Invention of drywall bucket

[PRR]

Phillips66 invented the drywall bucket 54 years ago.

Yes, they were thinking wax, detergents, unspecified foods. Their plastic pail held that stuff and so much more. Tools. End Of Days snacks. Scallop balls. Porta-potty. The same PE plastic in other shapes dominates my recycling bin.

Disclosure: the co-developer of commercial PE in the US was a distant cousin of mine (Banks). PE had been around a lot longer but too expensive. Cousin Bob AND another worker in Europe (Ziegler) (and others et al) had the same catalyst idea in the same year, and when their companies went to file patents it started a decades-long patent battle. Between the companies; the guys grew to be good friends.

I knew Bob literally invented a PE plastic salad bowl: my grandmother had one he made for tests. It was, after all the years, still a beautiful orange. Later he said we should not eat from it. We don't know if it was Uranium dioxide or Cadmium orange. UO₂ would be safe enough unless the dog ate the whole bowl; CdO can't be good for you but I don't see big warnings.