orange box nails

Orange box nails differ from common bright nails of the same size in having a larger head and a shank with a slightly thinner gauge. Usually they were cement-coated.

Size (pennies)	Length (inches)	Gauge	Number in a pound
4d	1¼	15	679

Sources differ on where this nail was used in comparison to the fruit box nail. According to Bethlehem, this nail was endorsed by the Southern Fruit Growers' Assn for pineapple cases and orange boxes, while according to American Steel and Wire, it was the fruit box nail that was used in the south. The latter view seems correct.

Bethlehem Wire Nails and Other Wire Products. Catalog W-3.
Bethlehem, PA: Bethlehem Steel Company, September 1935.

Identical information in catalog W-1, 1928.

Manual of Carpentry and Catalog of American Nails, Wire, Barbed Wire, Staples, Tacks, Poultry Netting, Etc.
American Steel and Wire Company, 1922.