7 ms·

Ok, bit of a bragging moment here: my grandpa, with two other gentlemen, created the process for machining seamless cans that is described here. Before them, ca

by jscheel 14y ago

Ok, bit of a bragging moment here: my grandpa, with two other gentlemen, created the process for machining seamless cans that is described here. Before them, cans had a lead seam in them. They discovered that you could draw down the aluminum and stretch it to form cans in one piece. He also invented the process for creating the bottom of soda cans, and his friend invented the modern tab on the top of soda cans.

bitserf 14y ago
That's pretty damn awesome. Behind everything we take for granted, there's someone who slaved over it and brought it into fruition. Thanks for sharing!
- arscan 14y ago
  I think about this occasionally. Everything that you see that isn't "nature" was explicitly designed by somebody (and most likely a large team of somebodies). Its truly mind-boggling.
  - namank 14y ago
    And how those things not only survive but flourish in the same environment. It's mind boggling that those designs can co-exist without immediate repercussions! The complexity through the times amazes me!
  - sopooneo 14y ago
    Sort of. So much is the result of tiny incremental design improvements over decades or centuries. I remember the first time I took apart a small engine it seemed to work so well together that it was almost organic. Like it had evolved, which in a way it had
  - LukeShu 14y ago
    I like to think about that too. Like I notice that there's a groove in the latch for a bathroom stall; an engineer decided to put that there, but for what reason?
DigitalSea 14y ago
Wow that's awesome. We live in a society where one person takes credit for something and in this case a Coke can is comprised of many inventions as are many things. You never hear about the guy who helped shape the process of creating the bottom of soda cans or the tab on them. I wonder who invented that piece of plastic that holds store bought bread together?
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- yareally 14y ago
  Not the individual inventor, but this company[1] invented the twisty in 1939. Also twistys are color coated on bread, denoting the day of the week it was put out[2]. [1] http://www.twistems.com/pages/profile.html http://www.twistems.com/pages/profile.html [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twist_tie#Color_coding_for_bread_age http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twist_tie#Color_coding_for_brea...
  - glhaynes 14y ago
    I love that Wednesday's twist tie color is a complete mystery even with the assembled resources of the internet.
    - yareally 14y ago
      I had a good laugh at that as well. I'm wondering now if it was intentional or the person that added it to wiki really did not know.
    - rexreed 14y ago
      As for why bread is not baked on Wednesdays (Read the comments): http://main.kitchendaily.com/2011/04/07/color-coded-bread-bag-ties/ http://main.kitchendaily.com/2011/04/07/color-coded-bread-ba... "One thing is universal-all bread companies deliver five days a week, with days off being Wednesday and Sunday. Thus, these days have no color coded bread for the deliver driver to remove from the store." Also, it's not universal the color codes (Which can vary from one brand to another), and in some cases, 7 color codes are used because those bread companies deliver 7 days a week: http://www.snopes.com/food/prepare/breadtag.asp http://www.snopes.com/food/prepare/breadtag.asp
8ig8 14y ago
And this is why I love HN. There are so many interesting people lurking about. Thanks for sharing.
DanBC 14y ago
There's a (perhaps surprising) amount of engineering happening in the tabs to soda cans. (http://www.enotes.com/aluminum-beverage-can-reference/aluminum-beverage-can http://www.enotes.com/aluminum-beverage-can-reference/alumin...) (http://www.engineerguy.com/videos/video-pop-can.htm http://www.engineerguy.com/videos/video-pop-can.htm) Also, Pinjarra is doing the teal-orange thing too (https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Pinjarra,+Western+Australia,+Australia&hl=en&ll=-32.622063,115.89293&spn=0.021073,0.028152&sll=51.48931,-0.08819&sspn=0.525882,0.203247&oq=pinja&t=h&hnear=Pinjarra+Western+Australia,+Australia&z=15&iwloc=A https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Pinjarra,+Western+Australia...)
justin66 14y ago
> They discovered that you could draw down the aluminum and stretch it to form cans in one piece. He also invented the process for creating the bottom of soda cans Aren't these both part of the same process? Whatever is being done to force that piece of aluminum into the correct shape, it involves the same piece of metal.
- jscheel 14y ago
  Sort of, the can's bottom is flat (potentially with specific varying thicknesses) after the drawing. A punch then shapes the bottom to what it needs to be.

