Can opener
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A can opener (also known as a tin opener) is a device used to open metal cans.
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[edit] History
The first tin cans, invented in 1810, were heavy-weight containers that required ingenuity to open, using knives, chisels or even rocks. Not until cans started using thinner metal about 50 years later were any dedicated openers developed.
[edit] Variants
Many variations exist, ranging from simple small and lightweight openers having no moving parts, or those incorporated in many pocket knives, to dedicated electrically-operated kitchen appliances with featuring degrees of automation. Ezra Warner of Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S. was first, in 1858, to patent a can opener. The cutting wheel can opener was invented by William Lyman in 1870. The Star Can Company of San Francisco, California introduced a modified design with a serrated rotating wheel in 1925. The first electric can opener debuted in 1931, modeled after the cutting-wheel design. The 1950s and 1960s saw the variety of canned goods increase. Wall-mounted can openers were introduced with gear-driven cutting wheels operated by a handle. Most featured a magnet to hold the lid once it had become separated from the body of the can, thereby preventing the lid from falling into the contents of the can, as well as the danger of cutting oneself on the sharp edge while trying to extract the severed lid. In the early 1950’s, Walter Hess Bodle invented the exemplar freestanding, electric can opener/knife sharpener of the next three decades. 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 colors of the era. Major electrical appliance manufacturers were soon to follow. Black & Decker currently produce seven types, some with built-in knife sharpeners and bottle opener.
A new style of can opener has recently emerged (US Patent 5,946,811) -- it cuts the rim neatly 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.
[edit] Gallery
 Detail of a rotary can opener. |
 Video demonstrating a rotary can opener in action |
 A can opener by cutting side of can. |
