Ezra J. Warner of

Waterbury, Connecticut Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Waterbury had a population of 114,403 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census. The city is southwest of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury i ...

was an American inventor, who patented his design of a

can opener A can opener (North American and Australian English) or tin opener (British English) is a mechanical device used to open metal tin cans. Although preservation of food using tin cans had been practiced since at least 1772 in the Netherlands, the ...

in 1858. A crudely shaped

bayonet A bayonet (from Old French , now spelt ) is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , now spelt ) is a knife, dagger">knife">-4; we might wonder whethe ...

and

sickle A sickle, bagging hook, reaping-hook or grasshook is a single-handed agricultural tool designed with variously curved blades and typically used for harvesting or reaping grain crops, or cutting Succulent plant, succulent forage chiefly for feedi ...

combo, his design was widely accepted by the

U.S. military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...

during the period of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Can openers were needed because early cans were robust containers, which weighed more than food and required ingenuity to open, using whatever tools available. The instruction on those cans read "Cut round the top near the outer edge with a chisel and hammer." The bayonet part of Ezra Warner's can opener was pressed into the can, and a metal guard kept it from penetrating too far into the can. The other part was the sickle, which was forced into the can and sawed around the edge.Ezra J. Warner "Can opener" , January 5, 1858 However, Warner’s can opener was not a tool for domestic use, because it could be dangerous. Grocers opened the cans before they left the store. The first widespread domestic can opener was patented by William Lyman.

References

External links

The American Experience
Year of birth missing Year of death missing American Civil War industrialists 19th-century American inventors People of Connecticut in the American Civil War People from Waterbury, Connecticut Engineers from Connecticut {{US-inventor-stub