The first can opener was patented 83 years after the first cans were invented.

The first can opener was patented 83 years after the first cans were invented.

Cans were first used to store food in 1772, and canned food was first patented in 1810. Can openers didn't appear until the 1850s.

Robert Yates filed the first patent for a can opener in 1855 in Great Britain, and Ezra Warner filed the first US patent for one in 1858. Before then, canned food used to come with the following instructions: "Cut round the top near the outer edge with a chisel and hammer."