Preserving Food with The Can By: Michael Murray

Intro:
Preserving food has been need for all humans even dating back to cave men. Bottle or cans an the technology changed how we eat and preserve food. Cans were made by hand in workrooms at the rate of 10 cans per day to the present day when high speed machinery produces 2,500 cans or more per minute. This valuable container that people take for granite is how humans were feed and helped them in discoveries, wars, world health improvements and technological advances. Dating back nearly two centuries. The can has evolved to changing market demands around the world when it comes to long term preserving food.

Discovery:

In 1795 when the French offered a prize of 12,000 Francs to anyone who could present to the government with a new effective way of preserving food. Nicholas Appert a Parisian who had worked as a candy maker, chef, brewer, pickle maker, and vintner had an idea. For the next 15 years he tested his idea’s. And finally after partially cooking food and then sealing it in bottles with cork stoppers and then setting bottles in boiling water he thought if food is sufficiently heated and sealed in an airtight container it will not spoil. Appert demonstrated his theory to Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte by sending samples of preserved foods to his army. Looking at military he had learned through hard experience that it does Scurvy and hunger disabled many more of Napoleon's soldiers than combat itself. Appert's samples including partridges, vegetables, and gravy were sent with soldiers to sea for more than four months. When opened different kinds of preserved foods were tasted Appert wrote, "Every one of which had retained its freshness, and not a single substance had undergone the least change at sea." Appert was awarded the 12,000 francs by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte himself. That was the first of preserving food in bottles. When England with the same idea made aluminum cans In 1845 the cans were sealed with lead which gave soldiers in 3 years really bad cases of lead poisoning. They didn’t know any better but were killing their own army with their own supplies! But that was the old days of preserving food. And the beginning of the can a new way to preserve fresh food. Cans in the 1800’s were very thick and need a chisel to open them and as time when by and the cans got thinner and got sprayed by lacquer to make them not corrode or rust which in some ways is bad for the environment. The discovery of the can opener was invented to take away the danger of cut your self on the sharp can while opening it.

How to make an aluminum can:

For almost 100 years people have made cans by hand, but now days their are machines which create 100 times more cans than canners back than. the 15 steps for these machines were 1. Aluminum or steel strip arrives at the can manufacturing plant in huge coils.
2. The strip is lubricated with a thin film of oil and then fed continuously through a cupping press which blanks and draws thousands of shallow cups every minute.
3. Each cup is rammed through a carbide rings. This is the ironing process which thins and raises the walls of the cans into their final can shape.
4. Trimmers remove the irregular edge and cut each can to a specific height. The material cut off is then recycled.
5. The trimmed can bodies are passed through washers and then dried. This removes all of the oil in preparation for coating internally and externally.
6. The clean cans are coated externally with a clear or pigment base coat which forms a good surface for the printing inks.
7. The cans pass through a hot air oven to dry the lacquer.
8. The next step is a printer which applies the printed design.
9. A coat of varnish is also applied to the base of each can by a rim.
10. The cans pass through a second oven which dries the inks.
11. The inside of each can is sprayed with lacquer. This special layer is to protect the can itself from corrosion and its contents from any possibility of interaction with the metal.
12. Once again, lacquered internal and external surfaces are dried in an oven.
13. The cans are passed through a flanger. Here the diameter of the wall is reduced. The top of the can is flanged outwards to accept the end once the can has been filled.
14. At the final stage it passes through a light tester which rejects any cans with pinholes or fractures.
The finished can bodies are then transferred to the warehouse.

Who new it was so many steps to create such a small little can!



Impact on world:

The can has helped man in discoveries traveling across oceans, the can has always been on that boat to feed the crew with fresh meals. In the civil war they had canned food which helped the north win and free the slaves. And when a hurricane hits Louisiana and people need help feeding all the homeless, Seacrest always has a can food drive which makes it easy to transport food for Louisiana, Haiti, or even China on the other side of the word. The can is such a important item that would be hard to live with out and it was inveted dating all the way back to the 1700’s. The only negative thing the can brings from preserving food is being left out in a land fill after throwing it away. So when you reed this please do recycle and the can would be a ten out of ten for impact on the world!

Journal Article:

How Henrey C. Campen in the United States back in 1800’s made the can. The sides of the can shape and how it helped play a vital role in the Civil War. The can was designed to be circular and strong to preserve food kept inside the can without bursting from a great deal of pressure inside.





List of References


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"Tin Can." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. .

"Who Invented the Tin Can? - Answers.Ask.com." Ask Answers - Answers.Ask.com. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. .