ZMT: Daily Fact: Cans came before the can opener

Daily Fact: Cans came before the can opener

HOME FACTS ARTICLES

Original photo by FotografiaBasica/ iStock

Canned food was invented before the can opener.

On January 5, 1858, Ezra J. Warner of Connecticut invented the can opener. The device was a long time coming: Frenchman Nicolas Appert had developed the canning process in the early 1800s in response to a 12,000-franc prize the French government offered to anyone who could come up with a practical method of preserving food for Napoleon's army. Appert devised a process for sterilizing food by half-cooking it, storing it in glass bottles, and immersing the bottles in boiling water, and he claimed the award in 1810. Later the same year, Englishman Peter Durand received the first patent for preserving food in actual tin cans — which is to say, canned food predates the can opener by nearly half a century.

Though he didn't initially know why his method of storing food in glass jars and heating them worked, years of experimentation led Appert to rightly conclude that "the absolute deprivation from contact with the exterior air" and "application of the heat in the water-bath" were key. He later switched to working with cans himself. Before Warner's invention, cans were opened with a hammer and chisel — a far more time-consuming approach than the gadgets we're used to. Warner's tool (employed by soldiers during the Civil War) wasn't a perfect replacement, however: It used a series of blades to puncture and then saw off the top of a can, leaving a dangerously jagged edge. As for the hand-crank can opener most commonly used today, that wasn't invented until 1925.

What Do Most Successful People Have in Common?

They take a few minutes every day to learn something new. Forget spending hours watching videos or dropping thousands of dollars on classes. Brilliant's interactive lessons in math, logic, data science, and more help you level up your analytical skills fast. No time? No problem. Brilliant breaks down big concepts into bite-size pieces. Whether you're commuting, on a coffee break, or unwinding before bed, learning on Brilliant is the best way to learn. Join over 10 million people around the world and start your 30-day free trial today. Plus, newsletter readers get 20% off a premium annual subscription.

Get 20% Off

Numbers Don't Lie

Sale price of Andy Warhol's "Small Torn Campbell's Soup Can"

$11.7 million

Cans of soup sold in America in 2018

420 million+

Number of aluminum cans recycled per minute

113,200

Different types of can openers

John Steinbeck wrote a novel set on a street lined with canneries.

And it's called — you guessed it — Cannery Row. The actual location in Monterey, California, was called Ocean View Avenue until 1958, when it was formally changed to Cannery Row in honor of the 1945 novel about a group of people living on the street during the Great Depression. Steinbeck, who set most of his work in central California, describes the street as "a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream" in the book's first sentence. After reaching its peak during the first half of the 20th century, the sardine-cannery hotbed fell victim to intense overfishing and the last cannery closed in 1973. The area is now a historic tourist attraction complete with sea lions.

Pages

Daily Fact: Cans came before the can opener