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Rotary-Wheel Can Opener
The 1858 lever opener already published is a blade you drive into the lid and saw along by hand: it leaves a torn edge, needs real force, and slips. Charles Arthur Bunker's rung is the one still in every kitchen drawer - a toothed feed wheel that grips the can's rim and walks the can past a hardened cutting wheel, so the cut is rolled, not torn.
**US 1,838,525**, "Can opener", Bunker, assigned to Bunker-Clancey Manufacturing, filed 20. May 1926, granted 29. December 1931.
**You build the head** - feed wheel, cutting wheel and crank on a plywood body - and measure the force it takes against the lever opener.
Intermediate
4 hours
Instructions
1
1
Win the cutting wheel
Win the cutting wheel
Take the hardened wheel and its axle from a cheap tubing cutter. Keep the wheel's edge unharmed - it is the one part you cannot file yourself.
Materials for this step:
Tubing Cutter1 pieceTools needed:
Bench Vise
Clear Safety Glasses2
2
Make the feed wheel
Make the feed wheel
Cut a 12 mm disc from steel bar or use a hex bolt head. File 16 shallow teeth around its edge with the triangular file - deep enough to bite a rim, not to cut it.
Materials for this step:
Hex Bolt Assortment1 set
Nuts & Washers Set1 setTools needed:
Metal File
HacksawBench Vise3
3
Body and crank
Body and crank
From 18 mm plywood cut two side plates. Mount the feed wheel on a shaft through both, with a 45 mm crank arm. Mount the cutting wheel above it on a pivoting jaw so that squeezing the handles presses wheel to rim, exactly 1.5 mm inboard of the seam.
Materials for this step:
Plywood Sheet1 pieceTools needed:
Hand Saw
Cordless Drill
Steel Ruler4
4
Open a can
Open a can
Clamp an empty rinsed can's rim between the wheels, squeeze, and crank. Adjust the cutting wheel's height until it rolls a clean cut without jamming. Watch the fingers on the cut lid.
Materials for this step:
Tin Can2 piecesTools needed:
Clear Safety Glasses5
5
Measure both openers
Measure both openers
Hook the spring scale to your crank and to the lever opener's handle in turn, and record the force needed while cutting - six readings each.
Materials for this step:
Tin Can2 piecesTools needed:
Force Meter (Spring Scale)
Tin Snips6
6
Forces and wheel sizes
Forces and wheel sizes
Loading Jupyter Notebook...
7
7
History & Context
History & Context
**What the patent specifies:** a feed wheel with teeth engaging the can's rim and a cutting wheel bearing on the lid, so turning a crank carries the can past the cutter. **Modern build (derived):** a tubing-cutter wheel and a filed feed wheel on a plywood body.
Later openers moved the cut to the side seam so the lid lifts out without a sharp edge, and motors replaced the crank. Its limits: the wheels must be set to the rim thickness, a bent rim stops the feed, and the cut edge of a top-cut lid is sharp.
Materials
5- Tubing Cutter10% commission1 piecePlaceholder
- Hex Bolt Assortment10% commission1 setPlaceholder
- Nuts & Washers Set10% commission1 setPlaceholder
- 1 piecePlaceholder
- 4 piecesPlaceholder
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