Which cannot describe one quantity. 0.1288 pounds is a credible weight for a single 50 mL glass bottle, around 58 grams. Twelve pounds is not a credible weight for a single 5 mL one.

The reading that makes both rows sensible is that they are different units

A per unit weight on some rows and a per case weight on others. 2,002 pounds over a case of 6,370 is 0.314 pounds each, a credible 6 oz jar. Both readings are reasonable and they are not the same reading.

And nothing in the record says which applies to which row

There is no unit field, no flag and no pattern that resolves it from the data alone. Which is what makes the column unusable rather than merely noisy.

So no page in this library quotes a shipping weight as a fact

The figures on this page are quoted as evidence about the column. They are not offered as the weight of anything, and nothing anywhere derives a freight estimate or a size comparison from them.

Which is the principle this catalog runs on, stated the hard way

A field that is absent degrades gracefully. A field that is present and wrong gets used. The second is worse, and this column is the clearest example of it on any shelf.

And it is the exact counterpart of the rule above

Part 300 specifies nineteen microns, three percent by weight above thirty microns, and a coefficient of variation of twenty four percent, and says what each figure is a figure of. This column gives a number and does not.

References

The Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 19 October 2026. 249 of this group’s 253 containers record a shipping weight. By material: 55 glass rows from 0.1288 to 2,002 pounds with a median of 7.9975; 117 PET rows from 0.02 to 28.83 with a median of 0.0544; 77 polypropylene rows from 0.01 to 21.01 with a median of 0.0456. The fifteen glass boston round rows read, by capacity and color: at 5 mL in a case of 765, amber 12.0669, blue 35.4200, clear 12.5669; at 10 mL in a case of 768, amber 11.5100, blue 44.0700, clear 10.9825; at 15 mL in a case of 468, two amber rows at 11.5437 and 11.6931, blue 33.0900 and clear 36.0000; at 30 mL in a case of 330, amber 33.0000, blue 35.0000, clear 35.0000; at 50 mL in a case of 264, amber 0.1288; and a 4 oz frosted row in a case of 72 at 20.0000. These figures are quoted as evidence that the column is not usable and not as facts about any container.

16 CFR 300.19(a): "In setting forth the required fiber content of a wool product, the term “cashmere” may be used for such fiber content only if: (i) Such fiber consists of the fine (dehaired) undercoat fibers produced by a cashmere goat (capra hircus laniger); (ii) The average diameter of such cashmere fiber does not exceed 19 microns; and (iii) The cashmere fibers in such wool product contain no more than 3 percent (by weight) of cashmere fibers with average diameters that exceed 30 microns. (2) The average fiber diameter may be subject to a coefficient of variation around the mean that shall not exceed 24 percent." law.cornell.edu

Written from 16 CFR part 300 and from the catalog as it stood on 19 October 2026. Part 300 implements the Wool Products Labeling Act and governs the fiber content and origin label on wool products; it does not govern needles, markers or swatch tags, and nothing here says it does. The shipping weights quoted on the containers pages are quoted as evidence that the column is not usable, and no weight on these pages is offered as a fact about any container. This shelf is the store-small-dry shelf plus three rows, and the sewing notions property enumerates the shared part of it.