The Lid-Lifting Can Opener: One Lip Presses Down While the Other Lifts

A fruit can's tin cover, pressed onto a rubber ring, can stick so hard that prising it off hurts the fingers. O. J. Livermore of Worcester, Massachusetts, received US 55,878, dated 26 June 1866, for a can opener for "Lyman's patent can": a handle, a part that passes over the cover with an inclined lip below it, and a curved piece whose angular edge goes under the cover's far side; raising the handle presses one side down and lifts the other. This rung compares the force holding a vacuum-sealed lid with what the lever gives, then bends the opener from flat bar and lifts a sealed jar lid with it.