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.
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A simple butterfly can opener
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A can opener
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Detail on a can opener
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Folding P-38 can opener for military ration kit
Read more about this topic: Tin Can
Famous quotes containing the words opening and/or cans:
“With two sons born eighteen months apart, I operated mainly on automatic pilot through the ceaseless activity of their early childhood. I remember opening the refrigerator late one night and finding a roll of aluminum foil next to a pair of small red tennies. Certain that I was responsible for the refrigerated shoes, I quickly closed the door and ran upstairs to make sure I had put the babies in their cribs instead of the linen closet.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“Like plowing, housework makes the ground ready for the germination of family life. The kids will not invite a teacher home if beer cans litter the living room. The family isn’t likely to have breakfast together if somebody didn’t remember to buy eggs, milk, or muffins. Housework maintains an orderly setting in which family life can flourish.”
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin (20th century)