Chisel, Anyone?
 The tin can probably would have been much more popular with 19th century American consumers if somebody had invented the can opener at the same time. It actually took 50 years to invent the can opener. Before that, bayonets or hammer and chisel were used for making dinner.
Like many boons to mankind (penicillin, The Internet, etc.), the development of canning was caused by war. The French government, frustrated by the headaches of trying to feed soldiers during the Napoleonic wars, pushed inventors to develop more efficient ways of preparing food.
This led to food merchant Peter Durand patenting the first canning technology in 1810. British consumers quickly adopted this “tin canister” after seeing how well it worked for their own soldiers during the War of 1812.
Only there was the issue of opening it that remained. A can of veal taken on an Arctic expedition in 1824 by British explorer Sir William Parry carried the instructions: “Cut round on the top with a chisel and hammer.” The can itself weighed over one pound. Hmmmm…
In fact, some warfare historians make the earnest claim that the bayonet, first designed by a blacksmith in Bayonne, France, was meant as a can opener and only later transformed into a weapon. Given how thick these early cans were, a bayonet would certainly have been an appropriate way to open them.
As cans became thinner, dedicated can openers were invented. By 1858, the first (poorly designed) can opener had appeared in Connecticut. It was followed by a key opener found on sardine cans. And it took until 1870 for William Lyman to patent the easy-to-use can opener with a wheel that rolls and cuts around the rim of a can. A serrated edge was added to the wheel in 1925, and an electric version of the same type of can opener was first sold in 1931.
Almost 80 years later a child can flip a tab and have dinner in an instant. And two centuries after the conversation started, opening a can bare-handed is no longer a feat fit for the Guinness Book of World Records.
Just another example of a good idea that changed the world.
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