5 ms·

The Aluminum Beverage Can (1994) [pdf]

48 points by kens 11y ago

Luvnit 11y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUhisi2FBuw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUhisi2FBuw
- dghughes 11y ago
  My first thought too love the Engineer Guy videos Bill Hammack is cool guy.
jacquesm 11y ago
One of the HN members grandfather iirc is responsible for the design of the tab.
- jacquesm 11y ago
  Finally found it, it was the bottom, not the tab: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8098146 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8098146
hammock 11y ago
A paean to the aluminum industry. No mention at all of the BPA-based polymer lining, which is critical to product quality and has adverse effects on health.
- dsfyu404ed 11y ago
  This article was about refinements in the manufacturing the can itself from a mechanical standpoint. The can lining is based on the material it has to hold and is mostly unrelated to the mechanical properties of the can as a container. A can holding methanol probably won't be lined with the same thing a coke can is lined with. Thanks for the off topic troll post, now why don't you cut open a gallon jug of Brakeleen, lick it clean and tell us what it's lined with...
  - Stratoscope 11y ago
    Your first paragraph was interesting and informative. Your second paragraph... Not so much.
    - dsfyu404ed 11y ago
      Sometimes you've got to speak a language that both parties understand. A dumb comment gets a dumb response.
- dang 11y ago
  > A paean to the aluminum industry That's unduly dismissive of an article that is primarily about design. On HN it's better to make substantive comments than dismissive ones. You have a good point about the polymer lining, but it would be better to make it informative instead of polarizing. There's no reason we can't all learn about flanges, rivets, polymer linings and health effects.
  - hammock 11y ago
    Nothing undue about it. Paean is not a negative word. "Reynolds Metals pioneered the contemporary method of production." Are you overeager to read something else into my comment?
    - dang 11y ago
      Any comment taking the form A paean to the X industry. No mention at all of controversy Y which makes X look bad sounds reductionist to me, at least on an internet forum. If you didn't mean it that way, I'm sorry! Intention is hard to read; it would be easier if your comment contained more information. The idea of using "paean to industry" unironically makes me smile. It seems quaint now, like those 1950s videos where manly narrators recite triumphant scripts over footage of conveyor belts.
      - hammock 11y ago
        Added more info
- hammock 11y ago
  Adding more info: A lining is required to store food/beverage in cans. The lining keeps the food from corroding the can, preventing the introduction of bacteria, as well as protects the food from dissolved metals that compromise taste and quality. The old cans were steel lined with tin. The new aluminum cans required a different lining. Plastic. Various BPA resins and vinyls were tried until we got to where we are today. Without a plastic lining, aluminum cans would not be as useful as they are, and this fact of design/engineering is left out of OP.
  - TeMPOraL 11y ago
    Yes. This is my irk with people who complain a lot about artificial preservatives and "chemistry" in food, as if The Companies conspired to poison us all on purpose. While some of those substances were added for purely "capitalistic" reason ("moar better taste/color, moar people will pay moneyz!"), most of them is what enables modern food sale and distribution - it's what makes things not spoil on shelves and be safe to eat after buying.
markbnj 11y ago
Insights into manufacturing processes that most of us know nothing about, and the output of which we take for granted on a daily basis, is always fascinating to me. Thanks for the post.
- jlevy 11y ago
  +1 -- great post.
Animats 11y ago
Although cans are usually drawn, it's possible to blow them, like glass bottles, or use impact extrusion to make unusual one piece shapes. That's how aluminum bottles smaller at the opening than the base, or with odd shapes, are made.[1] [1] http://www.cclcontainer.com/decorating-shaping/shaping/ http://www.cclcontainer.com/decorating-shaping/shaping/

48 points by kens 11y ago

Luvnit 11y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUhisi2FBuw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUhisi2FBuw

dghughes 11y ago
My first thought too love the Engineer Guy videos Bill Hammack is cool guy.

jacquesm 11y ago

One of the HN members grandfather iirc is responsible for the design of the tab.

jacquesm 11y ago
Finally found it, it was the bottom, not the tab: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8098146 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8098146

hammock 11y ago

A paean to the aluminum industry. No mention at all of the BPA-based polymer lining, which is critical to product quality and has adverse effects on health.

dsfyu404ed 11y ago
This article was about refinements in the manufacturing the can itself from a mechanical standpoint. The can lining is based on the material it has to hold and is mostly unrelated to the mechanical properties of the can as a container. A can holding methanol probably won't be lined with the same thing a coke can is lined with. Thanks for the off topic troll post, now why don't you cut open a gallon jug of Brakeleen, lick it clean and tell us what it's lined with...
- Stratoscope 11y ago
  Your first paragraph was interesting and informative. Your second paragraph... Not so much.
  - dsfyu404ed 11y ago
    Sometimes you've got to speak a language that both parties understand. A dumb comment gets a dumb response.
dang 11y ago
> A paean to the aluminum industry That's unduly dismissive of an article that is primarily about design. On HN it's better to make substantive comments than dismissive ones. You have a good point about the polymer lining, but it would be better to make it informative instead of polarizing. There's no reason we can't all learn about flanges, rivets, polymer linings and health effects.
- hammock 11y ago
  Nothing undue about it. Paean is not a negative word. "Reynolds Metals pioneered the contemporary method of production." Are you overeager to read something else into my comment?
  - dang 11y ago
    Any comment taking the form A paean to the X industry. No mention at all of controversy Y which makes X look bad sounds reductionist to me, at least on an internet forum. If you didn't mean it that way, I'm sorry! Intention is hard to read; it would be easier if your comment contained more information. The idea of using "paean to industry" unironically makes me smile. It seems quaint now, like those 1950s videos where manly narrators recite triumphant scripts over footage of conveyor belts.
    - hammock 11y ago
      Added more info
hammock 11y ago
Adding more info: A lining is required to store food/beverage in cans. The lining keeps the food from corroding the can, preventing the introduction of bacteria, as well as protects the food from dissolved metals that compromise taste and quality. The old cans were steel lined with tin. The new aluminum cans required a different lining. Plastic. Various BPA resins and vinyls were tried until we got to where we are today. Without a plastic lining, aluminum cans would not be as useful as they are, and this fact of design/engineering is left out of OP.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  Yes. This is my irk with people who complain a lot about artificial preservatives and "chemistry" in food, as if The Companies conspired to poison us all on purpose. While some of those substances were added for purely "capitalistic" reason ("moar better taste/color, moar people will pay moneyz!"), most of them is what enables modern food sale and distribution - it's what makes things not spoil on shelves and be safe to eat after buying.

markbnj 11y ago

Insights into manufacturing processes that most of us know nothing about, and the output of which we take for granted on a daily basis, is always fascinating to me. Thanks for the post.

jlevy 11y ago
+1 -- great post.

Animats 11y ago

Although cans are usually drawn, it's possible to blow them, like glass bottles, or use impact extrusion to make unusual one piece shapes. That's how aluminum bottles smaller at the opening than the base, or with odd shapes, are made.[1] [1] http://www.cclcontainer.com/decorating-shaping/shaping/ http://www.cclcontainer.com/decorating-shaping/shaping/