Tamid 5:4-5

Tamid 5:4

The one who had been selected to offer the incense took the pan, which resembled a large gold measure holding three kav (about two gallons); the censer was inside it, piled high with incense. It had a cover with a kind of handle on top.

Tamid 5:5

The one selected to shovel took the silver shovel and climbed to the top of the altar. He pushed the live coals to either side and shoveled. He went down and emptied the coals into a gold shovel. About one kav of coals would get scattered; he would sweep these into the sewer. On Shabbos, he would invert a vessel called a p’sachteir over them. A p’sachteir was a large vessel holding a lesech (half a kor, i.e., about 30 gallons). There were two chains on this vessel – one to pull it on the way down and one to hold it from above so that it shouldn’t roll. This vessel had three purposes: to place over live coals and over a dead creeping thing on Shabbos, and to remove the ashes from the top of altar.