Napoleon’s can

The can is present in our daily life. It has been and still is improved while its evolution continues. Can an object such as a can be subject to innovation? Go through the summarized history of the can in order to find the answer.

The official inventor of a can was Peter Durand who in 1810 produced its first sample and received a patent from the king of England - George III. Durand used an ideal of a Frenchman, Nicholas Appert who for his discovery received a prize of 12 000 franks from the hands of Napoleon himself. Others developed Durand’s patent. In 1813, the British army received the first food supplies in cans, which came from a newly build can factory.

The first cans were very thick and to open them people used a…hammer. With time new technologies enabled the production of cans with thinner walls. It was also then that a can opener was first used. 48 years after the invention of the can itself, the first can opener was patented used by soldiers during the American Civil War. Still sometime later, in 1870 a “civilian” can opener was created, the same type we use today in our homes. In 1925 the wheel of the can opener was changed to have jagged edges. The first electric can opener was sold in 1931.