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Can Opener is a device used to open metal Cans. There are two basic types of Can Openers. The first type relies on making a circular cut around the lid near its edge typically within the upstanding rim. The second type relies on using a circular cutter knife to make a cut around the cylindrical wall portion of the Can. Typically, the cut is made near the edge of the cylindrical part of the Can but just below the lid so that when a complete circular cut is made, the lid and a small portion at the end of the cylindrical part of the Can and rim is removed. One advantage of this second type of Can opener is that its cutter knife is designed to give a clean cutting action as opposed to a tearing action which typically is found with Can Openers of the first type.
History
A Can Opener owes it's origin to the invention of Cans by British merchant Peter Durand. The first tin Cans were so thick they had to be hammered open. If it wasn't for the Cans there wouldn't be a need to invent the Can Opener. Robert Yates, a cutlery and surgical instrument maker of Trafalgar Place West, Hackney Road, Middlesex UK, patented the first Can Opener on 13 July 1855. His cutter incorporated a lever knife for "cutting or ripping open preserved provision cases and other uses". It has a familiar construction with a curved blade and a projection with shoulders "forming an efficient bearing or fulcrum in use". This robust design survives today.
In 1858, Ezra Warner of Waterbury, Connecticut also patented the first Can Opener. The U.S. military used it during the Civil War. The first Can Opener was crudely shaped bayonet and sickle combo. The bayonet part of Ezra Warner's Can Opener was pressed into the Can, and a metal guard kept it from penetrating too far into the Can. The other part was the sickle, which was forced into the Can and sawed around the edge. However, Warner’s Can Opener was not a tool for domestic use, because it could easily cause injury to the hands.
Both these are generally regarded as Independent Inventors of Can Opener.
Development in the invention of the Can Opener
In 1865, a home-use opener named the "Bull's head opener" was designed. It was supplied with Cans of pickled beef named "Bully beef". The opener was made of cast iron and had a very similar construction to the Yates opener, but featured a more artistic shape and was the first move towards improving the look of the Can Opener.
In 1866, J. Osterhoudt patented the tin Can with a key opener that one observes on sardine Cans. Instead of piercing the Can it was used to roll a stripe off the Can.
It was in 1870, that widespread use of domestic Can Opener took effect. The familiar Household Can Opener was invented by William Lyman. It was the first Rotating Wheel Can Opener. The Can was pierced in its centre 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. It produced by the firm Baumgarten in the 1890s.
It was the nuisance of piercing the Can that it was needed to be improved. In 1925, the Star Can Opener Company of San Francisco, California had improved the Lyman's design by adding a second, toothed wheel called "Feed Wheel", which allowed a firm grip of the Can edge. This addition was so efficient that the design has been adopted until present days.
Another major improvement was made in 1931. The Bunker Clancey Company of Kansas City, Missouri patented a Can Opener in 1931, which was known as the "Bunker". This Can Opener didn't require using one hand, or other means, to hold the Can. It featured the now standard pliers-type handle, grasping which would tightly hold the Can, while turning the key would rotate the cutting wheel progressively cutting the lid along the rim. The Bunker company was absorbed by the Rival Manufacturing Company, also of Kansas City, in 1938.
In 1935, beer Cans with flat tops were marketed, and a device to puncture the lids was needed. The Churchkey opener was used for piercing those Cans. It was called so because the shape and design of some of these openers did resemble a large simple key. An improvised version was made from a single piece of pressed metal, with a pointed end used for piercing Cans devised by D.F. Sampson, for the American Can Company, who depicted operating instructions on the Cans themselves. The churchkey opener is still being produced, usually as an attachment to another opener.
Several Can Openers with a simple and robust design had been specifically developed for military use. The P-38 and P-51 are small Can Openers with a cutter hinged to the main body. They were also known as "John Wayne" because the actor was shown in a training film opening a Can of K-rations. A larger version called P-51 is somewhat easier to operate. P-38 was developed in 1942 and was issued in the canned field rations of the United States Armed Forces from World War II to the 1980s. The P-38 and P-51 are cheaper to manufacture and are smaller and lighter to carry than most other Can Openers. The device can be easily attached to a keyring or dog tag chain using the small punched hole.
The Freestanding type of Can Opener was first invented by Walter Hess Bodle in the early 1950s. Bodle's invention was manufactured by the Union Die Casting Company in the 1950s and 1960s. He and his family members built their prototype in his garage with daughter Elizabeth sculpting the body design. It was manufactured under the "Udico" brand of the Union Die Casting Co. in Los Angeles and came in the flamingo pink, avocado green, and aqua blue colours of the era. These openers were introduced on the market for Christmas sales and had immediate success.
Then in 1980, a new style of Can Opener was developed. It was known as 'Side Can Opener' as it cuts the Can from the side, very near its top. The rim is neatly cut in half in the plane of the flat end, leaving half of the rim attached to the Can and the other half attached to the flat end. No sharp edges are produced on the lid. The driving teeth are very much finer than those of the classical Can Opener and reside at the bottom of a V-shaped groove, which surrounds the rim on three sides at the point of action.
Role of Can Opener in the development of human life
