The pull-tab opening mechanism characteristic of post-1970s drinking cans.

A beverage can (or drinks can) is most often an aluminum can manufactured to hold a single serving of a beverage. WikipediaNaming A drink, or beverage, is a Liquid specifically prepared for Human consumption

Overview

Lübzer Pils beer from Germany in the larger European standard can size of 500 mL (17. 6 imp fl oz/16. 9 U. S. fl oz)

The early metal beverage can was made out of steel (similar to a tin can) and had no pull-tab. Steel is an Alloy consisting mostly of Iron, with a Carbon content between 0 A tin can, also called a tin (especially in British English) or a can, is an air-tight container for the distribution or storage of Instead, it was opened by a can piercer, a device resembling a bottle opener, but with a sharp point. The can was opened by punching two triangular holes in the lid — a large one for drinking, and a small one to admit air. This type of opener is sometimes referred to as a churchkey. Churchkey or Church key can refer to various kinds of Bottle openers or Can openers History It initially referred to a simple hand-operated Further advancements saw the ends of the can made out of aluminum instead of steel.

Shasta claims to be the first soda company to can their beverages. Shasta is a brand of US Soft drink that reached the peak of its popularity in the 1980s

The first all-aluminum cans were the same as their forebears, which still used the can opener to open them. Mikolaj Kondakow of Thunder Bay, Ontario invented the pull tab version for bottles in 1956[Canadian patent 476789]. Thunder Bay ( 2006 census population 109140 formerly the twin cities of Fort William and Port Arthur, is a City in and the seat of Thunder Then, in 1962, Ermal Cleon Fraze of Dayton, Ohio invented the similar integral rivet and pull-tab version (also known as rimple or ring pull), which had a ring attached at the rivet for pulling, and which would come off completely to be discarded. Dayton is a city in southwestern Ohio, United States. It is the County seat and largest city of Montgomery County. He received U. S. Patent No. 3,349,949 for his pull-top can design in 1963 and licensed his invention to Alcoa and Pittsburgh Brewing Company. Alcoa Inc ( is the world's third largest producer of Aluminum, behind Rio Tinto Alcan and Rusal. The Iron City Brewing Company is a Beer company located in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, USA. It was first introduced on Iron City beer cans by the Pittsburgh Brewing Company. The Iron City Brewing Company is a Beer company located in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, USA. The first soft drinks to be sold in all-aluminum cans were R.C. Cola and Diet-Rite Cola, both made by the Royal Crown Cola company, in 1964. RC Cola (or Royal Crown Cola) is a Cola Soft drink developed in 1905 by Columbus Georgia Pharmacist Claude A Diet Rite is a brand of no-calorie Soft drinks originally distributed by the RC Cola company

Pull-tabs were a common form of litter. Some users dropped the aluminum tab into the can and occasionally swallowed the sharp-edged tab by accident. Stay tabs (also called colon tabs) were invented by Daniel F. Cudzik of Reynolds Metals in Richmond, Virginia in 1975 ^{[1] [2]}, partly to prevent the injuries caused by removable tabs. In this can model described in U. S. Patent No. 3,967,752,^[3] the lid contains a scored region and a pull-tab that can be leveraged to open the hole by pushing the scored region into the can. Stay tabs almost completely replaced pull-tabs in many parts of the world by the early 1980s, though pull-tabs are still common in places such as China and the Middle East. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National The Middle East is a Subcontinent with no clear boundaries often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East.

One unsuccessful variation was the press-button can, which featured two pre-cut buttons, one large, one small, in the top of the can, sealed with a plastic membrane. These buttons were held closed by the outward pressure of the carbonated beverage. To open the can, the consumer would press both buttons into the body of the can, thus opening one through which to drink the beverage, the other to provide sufficient air to allow the contents to flow more easily. The buttons would remain attached to the can, alleviating the earlier issues with pull-tab ingestion. A disadvantage of this method was that a consumer could open a press button can and either remove, replace or taint its contents, before shaking the can enough to force the press buttons to re-seal the can, with little evidence of tampering. Another disadvantage was that it was too easy for consumers either to cut themselves on the sharp edge of either hole or get fingers stuck inside the can whilst pressing the buttons to open it.

