On January 5, 1858, Waterbury native Ezra J. Warner invented the first US can opener. The idea of storing food in cans dates back almost 50 years earlier when Peter Durand of England patented a can made of wrought iron with a tin lining. To open these cans, which could be as thick as 3/16 of an inch, it was suggested that they be “cut around at the top with a chisel and hammer.” Amazingly, it took decades—and Ezra Warner’s design—for a practical can-opening tool to be made. By that time, the iron cans were just starting to be replaced by thinner steel cans.

Source: Connecticut History