[IP encyclopedia] How many patents per one of CAN? A compound of intellectual property

Peter Durants Can [Photo Provided : Wikipedia]

Patent Application : Stay on tap (USD238150S)

Year : 1973

Country : U.S.A

Region : Richmond Virginia

Name : Daniel F. Cudzik


Canned food which stores beverage fruits food source and etc is essential stuff nowadays. However this canned food calls intellectual compound developed by numerous people’s invention. Today let’s take a look at the patents that helped development of can and its history in IP encyclopedia.

Can was developed first time in 1809. At that time it was not good for the way to store the foods and the worsen circumstance about food due to the war in Napoleon era. Like an invention emerges from a crisis in 1804 the French man Nicolas Appart made the canned food which stores food in the long time by glass bottle and distributed to France soldier and citizen.


Even in England which was hostile to France while thinking about the way to stores the food Peter Durand a mechanic from London in England has invented the canned food which is made by steel not glass. One day he was difficult to eat the glass-canned lunch due to cold weather. Also in order to heat up the food in the glassed can he transferred it to the iron barrel used by himself and ate it by fire. After the lunch time in his head the idea that iron would be better than glass for food storage was filled.

After that time in order to prevent from being spoiled due to the iron he made a thin tin plate and invented a canned food which was completely sealed in the shape of a bottle of black tea he usually drank. He also called the canned food with ‘Tin canister’ and the reason why the U.K. still calls cans ‘Tin’ rather than ‘Can’.


In 1813 the worlds first canned food factory was established near the Thames River and in 1820 ‘Tin’ jumped into the US. American people called the can which is from first three letters of ‘Canister’ rather than Tin. Afterward it became popular in the United States from 1861 to 1865 when the Civil War was fierce.

Through the war the canned food was mass-produced and invented. However after the war in order to eat the canned food with storage it was difficult to open the can that is too durable for the ordinary people. At that time one empty can was about 500g over 1 pound. In order to open this can it was hard enough to require a hammer and chisel. To solve this problem it must be needed for a can opener. In 1850 ordinary people used a hammer and chisel and soldiers who fought in World War II opened the caps with rifle swords or field shovels. Afterwards blade-shaped can opener which is made by iron was invented and used it for a long time.


In 1900 church key which is can opener was distributed but there was several cases of injuries caused by sharp blades of canned lids that can be called deadly weapons. In 1959 for the church key Ermal Fraze came up with the new solution to produce it by attaching the opener to the can due to the difficulty of opening the can.

So called ‘Pull-tab’ way. There was a ring the size of a finger on the can and when you pull it a part of the lid would fall off along with the ring and a hole was made to drink beverage. In 1963 after the Emal’s Pull-tab patent all of the canned beverage had been produced by this way.



The biggest problem of the Pull-tab way was the ring which is popped up after opening the can. There were numerous accidents by opening a can or getting in to a drink swallowing it and stepping on it by bare feet causing injury.

In 1975 the new can lid patent was released and solved this problem which is the stay-on-tab way that is thought by Daniel Cudzik. After opening the can lid ring was still remained so it can completely solve the injury waste problem. After this invention it can be still same way of can beverage not changing its method. Except for the patent form there are many intellectual properties that have invested time in one can and poured out their creativity. Our efforts to use cans a little more comfortably continue to this day.


Today’s Can which is made by development of technology and numerous patent. The fact that this compact container that is used at our daily life very often has long history and many ideas is very surprising.

Of course there are problems that produces many waste. Probably wouldnt this problem be solved someday with someones creativity? We will solve it as always.

Canned food [Photo provided : imagetoday]

Church key [Photo provided : Wikipedia]

Daniel Kuziks Stay On Tap patent [Patent provided : Google patents]

Aluminium waste [Photo Provided : imagetoday]

Website: : http://www.wip-news.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=4646