The first tin cans looked like metal boxes, weighed about half a kilo and had to be opened with a chisel and a hammer. Nevertheless, despite such inconveniences at the time, the invention of the tin can was a real breakthrough for mankind!
The tin can, however, has a long history going back to a way of preserving food ('conservo' - Lat. "I preserve"). Napoleon Bonaparte believed that "an army marches on its stomach." But with the available methods of preserving food (salting, curing or smoking, which significantly changed the taste of food), the army's stomach was not full.
In 1795, Napoleon Bonaparte offered a cash award and the title of "Benefactor of Mankind" to anyone who would invent a method of long-term food preservation. French chef Nicolas Appert, through experiments, found a way to preserve food for a long time without it losing its useful properties. He placed the food in glass jars, corked them and boiled them for several hours in salt water. For his invention, he received the prize money and the promised honorary title.
Later, Appert's invention was refined by Peter Duran, who suggested that food be placed in tin cans. In 1810, he received a patent for the invention, which he sold to two Englishmen. Brian Donkin and John Hall built a factory for the production of cans. The cans were made by hand, from a sheet of tin, with tin inside and lead added to the seam. Such production was expensive, labor-intensive and slow, and lead was found to accumulate in the body and cause poisoning. To open a can, you had to use a chisel and a hammer. Word has it that once shipwrecked sailors starved to death because they failed to open the cans as they did not have a chisel or a hammer with them.
With the development of metallurgy in the second half of the 19th century, cans began to be made of thinner tin, the assembly process improved, and the production of cans became mechanized.
The can opener was patented in 1855 in England and in 1858 in the USA. And in 1866, the New York inventor J. Ostehoudt patented a twist-key can-opener.
Thanks to Andy Warhol, the tin can has even become a work of art. He created a pop art work depicting cans of Campbell's tomato soup.
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