[chris (OP)]

Who invented the can opener, does anyone know ?

Chris

[george]

Here's the answer to the can opener conundrum !

The first basic tin can opener was invented by Ezra Warner of Waterbury, Conneticut in 1858. The design was improved upon by William Lyman who added a wheel for continuous operation. That was in 1870. His design was still quite cumbersome, however, and relied on the lid of the can being punctured first, and the opener being specifically adjusted for cans of different sizes.

The design we use today came out in 1925 (uncertain of the inventor), and don't forget the Philips electric one that graced every kitchen in the 70's and 80's !

[Exodus]

what about the other designs that are in circulation, like the one that takes the whole part of the lid off from the edge?

Essentia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem...

[Pappy]

How much time elapsed between the invention of the can and the invention of the can opener? Seems the creator of the can must of thought it a good idea to provide a means of getting to the contents.

[Ians Daddy]

I'm assuming they used the old style key system. Remember the old key on SPAM? Good question. I know cans of old were made of mostly lead, which is a soft metal. Maybe a knife would do the trick back then. Anxious to know.

[Pappy]

Leaded SPAM, now there's a complete meal.

[chris (OP)]

I heard somewhere that cans actually pre-dated can-openers by about 20 years or so - can anyone confirm this ?

Chris


"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx

[Ace]

quote:Originally posted by chris

I heard somewhere that cans actually pre-dated can-openers by about 20 years or so - can anyone confirm this ?

Chris


"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx

Actually, no one knows the answer for sure, but there was a society of clearly anorexic people found with a stockpile of canned foods.  We're not quite sure what happened to them.. []

www.ambientnoize.iphhost.com  Where polite conversation ends....

[Quantumcat]

Speaking of SPAM, one day on a walk, he found a can someone threw away and eat the remaining contents. No one wanted to go near him for at least a few days afterwards.

Am I dead? Am I alive? I'm both!

[fuxxor]

If they put lead in most cans I'm surprised nobody suffered too harshly from lead poisoning.  Is there any history that correlates an increase in death since the invention of the can?

[Donnah]

quote:Originally posted by chris

I heard somewhere that cans actually pre-dated can-openers by about 20 years or so - can anyone confirm this?

I believe cans were opened with a knife until some enterprising soul invented the can opener.

[Marhoofer]

Atually the can itself was invented in 1810 by a man named Peter Durand.  He made them so food would stay preserved longer on naval ships out to sea.  Because the cans were so thick, they could only be opened by chisel, or using a knife, but as time went on, and the cans became thinner, the can opener could then be invented in 1858.

[PhirePhly]

quote:Originally posted by chris

Who invented the can opener, does anyone know ?

Chris

I offer this alternative response:

The vaginal speculum was invented by Diokles of Karystos c. 300 bce and the rectal speculum by Hippocrates c. 331 bce.

http://www.med.virginia.edu/hs-library/historical/antiqua/instru.html [nofollow]

Or did you mean a different sort of 'can'?

Thanks,
 
L. Lisov

[Ray hinton]

Thomas crapper invented the flushing can ,but i dont know the date!.

every village has one !

[eric l]

As far as I know, canned food was already used in Napoleon's armies.  The cans contained complete meals for 4 or six soldiers, "cassoulet" consisting of beans, meat (sausages and bacon) and sauce being a typical example.  I suppose the soliers used their bayonets to puncture the can before heating it, an used the same bayonet again for opening the can one way or another.  It is not stated how many cassualties this may have costed.

[Simulated]

Yeah I heard that the can opener was made for the use in one of the armies around the world. I remember hearing about it on the history channel awhile back.

[wroxtar]

The first practical can opener was developed 50 years after the birth of the metal can.  Canned food was invented for the British Navy in 1813.  Made of solid iron, the cans usually weighed more than the food they held!  The inventor, Peter Durand, was guilty of an incredible oversight. Though he figured out how to seal food into cans, he gave little thought to how to get it out again.  Instructions read:  "Cut round the top near the outer edge with a chisel and hammer."  Only when thinner steel cans came into use in the 1860s could the can opener be invented.  The first (patented in 1858), devised by Ezra Warner of Waterbury, Connecticut, looked like a bent bayonet. Its large curved blade was driven into a can’s rim, then forcibly worked around its edge.  Stranger yet, this first type of can opener never left the grocery store.  A clerk had to open each can before it was taken away!

The modern can opener, with a cutting wheel that rolls around the rim, was invented by William Lyman of the United States in 1870.  The only change from the original patent was the introduction of a serrated rotation wheel by the Star Can Company of San Francisco in 1925. The basic principle continues to be used on the modern can openers, and it was the basis of the first electric can opener, introduced in December 1931.   Pull-open cans, patented by Ermal Fraze of Ohio, debuted in 1966.

[Don_1]

The first practical can opener was developed 50 years after the birth of the metal can. 

"Henrrry, this can has passed its 'use by' date"
"I told you not to buy it until they had figured out a way to open it, dear".

[Democritus]

Well, it seems we know what came first, the can or the can opener. Posts made me recall a tragic mid 19th century arctic expedition where all died. Some blamed lead poisoning from the canned food. But that's all I recalled, so I sent a search engine starting with 'G' on a fact finding mission with the clue "arctic expedition tragedy lead poisoning canned food".

Presently,
http://www.hakluyt.com/PDF/Battersby_Franklin.pdf
replied; title and abstact follows:

"Journal of the Hakluyt Society September 2008
Identification of the Probable Source of the Lead Poisoning Observed
in Members of the Franklin Expedition
by William Battersby

Abstract
Since 1982, signs of a high exposure to lead have been identified in the human remains of members
of John Franklin’s expedition to the Arctic, 1845–8. Tinned food has been suggested as the source
of this lead. This paper provides evidence that the primary source of this lead was not tinned food,
which was in widespread use in the Royal Navy at the time, but the unique water system fitted to
the expedition’s ships."

The rest of the report in the journal makes very interesting reading and I would commend it to you.
Re another millennium, I recall lead within plumbing being a prime suspect (via lead poisoning) contributing to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Which brings to mind themes as distant yet connected as the expression 'plumb crazy' and the Mad Hatter of Alice of Looking Glass and Wonderland fame. But that's another story.
D   



   

[cheryl j]

Why don't can openers last as long as they used to? My parents had the same one for like 15 years, and I can't get more than a year out of one, whether I pay a lot or get it at the dollar store.