the.com/tin can
a 19th-century invention so ahead of itself the can opener arrived 48 years late
means A small metal container, usually steel or aluminum, used to preserve and store food or drink in a sealed, airtight form.
from "Tin" comes from Old English 'tin,' a Germanic word for the soft metal — though the food cans it names were mostly thin steel or iron coated with a protective layer of tin, hence the name stuck. "Can" descends from Old English 'canne,' a word for a cup or container, with relatives across Germanic languages. The pairing rose with 19th-century canning: a process patented in early-1800s Britain for preserving food, originally in iron containers soldered shut and opened with whatever blunt force was handy — the dedicated can opener came decades later.
- mostly steel
- Modern tin cans are steel with a thin tin coat
- opener gap
- Cans patented 1810, can opener not until 1858
- early method
- Soldiers opened them with bayonets and rocks
- radio slang
- Submarines were nicknamed tin cans by sailors
spam — canned meat product by hormel foods, first sold in 1937, over 15 million cans sold annually
heinz baked beans — tinned beans in tomato sauce, iconic uk product since 1901, best-selling baked beans brand
campbell's soup — condensed soup in tin cans, founded 1869, american classic featured in andy warhol's 1962 art