Bottle & can openers
By the late 19th century, food in cans had arrived in Britain and the Victorians produced cast iron openers in the shape of bulls' heads. Their lethal jaws provided the cutting action, and the more decorative ones had swirling tails. Over time they became simplified and were made from steel with wooden handles, like the ones that Crosse and Blackwell offered. Even Skyline modelled their later openers on the same principle.
Other designs involved cutters which travelled the top of the cans leaving equally sharp edges. Not until the 1940s or 1950s did someone invent the two rotating discs which would cleanly cut the can and leave more fingers in tact !
Beer and soft drinks brands produced bottle and tin openers with their names on. Anything from Crown to Corona. Kitchen corkscrews were produced by Skyline, Tala and Nutbrown in their popular colours of the day.
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