Did you know
While the term “tin can” is commonly used, today’s cans are generally made of steel with a coating of tin (called tinplate) or aluminium, which is both cheaper and easier to work with than tin-plated steel.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TIN CAN
In 1795, French inventor named Nicholas Appert began experimenting with ways to preserve food (including dairy and soup), by using glass jars and sealing them with a cork and sealing wax, before placing them in boiling water. In 1800, when Napoleon Bonaparte offered prize money to whoever was able to come up with an effective way of preserving perishable food for his army, Appert presented his preserved fruits and vegetables at a public exposition, and was subsequently awarded a grant by the French Ministry of the Interior. By 1810, he had published his findings in The Art of Preserving Animal and Vegetable Substances.
Months later, however, it was British merchant Peter Durand who was granted a patent to preserve food using tin-plated cans. It turns out that another French inventor called Philippe de Girard, apparently inspired by Appert’s food preservation methods, had been travelling to London (to avoid French red tape) to test his “tin kettle with covers soldered on”. Durand was the agent who took out the patent on de Girard’s behalf, and not the “Father of the Tin Can” that history will have us believe.
The following year, Durand sold the patent to John Hall and Bryan Dorkin, who opened the first commercial canning factory in England. Later, in 1846, Henry Evans invented a machine that could manufacture tin cans at a rate of 60 per hour.