Who made the first electric can opener?
William LymanEzra WarnerCan opener/Inventors
When was the first can opener invented?
January 5, 1858On January 5, 1858, Waterbury native Ezra J. Warner invented the first US can opener. The idea of storing food in cans dates back almost 50 years earlier when Peter Durand of England patented a can made of wrought iron with a tin lining.
Who invented the improved can opener?
Fast forward to 1858 when iron cans began to be replaced by thinner steel cans, and not long after the first can opener was born. An American inventor, Ezra J Warner developed a blade that pierced the lid of the can, whilst another component sawed around the edge.
Was the can opener invented before the can?
The Can Opener Wasn't Invented Until 48 Years After the Invention of the Can. Today I found out the can opener wasn't invented until 48 years after the invention of the can. In 1795, Napoleon Bonaparte was having problems with his supply lines.
When did electric can openers become popular?
Electric openers Those openers were produced in the 1930s and advertised as capable of removing lids from more than 20 cans per minute without risk of injury. Nevertheless, they found little success. Electric openers were re-introduced in 1956 by two American companies.
What did people use before can openers?
People used hammers and chisels to open up tin cans until the can opener was invented. Apparently, the almighty can opener was invented 48 long years after tin cans. Peter Durand, the successful British merchant, didn't think this through when King George III granted him the patent for food-preserving tin cans.
Who invented the smooth edge can opener?
Not until 1870—fully 60 years after the invention of canned food—did another Connecticut inventor, William Lyman, develop what today we might recognize as a can opener.
Why is can opener called a church key?
To protect their aging beers in their monasteries, the monks locked them away in lager cellars, for which only the monks had the keys. It is theorized that the openers reminded someone of these keys — either because of their shape or use — and started calling them “church” keys.
Who invented humble can opener?
In 1855, the British surgical instrument maker Robert Yeates introduced the first opener: a wooden handle with a claw-shaped blade that dug into the lid and was made to laboriously turn around the edge.
What is a can opener called?
can opener. A can opener (also known as a tin opener) is a device used to open steel (not tin) cans.
Can openers first patented?
In 1858, Ezra Warner of Waterbury, Connecticut patented the first can opener. The U.S. military used it during the Civil War. In 1866, J. Osterhoudt patented the tin can with a key opener that you can find on sardine cans.
How long did it take to develop the can opener?
It took 15 years to invent the can. It took 100 more to invent a standard way to open it. Enlarge / In the 19th century, decades after the invention of canning, there were virtually no can openers. Canned food, like these sardines, came with its own "key" to peel back the tin lid.
When did tin cans come out?
Peter Durand, a British merchant, received the first patent for the idea of preserving food using tin cans. The patent was granted on August 25, 1810 by King George III of England.
How was the first tin can made?
The can arrived on the scene just a year later when Englishman Peter Durand filed a patent for tin cans. The earliest tin plated cans looked a lot like today's — a flat sheet of metal wrapped to form a cylinder, with circular cutouts fastened onto each end. Cans were originally made by hand.
Who invented the tin can for preserving food in 1810?
Peter Durand ofIn 1810 Peter Durand of England patented the use of tin-coated iron cans instead of bottles, and by 1820 he was supplying canned food to the Royal Navy in large quantities. European canning methods reached the United States soon thereafter, and that country eventually became the world…
Who invented the soda can?
Ermal Fraze, founder of the Dayton Reliable Tool & Mfg. Co. in the early 1960s invented the pop-top beverage can, which opens with the pull of a tab. Legend has it that Fraze started research on an easy-open can after being caught at a picnic without a can opener, and struggling to open cans on his car bumper.
Who invented the electric can opener?
Later in the 1950s, Walter Hess Bodle was credited as being the first successful electric can opener inventor. With help from his daughter Elizabeth, they created a model that free standing, included a knife sharpener, and came in a selection of colors. Perhaps the colors are what attracted people to the device. The other components to the device didn’t really change other than the addition of a knife sharpener. If marketing has proved anything throughout the years, it is that bright colors that can be mixed and matched with interior decor will typically always sell!
When was the first hand can opener invented?
The best hands free can opener is one of the most identifiable kitchen gadgets all over the world. These incredible inventions have allowed us to open canned goods with moderate ease for quite some time. While the original, hand-held version of the can opener was created back in 1858, it wasn’t until 1931 that an electric model was invented. Knowing how to use an electric can opener is important to maintaining them properly.
Is an electric can opener still used?
While traditional, hand-held can openers do still serve their purpose in today’s modern society, the electric can opener has finally found its permanent place in the everyday household. It may have taken a while to become widely accepted, however, when it took off there was simply no looking back!
When was the first electric can opener invented?
