MADE ON THE ISLE OF WIGHT: THE CROSSE & BLACKWELL CAN OPENER AND ITS CONNECTION WITH RYDE

What is believed to be the most commercially successful can opener of the 19th century was designed, made and patented by Ryde man Henry Knight in 1881. Henry was born in Worthing before moving to the Isle of Wight with his wife, Harriett, and their family around 1855. He was a former owner of Royal Victoria Arcade, which he bought for £3,000 in 1856 (£267,000 in today’s values). It is not always the ‘big’ inventions that cause the greatest changes in our lives. Canned food was around long before the tin opener. Tin cans were used by the Dutch Navy from at least the 1770s. In the United Kingdom, tin cans were patented by Peter Durand in 1810. The world’s 1st canning factory was set up in London in 1813. The early cans were robust containers, which could weigh more than the food they contained. They required ingenuity to open, using whatever tools were to hand. The tin cans carried the following instructions:

“Cut round top near the outer edge with a chisel and hammer.”

It took until the middle of the 19th century for lever-type can openers to appear. In the 1880s, automatic can-making machinery was introduced in Britain. Lighter materials created the opportunity for Henry Knight’s revolutionary tin opening device.

Henry patented his tin opener in 1881. The patent was then sold to Crosse & Blackwell (yes, the same company who make the baked beans), who popularised the gadget and brought it into common use. The Ryde man’s invention has probably opened more cans – and cut more fingers – than any other. The inventive Mr Knight had other patents to his name, including a horse clipping machine and an automatic weighing machine. Sadly, his inventions did not bring him fame and fortune. He went bankrupt in 1890. His photograph cannot be found online. Henry Knight died in 1895. He could hardly have imagined the following century would be the era of convenience foods in which his adapted tin opener became 1 of the world’s most familiar kitchen implements. His son was Charles Knight, who became a well-known photographer in Ryde.