Caption:
“How many times did I say it, Harold? How many times? ‘Make sure that bomb shelter’s got a can opener—ain’t much good without a can opener,’ I said.”
No alt text
Caption:
“How many times did I say it, Harold? How many times? ‘Make sure that bomb shelter’s got a can opener—ain’t much good without a can opener,’ I said.”
No alt text
I’m going to have to go there…how did they open cans before that?
Knives and other sharp tools
Funnily enough, that’s also the time period the idea of “most accidents happen in your own home” really got legs.
Mostly by ring tabs, you can still see them with corned beef tins
Pull tabs were invented in 1959 (patented in 1963). They replaced church keys, which were in use starting 1934.
The tin can was in use by the Dutch navy since at least 1772, and was patented in 1810. The can opener was patented in the UK in 1855, a good 100 years before the ring tab.
The first cans were very beefy, and instructions stated to open them using a chisel and hammer. In practice people used whatever tools they had handy. I’ve seen illustrations of people using guns when nothing else was available.
did they shoot the cans or use another part of the gun?
In the old painting/drawing I saw they were shooting the cans. I can’t find the picture, though. I saw it years ago in an article about the late invention of can openers. I don’t even know if the article was online or on paper.
Hammer and chisel
Teeth mostly. Sometimes small shaped explosive charges.