Electric openers. A modern Krups hand-held electric can opener. The first electric can opener was patented in 1931 and modeled after the rotating wheel can opener design. Those openers were produced in the 1930s and advertised as capable of removing lids from more than 20 cans per minute without risk of injury.
When was the can opener invented?
The first can opener, consisting of the now familiar sharp rotating cutting wheel that runs round the can's rim to cut open the lid, was invented in 1870, but was considered very difficult to operate for the ordinary consumer.
What is a church key opener?
The shape and design of some of these early "church key" opener's fulcrum hole resembled a large old key's dual-node keyring hole. In 1935, steel beer cans with flat tops appeared, and a device to pierce the lids was needed. The same opener was used for piercing those cans. Made from a single piece of pressed metal, with a sharp point at one end, it was devised by D. F. Sampson, for the American Can Company, who depicted operating instructions on the cans. The church key opener is still being produced, sometimes as part of another opener. For example, a "butterfly" opener is often a combination of the church key and a serrated-wheel opener.
What is a can opener?
A can opener (in North American English and Australian English) or tin opener (used in British English) is a mechanical device used to open tin cans ( metal cans). Although preservation of food using tin cans had been practiced since at least 1772 in the Netherlands, the first can openers were not patented ...
How long is a P-38 can opener?
The P-38 can opener is keychain -sized, about 1.5 inches (38 mm) long, and consists of a short metal blade that serves as a handle (and can also be used as a screwdriver ), with a small, hinged metal tooth that folds out to pierce the can lid.
What is the name of the bridge that opens a can?
For the North Carolina bridge nicknamed The Can-Opener, see Norfolk Southern–Gregson Street Overpass. A late 20th Century can opener with a rotating cutting wheel and a counter-rotating serrated wheel, for left-handed use. Using a can opener to open a can.
What was the twist key in a can?
These cans were fitted with a twist-key that would roll around the top of the can, peeling back a pre-scored strip. Coffee, beans, and other types of meat were packaged in cylinders with metal strips that could be peeled back with their own kinds of built-in keys that would roll around the top of the can.
When was the first electric can opener sold?
An electric version of the same type of can opener was first sold in December of 1931 .
When was the first tin can opener invented?
The first tin cans were so thick they had to be hammered open. As cans became thinner, it became possible to invent dedicated can openers. In 1858, Ezra Warner of Waterbury, Connecticut patented the first can opener. The U.S. military used it during the Civil War. In 1866, J. Osterhoudt patented the tin can with a key opener that you can find on sardine cans.
Who invented the tin can?
British merchant Peter Durand made an impact on food preservation with his 1810 patenting of the tin can. In 1813, John Hall and Bryan Dorkin opened the first commercial canning factory in England.
When was the pop top can invented?
In 1959, Ermal Fraze invented the pop-top can (or easy-open can) in Kettering, Ohio.
Who invented the can opener?
Not until 1870—fully 60 years after the invention of canned food—did another Connecticut inventor, William Lyman, develop what today we might recognize as a can opener.
When did electric can openers start?
Electric can openers also debuted in 1931, marketed as capable of safely opening 20 cans a minute. But they were slow to catch on until 1956, when two California firms reintroduced the concept. Klassen Enterprises had only limited success with a wall-mounted electric opener.
What was Durand's inspiration for the invention of the can?
First, of course, came the can. Durand’s inspiration was to fill a tin can with food, partly cap it, and then immerse it in boiling water ; his patent didn’t specify how long. Once sealed, the contents would remain palatable indefinitely.
What colors were the freestanding kitchen openers?
The freestanding opener, which also incorporated a knife sharpener, was sold in Flamingo Pink, Avocado Green and Aqua Blue and soon was a mainstay in the similarly hued kitchens of the 1950s and early 1960s.
What was Lyman's most famous invention?
Lyman’s most notable invention was the rotating-wheel can opener. Like today’s openers, it used a sharp, rotating cutting wheel that circled around the can’s ring, slicing off the lid.
When did the Star Can Opener come out?
In 1925 , the Star Can Opener Co. in San Francisco added a second, serrated “feed wheel” that gave a firmer grasp of the can’s edge as the cutting wheel circled the rim. This is the same basic design used in handheld can openers today.
Who invented canned food?
By David A. Fryxell Premium. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the first commercial production of canned food. Our ancestors who were hungry to sample the contents of those cans, however, had to wait almost half a century for a convenient way to open them. Peter Durand, the British merchant who first patented the idea ...
When was the first electric can opener made?
The electric can opener was first sold in 1931, and the pop-opener can was introduced in 1959.
Who invented the unwinding can opener?
