The preservation of food using airtight containers such as tin cans started more than 200 years ago. Since then, the usage of cans has become extremely popular. The main reason was that people preserved food by freezing or drying in extremely low or high temperatures, respectively.
There are a lot of interesting facts to know about the short history of the can and can opener. The invention of airtight containers was one of the first modern preservation techniques. It was hard to preserve food only with the help of temperature. It required a lot of time and the food also could get spoiled.
But the idea of tin or aluminum cans solved those problems very easily. Preparations for the preservation of food were significantly reduced, which saved a lot of hassle. But using a can had one major problem: it was tough to open a steel can during that time.
Required materials for opening cans were not always available. For that reason, the popularity of cans lessened a bit during that time. But nearly after 50 years, a can opener was invented, which ensured the marketing of cans. Some of you might be interested in how the idea of cans and can opener emerged.
In this article, we will briefly discuss all the things related to can and can openers.
Cans
A can is an airtight container commonly known as a steel or tin can that you can use to distribute or store goods. It is usually made of thin metal. Wide varieties of food and other goods can be stored in cans.
History
The use of tin cans to preserve food was in the Dutch Navy from at least 1772. Before 1800 there was a small industry in the Netherlands of tinned salmon.
The story of commercial cans starts way back in 1795. In that year, Napoleon Bonaparte offered a significant price for anyone who would invent a preservation method for food to allow his soldiers to carry fresh food for an extended time on the battlefield.
A French scientist named Nicolas Appert claimed the prize when he invented a method that used jars made of glass instead of tin in the early 1800s. This invention of his inspired people to think of a better method for the preservation of food.
Later a Frenchman, Phillippe de Girard, took the initiative to conceive the canning process. In 1810, a British merchant called Peter Durand was hired by him to patent the idea.
The patent was granted by King George III on 25 August 1810. But Peter was not interested in canning food products. He later sold his patent to 2 Englishmen in 1812.
Then the Bryan Donkin and John Hall refined the product and process and set up the world’s first-ever commercial canning factory. It was situated on Southwark Park Road, London. By 1813, cans were being produced for the Royal Navy.
The usage expanded to being used for gunpowder and seeds by 1820. Early tin cans were not safe as the tin-lead alloy covering could cause food poisoning. These did not become famous until the can opener was invented nearly after 50 years.
Structure
Almost all cans are of the same shape but only differ in size. These are made to maintain a circular cylinder shape with similar and parallel upper and bottom tops. There are a few cans with rectangular and oval tops and bottoms.
Materials
There still has been no can composed wholly of tin. Early cans had tin-lid alloy covers, which led to food poisoning in many cases. So, the later products were made using tinplate steel and aluminum.
Tinplate steel cans combined the physical strength, relatively low cost of steel, and corrosion resistance of tin which increased the usage of tinplate steel cans.
Later, aluminum cans were invented in 1957. It was even cheaper than tinplate steel cans and offered the same advantages in addition to greater malleability.
What Made Cans So Popular?
Even though cans weren’t that convenient when they first came out due to potential health hazards, as the materials and structure of the cans became more refined and useable for the preservation of goods, their popularity started to rise steadily.
The biggest advantages of cans are that you can easily carry them because of their lightweight form factor, move them to any place anytime, and mainly because you can sustain food and other items in them. It is also significantly cheaper than other available preservation methods.
Cans also ensure better food preservation because these are made so that oxygen and light cannot come in contact with the contents of the can. The most significant advantage is that cans can last up to an indefinite amount of time if preserved well.
All these factors attracted the attention of people all over the world. Thus, the popularity of cans started to soar, and the manufacturers were successful with the marketing of cans. From the invention of cans more than 200 years ago, cans are still used in high numbers by people in the world.
Can Openers
Even though commercial cans have been in use since the beginning of the 19th century, can openers took nearly 50 years before they came into reality. The reasons and the general knowledge regarding can openers are described in the following section-
History
When they first came out, they were made of thick metals and were robust containers that weighed more than the goods they contained. These cans were tough to open and caused inconveniences for customers. The most common way to open the cans during that time was using a chisel and a hammer.
However, using those still required a lot of effort, and those were not available all the time. For this reason, cans did not become famous when they first came out. So, considering the customers’ problems, manufacturers decided to produce thinner and flexible cans for use.
As a result, the canning process was refined, with can walls becoming thinner. The weight of the cans was significantly reduced too. As cans started to become thinner, more possibilities for easily opening the covers of the cans were being created.
Thus, during the start of 1850, the first batch of general can openers was produced. These had a primitive claw-shaped design or a design similar to a lever. Then in 1855, Robert Yeates, a culinary and surgical instrument maker from the UK, came up with the first claw-ended can opener.
Shortly after its production, this claw-ended can opener made its way up to the hands of most people using cans. It was the start of can openers that raised the popularity of cans even more.
In 1858, another lever-type of can opener with an even more complex shape was patented by Erza Warner of the USA. Its main attraction was that it consisted of a sickle that was pushed into the can and sawed around its edges. You could also replace its parts with new ones in cases of corrosion.
The United States Army adopted the opener during the American Civil War(1861-1865). Though the opener had many advantages, it was used in households rarely because of its incredibly sharp sickle, which could cause accidents.
Shortly after that, a popular can opener was invented by J. Osterhoudt in 1866. It was the twist key can opener. It was an ingenious invention that bumped the sales of canned products severely. After its creation, most cans started to come with their individual types of twist key openers.
These cans came with twist keys that would roll around the top of the can, peeling back a preinstalled strip which helped in easily opening the can.
The rotating wheel can openers that were patented in 1870 by William Lyman of the USA and finally produced at the start of 1890 are still used nowadays. It was one of the most convenient can openers during its time. People took inspiration from this can opener and further refined those into modern age can openers.
Can openers began their journey as simple lever-shaped tools and made their way to the electric can openers that are used nowadays. It is remarkable to see people’s thoughts and creativity, which led to the instruments of this modern age.
Conclusion
Cans were indeed a revolutionary invention of their time. A lot of food and goods would be wasted due to the lack of preservation methods.
But due to the production of cans, food preservation became more manageable than ever. This remarkable product is still used by us even though it was invented more than 200 years ago.
The idea of cans attracted people already when it first came out. But when can openers were provided with canned products, usage and advantages of cans rose to a whole new level. The plan of putting cans and can openers was ingenious.
On the one hand, people could preserve their goods easily for a long time. On the other hand, manufacturers could easily produce cans because of their requirement of only cheap materials. Not only that, but they also earned hefty profits.
I hope you found this short history of the can and can openers quite interesting and informative.
Thanks for reading…