History of the Tin Can

The history of the can began in 1975, when Napoleon, leader of the French government, offered a reward to the first person who could devise a way of preserving food for the navy and army. In 1809, Nicolas Appert invents the method of preserving food through sterilization, where he partially cooked the food, sealed it in bottles with cork stoppers, and soaked them in boiled water. In the 1820s, Sir William Edward Parry made journeys across the Northwest passage, taking his canned provisions. As cans traveled across the land, it allowed for can making to spread as well. Around 1812, Thomas Kensett starts a small canning plant in New York, and produced sealed salmon, lobsters, oysters, meats, fruits and vegetables. He first used glass jars, but eventually switched to using tin since glass was more expensive and broke easily. In 1818, Peter Durand introduces the tinplated iron can in America and by 1819, products in tinplate cans are being sold. During the Civil War, soldiers relied heavily on canned provisions and during this time, ways were found to increase the canning process and the production of canned foods increased from five million to almost 30 million. From 1864 to 1920, there was a rapid growth in the can production industry. As the production of cans increased, so did the number of items one could put in these can. By the time of the World Wars, the use of cans became an important part in everyday American life for uses such as soda, paint, pet food, hair spray, and soup. Ways to possibly package carbonated drinks into cans started developing in 1930 and the first aluminum canned beverage was manufactured by Reynolds Metal Company in 1963, who found this metal to be cheaper to use and can be made with as little as two pieces. Other companies, such as Royal Crown and Pepsi, soon started using aluminum to can their beverages as well. One of the most important reasons that aluminum cans had proven to be successful is its recycling value. In 2004, ‘easy open lids’ for cans were praised to be one as one of the top packaging innovations for the past 100 years.