Most beverage cans have a slightly tapered top and bottom. The metal on the lid of the can is significantly thicker than the metal on the sides. This means that a great deal of raw materials can be saved by decreasing the diameter of the lid, without significantly decreasing the structural integrity or capacity of the can. This results in savings of about 15% versus a non-tapered can.

The most recent advance in can design has been the "wide mouth" can — the opening was enlarged in the late 1990s by Mountain Dew originally. Mountain Dew is a popular drink distributed and manufactured by PepsiCo. In 2000 Crown Holdings, Inc. has introduced an improvement in beverage end technology, named SuperEnd. Crown Holdings Incorporated ( (formerly Crown Cork & Seal Company) founded in 1892 by William Painter is a Fortune 500 company based in Philadelphia The geometry reduces the aluminum content by 10% and creates a 'billboard' area, usable for brand logos and special messages.

Current characteristics

In North America, the standard can size is 12 U.S. fluid ounces (355 ml/12. US customary units, also known in the United States as English units or Imperial units (in reference to the British Empire) (but see English 5 imp fl oz). In India and most of Europe, standard cans are 330 ml (11. The litre or liter (see spelling differences) is a unit of Volume. 6 imp fl oz/11. Imperial units or the Imperial system is a collection of units first defined in the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824 A fluid ounce (abbreviated fl oz, fl oz or oz fl) is a unit of Volume in both the imperial and the US customary systems 2 U.S. fl oz). US customary units, also known in the United States as English units or Imperial units (in reference to the British Empire) (but see English A fluid ounce (abbreviated fl oz, fl oz or oz fl) is a unit of Volume in both the imperial and the US customary systems In some European countries there is a second standard can size, 500 ml (17. 6 imp fl oz/16. 9 U. S. fl oz), often used for beer (roughly equal in size to the non-standard American 16 fluid ounce "tall boy," also often used for beer). Beer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed Alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea In Australia the standard can size is 375 ml (12. 7 U. S. fl oz/13. 2 imp fl oz). South African standard cans are 340 ml (12. 0 imp fl oz/11. 5 U. S. fl oz) although the industry is currently (September 2007) converting to the European 330 ml standard and the promotional size is changing from 450 ml (15. 8 imp fl oz/15. 2 U. S. fl oz) to 440 ml (15. 5 imp fl oz/14. 9 U. S. fl oz).

Cans come in varying heights and diameters to encompass the range of capacities currently in use, however the diameters are usually one of two standard sizes. The United States, Australia and New Zealand almost universally use an diameter slightly in excess of 65mm. This size is almost universal in these countries for soft drinks, beers and ready-mixed spirit drinks. European countries mostly use a much narrower size of 52mm for soft drinks and some beers. Recently the European size has started to appear is the US and Australasian markets with the appearance of energy drinks such as Red Bull (which is of European origin).

One practical difficulty brought about by these two differing standard sizes is that cans manufactured in Europe (with the smaller size cans & holders) and exported to the US or Australasia (who use the larger size) often present their owners with cup holders that are incapable of holding most drinks in those countries.

All metal beverage cans made in the United States are manufactured from aluminum ^[4], whereas approximately 55 percent of drinks cans made in Europe and Asia are steel, and 45 percent aluminum alloy.

An empty aluminum can weighs approximately a half-ounce (15 g). This article is about the unit of mass For the unit of force see Pound-force. There are roughly 30 empty aluminum cans to an avoirdupois pound (450 g). The pound or pound-mass (abbreviation lb, lbm, or sometimes in the United States #) is a unit of Mass

One problem with the current design is that the top edge of the can may collect dust or dirt in transit, if the can is not packaged in a completely sealed box. Some marketers have experimented with putting a separate foil lid on can tops, and shipping cans in cardboard 12 or 24 pack cases.

