Soda Can Project

By:  Katie Bellin, Anna Kodet, and Sarah Eastman

 

History of the Soda Can

 

Most agree that the Clicquot Club Ginger Ale can was the first soda can produced for retail distribution in the late 1938.  Another candidate for first can came from the brand named Dairy Selts.  It is unknown whether actual retail distribution occurred for Dairy Selts, as the only known example is thought to have been a salesman’s sample can.  Another intriguing possibility is Coca-Cola’s 16 and 32-ounce cans, which are known to exist.

In 1948, Pepsi Cola was one of the first to jump into the can making process, hoping that they would gain a larger share of the soda market, which was dominated by Coca-Cola.  The introduction of Pepsi in cans was a huge gamble as the cans retailed 3 for 25 cents; nearly double the price of bottles at the time.  The idea of Pepsi in cans ended in 1950 as a dismal failure, the cans leaked and sometimes exploded on store shelves. 

The big canning companies would not give up the idea of the can.  The potential sail of 25 billion soda cans a year didn’t hurt the cause for finding a soda can that works.  By the end of 1951, a much better can was developed.  This can could withstand the higher pressures of carbonated pop.

  In early 1952 Cantrell & Cochrane was a well-established soft drink manufacturer.  It introduced Super Root Beer and Super Coola in cone top cans in the New York metro area.  A few weeks later it was introduced in the Los Angeles area.  At about the same time Shasta located in California and Can-a-Pop, of Sheridan Wyoming started putting soft drink in flattop cans.  Canada Dry, Dad’s, White Rock, Franks, and Hires were all canning their drinks by 1955.  Many of the early cans were cone tops but flat top cans soon won the war.  They were much easier to stack and store on the retailers shelves.  Many of the cone top soda cans were phases out by the end of 1957 but a few brewers were still using them in the 60’s.

Although most of the larger soda companies were canning their product by 1956, the 2 largest, Pepsi and Coca-Cola still resisted cans. Pepsi still resisted because of their earlier failure and Coca-Cola did not want to lose their reputation.  By 1960 Royal Crown was the largest canner of soft drinks.   Pepsi, 7 Up, and Coca-Cola, the three remaining giants realized cans were the future.  They finally gave in and began canning by the end of the 50’s.  

Source: http://www.canconnection.com/

Makings Of A Soda Can

            To make our Coke can, a rectangular piece of metal is cut out of a large sheet of metal, and curved into a cylinder.  Then the top and bottom are put on. The rectangular piece of metal must be 400cm2 in area, and the can must hold 355cm3.  The equation using the area of the rectangle would be y=400/x (see chart below).  The height of the can will be y, while the base of the can’s radius will be r = x/(2π).  The equation of the volume of the can will be 

y=1420π/x2 (see chart below). The two lines intersect at (11.152654,35.865903).  This means that the height of our soda can will be 35.865093 and the circumference will be 11.152654.  Making our soda can tall and thin.    
          

y=400/x  y=1420π/x2

x

y

1

400

2

200

3

133.333

4

100

5

80

6

66.6667

7

57.143

8

50

9

44.444

10

40

x

y

1

 4461.1

2

 1115.3

3

 495.67

4

278.82

5

178.44

6

123.92

7

91.042

8

69.704

9

55.075

10

44.611