The Aluminum Beverage Can (1994) [pdf] | Hacker News Reader

The Aluminum Beverage Can (1994) [pdf]

chymist.com

48 pointskens16 comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUhisi2FBuw

My first thought too love the Engineer Guy videos Bill Hammack is cool guy.

Insights into manufacturing processes that most of us know nothing about, and the output of which we take for granted on a daily basis, is always fascinating to me. Thanks for the post.

+1 -- great post.

Although cans are usually drawn, it's possible to blow them, like glass bottles, or use impact extrusion to make unusual one piece shapes. That's how aluminum bottles smaller at the opening than the base, or with odd shapes, are made.[1]

[1] http://www.cclcontainer.com/decorating-shaping/shaping/

One of the HN members grandfather iirc is responsible for the design of the tab.

Finally found it, it was the bottom, not the tab:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8098146

A paean to the aluminum industry. No mention at all of the BPA-based polymer lining, which is critical to product quality and has adverse effects on health.

> A paean to the aluminum industry

That's unduly dismissive of an article that is primarily about design. On HN it's better to make substantive comments than dismissive ones.

You have a good point about the polymer lining, but it would be better to make it informative instead of polarizing. There's no reason we can't all learn about flanges, rivets, polymer linings and health effects.

Nothing undue about it. Paean is not a negative word. "Reynolds Metals pioneered the contemporary method of production." Are you overeager to read something else into my comment?

Any comment taking the form A paean to the X industry. No mention at all of controversy Y which makes X look bad sounds reductionist to me, at least on an internet forum. If you didn't mean it that way, I'm sorry! Intention is hard to read; it would be easier if your comment contained more information.

The idea of using "paean to industry" unironically makes me smile. It seems quaint now, like those 1950s videos where manly narrators recite triumphant scripts over footage of conveyor belts.

Added more info

Adding more info: A lining is required to store food/beverage in cans. The lining keeps the food from corroding the can, preventing the introduction of bacteria, as well as protects the food from dissolved metals that compromise taste and quality.

The old cans were steel lined with tin. The new aluminum cans required a different lining. Plastic. Various BPA resins and vinyls were tried until we got to where we are today. Without a plastic lining, aluminum cans would not be as useful as they are, and this fact of design/engineering is left out of OP.

Yes. This is my irk with people who complain a lot about artificial preservatives and "chemistry" in food, as if The Companies conspired to poison us all on purpose. While some of those substances were added for purely "capitalistic" reason ("moar better taste/color, moar people will pay moneyz!"), most of them is what enables modern food sale and distribution - it's what makes things not spoil on shelves and be safe to eat after buying.

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