Can opener - Definition and Overview

A can opener (also known as a tin opener) is a device used to open metal cans.

Many variations exist, ranging from those having no moving parts incorporated in many pocket knives to dedicated electrically-operated kitchen appliances. A common type found in many kitchens has a pliers-like handle used to clamp a cutting wheel against the can's lid and a handgrip that rotates the can to cut the lid around the rim. The cutting wheel idea is the basis for most electric openers.

The first tin cans, invented in 1810 by Peter Durand in Britain, were heavy-weight containers that required ingenuity to open. Not until cans started using thinner metal about 50 years later were any dedicated openers developed. Ezra Warner of the United States patented the first can opener in 1858. The cutting wheel can opener was invented by William Lyman in 1870. The first electric can opener debuted in 1931 using the cutting wheel design. A new type of can with a pull-tab on top that could be opened without a can opener was invented by Ermal Fraze in 1966.

In fiction, the can opener is often humourously depicted as the preferred means to penetrating a medieval suit of plate armor.

External links

• Invention of the Can Opener (http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story080.htm)
• History of the Can: Can Opener (http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcan.htm)