Eight years later, J. Osterhoudt created a kind of “unwinding” can opener that was built into a can. Today we still see this style on some sardine cans.
How To Open the Can?
Only one issue hadn’t been solved: How to open the can. To retrieve the food, the early solution involved a hammer and sharp tool. These early cans were made of thick metal so a good deal or work went into opening each can.
Who invented the food storage system?
It took 15 years before the prize was awarded to Frenchman Nicolas Appert (1749-1841), a candy maker and chef, who developed a system that worked. He couldn’t explain the science behind it but he learned that if food was sealed tightly a container (he used a glass jar) and then heated, it would sterilize the food so that it could be preserved for long periods of time. Traveling with glass jars presented a problem for the military but Appert received the prize for perfecting the storage system.
Who invented the can made of iron and tin?
Shortly after this, a British merchant named Peter Durand received a patent from King George III for the world’s first can made of iron and tin. By using Appert’s sterilization method combined with Durand’s can, food could now be prepared and kept fresh for travel in containers that were not going to break.
When was the second cutting wheel added to the Star Can?
In 1925 a final improvement was made by the Star Can Company of San Francisco; the company added a second cutting wheel—one which fits below the rim of the can and can squeeze together with the top wheel to give a steady smooth cut as the “key” is turned.
Who invented the can opener?
“The classic toothed-wheel crank design” that we know and use today came around in the 1920s, writes Rogers. That invention, by Charles Arthur Bunker, remains the can opener standard to this day.
What was the first can opener?
The first ‘can opener’ was a hammer and chisel. The first can opener was a blade that sawed around the can's edge, leaving a jagged rim. ( U.S. Pat. No. 19063)
What is a Warner's can opener?
Warner’s can opener was a blade that cut into the can lid with a guard to prevent it from puncturing the can. A user sort of sawed their way around the can’s edge, leaving a jagged rim of raw metal as they went. “Though never a big hit with the public, Warner’s can opener served the U.S. Army during the Civil War and found a home in many grocery stores,” writes Connecticut History, “where clerks would open cans for customers to take home.”
Who was the first to offer a prize for preserving food?
Our story starts in 1795, when Napoleon Bonaparte offered a significant prize “for anyone who invented a preservation method that would allow his army’s food to remain unspoiled during its long journey to the troops’ stomachs,” writes Today I Found Out.
Overview
A can opener (in North American English and Australian English) or tin opener (used in British English) is a mechanical device used to open tin cans (metal cans). Although preservation of food using tin cans had been practiced since at least 1772 in the Netherlands, the first can openers were not patented until 1855 in England and 1858 in the United States. These early openers were basically v…
Invention of cans
Food preserved in tin cans was in use by the Dutch Navy from at least 1772. Before 1800, there was already a small industry of canned salmon in the Netherlands. Freshly caught salmon were cleaned, boiled in brine, smoked and placed in tin-plated iron boxes. This canned salmon was known outside the Netherlands, and in 1797 a British company supplied one of their clients with 1…
Twist-key can-opener
During the 1800s, the canning process was mechanised and refined, with can walls becoming thinner. The twist-key can-opener was patented by J. Osterhoudt in 1866. There still was no general-purpose can-opener, thus each can came with a spot-welded or soldered-on twist-key can-opener which snapped off after fatiguing the metal by bending at a thin region. Each food-ty…
Lever-type can openers
General-purpose can openers first appeared in the 1850s and had a primitive claw-shaped or "lever-type" design. In 1855, Robert Yeates, a cutlery and surgical instrument maker of Trafalgar Place West, Hackney Road, Middlesex, UK, devised the first claw-ended can opener with a hand-operated tool that haggled its way around the top of metal cans.
Rotating wheel can openers
The first rotating wheel can opener was patented in July 1870 by William Lyman of Meriden, Connecticut, US and produced by the firm Baumgarten in the 1890s. The can was to be 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.
Church key
Church key initially referred to a simple hand-operated device for prying the cap (called a "crown cork" or "bottle cap") off a glass bottle; this kind of closure was invented in 1892. The first of these church key style openers was patented in Canada in 1900.
The shape and design of some of these early "church key" opener's fulcrum hol…
Military use can openers
Several can openers with a simple and robust design have 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 a "John Wayne" because the actor was shown in a training film opening a can of K-rations. The P-38 can opener is keychain-sized, about 1.5 inches (38 mm) long, and consist…
Electric openers
The first electric can opener was patented in 1931 and modeled after the rotating wheel can opener design. Those openers were produced in the 1930s and advertised as capable of removing lids from more than 20 cans per minute without risk of injury. Nevertheless, they found little success. Electric openers were re-introduced in 1956 by two American companies. Klassen Enterprises o…