by jscheel 14y ago

bitserf 14y ago

That's pretty damn awesome. Behind everything we take for granted, there's someone who slaved over it and brought it into fruition. Thanks for sharing!

arscan 14y ago
I think about this occasionally. Everything that you see that isn't "nature" was explicitly designed by somebody (and most likely a large team of somebodies). Its truly mind-boggling.
- namank 14y ago
  And how those things not only survive but flourish in the same environment. It's mind boggling that those designs can co-exist without immediate repercussions! The complexity through the times amazes me!
- sopooneo 14y ago
  Sort of. So much is the result of tiny incremental design improvements over decades or centuries. I remember the first time I took apart a small engine it seemed to work so well together that it was almost organic. Like it had evolved, which in a way it had
- LukeShu 14y ago
  I like to think about that too. Like I notice that there's a groove in the latch for a bathroom stall; an engineer decided to put that there, but for what reason?

DigitalSea 14y ago

Wow that's awesome. We live in a society where one person takes credit for something and in this case a Coke can is comprised of many inventions as are many things. You never hear about the guy who helped shape the process of creating the bottom of soda cans or the tab on them. I wonder who invented that piece of plastic that holds store bought bread together?

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
yareally 14y ago
Not the individual inventor, but this company[1] invented the twisty in 1939. Also twistys are color coated on bread, denoting the day of the week it was put out[2]. [1] http://www.twistems.com/pages/profile.html http://www.twistems.com/pages/profile.html [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twist_tie#Color_coding_for_bread_age http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twist_tie#Color_coding_for_brea...
- glhaynes 14y ago
  I love that Wednesday's twist tie color is a complete mystery even with the assembled resources of the internet.
  - yareally 14y ago
    I had a good laugh at that as well. I'm wondering now if it was intentional or the person that added it to wiki really did not know.
  - rexreed 14y ago
    As for why bread is not baked on Wednesdays (Read the comments): http://main.kitchendaily.com/2011/04/07/color-coded-bread-bag-ties/ http://main.kitchendaily.com/2011/04/07/color-coded-bread-ba... "One thing is universal-all bread companies deliver five days a week, with days off being Wednesday and Sunday. Thus, these days have no color coded bread for the deliver driver to remove from the store." Also, it's not universal the color codes (Which can vary from one brand to another), and in some cases, 7 color codes are used because those bread companies deliver 7 days a week: http://www.snopes.com/food/prepare/breadtag.asp http://www.snopes.com/food/prepare/breadtag.asp

8ig8 14y ago

And this is why I love HN. There are so many interesting people lurking about. Thanks for sharing.

DanBC 14y ago

There's a (perhaps surprising) amount of engineering happening in the tabs to soda cans. (http://www.enotes.com/aluminum-beverage-can-reference/aluminum-beverage-can http://www.enotes.com/aluminum-beverage-can-reference/alumin...) (http://www.engineerguy.com/videos/video-pop-can.htm http://www.engineerguy.com/videos/video-pop-can.htm) Also, Pinjarra is doing the teal-orange thing too (https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Pinjarra,+Western+Australia,+Australia&hl=en&ll=-32.622063,115.89293&spn=0.021073,0.028152&sll=51.48931,-0.08819&sspn=0.525882,0.203247&oq=pinja&t=h&hnear=Pinjarra+Western+Australia,+Australia&z=15&iwloc=A https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Pinjarra,+Western+Australia...)

justin66 14y ago

> They discovered that you could draw down the aluminum and stretch it to form cans in one piece. He also invented the process for creating the bottom of soda cans Aren't these both part of the same process? Whatever is being done to force that piece of aluminum into the correct shape, it involves the same piece of metal.

jscheel 14y ago
Sort of, the can's bottom is flat (potentially with specific varying thicknesses) after the drawing. A punch then shapes the bottom to what it needs to be.