In many parts of the world a deposit can be recovered by turning in empty plastic, glass, and aluminum containers. Container deposit legislation are Laws passed by city state provincial or national governments that require that a deposit on carbonated, milk water or Alcoholic Unlike glass and plastic, scrap metal dealers often purchase aluminum cans in bulk, even when deposits are not offered. Aluminum is one of the most cost-effective materials to recycle. When recycled without other metals being mixed in, the can/lid combination is perfect for producing new stock for the main part of the can — the loss of magnesium during melting is made up for by the high magnesium content of the lid. Also refining ores such as bauxite into aluminum requires large amounts of electricity, making recycling cheaper than smelting.

Many consumers find the taste of a drink from a can to be different from fountain drinks and those from plastic or glass bottles. A Fountain drink is a Soft drink, prepared locally from a supply of Flavored sweetened Syrup, Carbon dioxide, and Water In addition, some people believe that aluminum leaching into the fluid contained inside can be dangerous to the drinker's health. ^[5] The exact role (if any) of aluminum in Alzheimer's disease is still being researched and debated, though the scientific consensus is that aluminum plays no role in the development of the disease ^[6][7]. Alzheimer's disease ( AD) also called Alzheimer disease or simply Alzheimer's, is the most common form of Dementia. Aluminum cans contain an internal coating to protect the aluminum from the contents. If the internal coating fails, the contents will create a hole and the can will leak in a matter of days. There is some difference in taste, especially noticeable in beer, presumably due to traces of the processing oils used in making the can.

Fabrication process

Modern cans are generally produced through a mechanical cold forming process that starts with punching a flat blank from very stiff cold-rolled sheet. Swaging ( pronunciation note below) is a Metal -forming technique in which the dimensions of an item are altered using a die or dies into which the item This sheet is typically alloy 3104-H19 or 3004-H19, which is aluminum with about 1% manganese and 1% magnesium to give it strength and formability. The flat blank is first formed into a cup about three inches in diameter. This cup is then pushed through a different forming process called "ironing" which forms the can. The bottom of the can is also shaped at this time. The malleable metal deforms into the shape of an open-top can. With the sophisticated technology of the dies and the forming machines, the side of the can is significantly thinner than either the top and bottom areas, where stiffness is required. One can-making production line can turn out up to 2400 cans per minute.

Plain lids are stamped out from a coil of aluminum, typically alloy 5182-H49, and are transferred to another press that converts them to easy-open ends. The conversion press forms an integral rivet button in the lid and scores the opening, while concurrently forming the tabs in another die from a separate strip of aluminum. The tab is pushed over the button, which is then flattened to form the rivet that attaches the tab to the lid.

Finally, the top rim of the can is trimmed and pressed inward or "necked" to form a taper conical where the can will later be filled and the lid (usually made of an aluminum alloy with magnesium) attached.

Older can designs

There were once cans in the United States called cone tops and crowntainers which had tops that were conical, rather than flat. Cone top cans were sealed by the same caps that were put on bottles. There were three types of conetops — high profile, low profile, and j-spout. The low profile and j-spout were the earliest, dating from about 1935, the same as the flat top cans that had to be opened with an opener. The crowntainer was a different type of can that was drawn steel with a bottom cap and the favorite of some collectors. Various breweries used crowntainers and conetops until the late 1950s, but not every brewery used every variety mentioned above. Crowntainers were developed by Crown Cork & Seal, now known as Crown Holdings, Inc. , a leading beverage packaging and beverage can producer.

See also

• Beverage-can stove
• Self-heating can
• Beer Can Museum
• Six pack rings
• Widget (beer)
• beer koozie

References

• Brody, A. L. , and Marsh, K, S. , "Encyclopedia of Packaging Technology", John Wiley & Sons, 1997, ISBN 0-471-06397-5
• Soroka, W, "Fundamentals of Packaging Technology", IoPP, 2002, ISBN 1-930268-25-4

External links

• Beer can history
• Pull tab fundraiser myth
• Heat engine made of can

Gallery

Many companies use inflatables that look like an aluminum can, such as this one by Sierra Mist. Sierra Mist is a multi- Lemon-lime flavored caffeine-free Soft drink, introduced by PepsiCo in 2000 and rolled out nationally in 2003

A can of San Pellegrino Aranciata, with a separate foil lid. San Pellegrino (also S Pellegrino) is a Brand of Mineral water with added carbonation produced and bottled at San Pellegrino Terme

A pull tab from the 1970's.