Tin Can - Opening Cans

Opening Cans

The first tin cans were heavy-weight containers that required ingenuity to open, using knives, chisels, or even stones. Not until about 50 years later, after can manufacturers started using thinner metal sheets, were any dedicated tin openers developed.

While beverage cans or fluid cans such as soup merely need to be punctured to remove the product, solid or semisolid contents require access which is generally gained by removing one end of the can. Although this can be accomplished by brute force using something like a great, heavy knife, specialized and more convenient can openers have been devised and marketed.

Some cans, such as those used for sardines, have a lid that is specially scored so that the metal can be broken out by the leverage of winding it around a slotted church key. Until the mid-20th century the lids on some sardine tins were attached by soldering and the winding key was used to tear the solder joint apart by brute force.

The advent of pull tabs in beverage cans spread to the canning of various food products, such as pet food or nuts (and non-food products such as motor oil and tennis balls), allowing the convenience of opening without need for any tools or implements.

• A simple butterfly can opener

• A can opener

• Detail on a can opener

• Folding P-38 can opener for military ration kit