Can Opener - Rotating Wheel Openers

Rotating Wheel Openers

The first rotating wheel can opener was patented in July 1870 by William Lyman of Meriden, Connecticut and produced by the firm Baumgarten in the 1890s. The can was to be pierced in its center with the sharp metal rod of the opener. Then, the length of the lever had to be adjusted to fit the can size, and the lever fixed with the wingnut. The top of the can was cut by pressing the cutting wheel into the can near the edge and rotating it along the can's rim.

The necessity to pierce the can first was a nuisance, and this can opener design did not survive. In 1925, the Star Can Opener Company of San Francisco, California had improved Lyman's design by adding a second, serrated wheel, called a "feed wheel", which allowed a firm grip of the can edge. This addition was so efficient that the design is still in use today.

Whereas all previous openers required using one hand or other means to hold the can, can-holding openers simultaneously grip the can and open it. The first such opener was patented in 1931 by the Bunker Clancey Company of Kansas City, Missouri and was, therefore, called the "Bunker". It featured the now standard pliers-type handles, when squeezed would tightly grip the can rim, while turning the key would rotate the cutting wheel, progressively cutting the lid along the rim. The cutting wheel is coupled to a serrated feed wheel via a set of gears, as in the Star design. The Bunker company was absorbed by the Rival Manufacturing Company, also of Kansas City, in 1938.