Can Opener

A can opener, called a tin opener in British English, is a mechanical device used to open metal tin cans; although canned food preservation dates to at least 1772 in the Netherlands, the first can openers were not patented until 1855 in England and 1858 in the United States, and those early designs were essentially variations on a knife. A design using a rotating cutting wheel that runs around the can's rim appeared in 1870, and a more successful version followed in 1925 when a second, serrated wheel was added to grip the can's rim and hold the lid against the cutting wheel, a design that remains one of the most popular can opener types. Compact military models such as the American P-38 and P-51 were developed around the time of the Second World War, and electric can openers, introduced in the late 1950s, also found wide success.