Anyone Know of a Source of Info for 19th Century US Cans?

[Farnham]

The reason is nothing more than curiosity. I know of a site that was a muster point during the US Civil War. I've found unfired Minie Balls in several calibers, including one that looks like it came from a homemade mold. A few yards from the one that looks homemade, I found lead that had been poured into a can. Either it was dumped from the can or the can had rusted away.

The problem is that just because I found where someone had poured lead into (or used to heat lead) doesn't mean that it dates from the 1860s. But it made a good impression of the bottom of the can, and I was wondering if there was a source of information on how cans were constructed in the mid 19th Century? If the impression matches, it's a possibility. If not, it's from more modern times.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Unimportant]

The reason is nothing more than curiosity. I know of a site that was a muster point during the US Civil War. I've found unfired Minie Balls in several calibers, including one that looks like it came from a homemade mold. A few yards from the one that looks homemade, I found lead that had been poured into a can. Either it was dumped from the can or the can had rusted away.

The problem is that just because I found where someone had poured lead into (or used to heat lead) doesn't mean that it dates from the 1860s. But it made a good impression of the bottom of the can, and I was wondering if there was a source of information on how cans were constructed in the mid 19th Century? If the impression matches, it's a possibility. If not, it's from more modern times.

Thanks in advance.

I can (heh) not say I know anything at all about cans, but the images in this collection might help? I found it via this article.

 

[CMBright]

Quick and dirty Google search turned up the fact that canning in America dates back to 1812. The fact that canning in metal cans goes back to the 1800s does not mean your fossil (lead with the impression of the "soft tissue" of the metal can) dates back that far.

 

[Farnham]

Quick and dirty Google search turned up the fact that canning in America dates back to 1812. The fact that canning in metal cans goes back to the 1800s does not mean your fossil (lead with the impression of the "soft tissue" of the metal can) dates back that far.

Exactly. It depends on the design of the bottom. Even if there were cans with that design in the 1860s, if it continued into the 20th Century, it could be from a later date.

 

[Brigid Barry]

Show on history Vault said that cans were aluminum coated in tin and soldered with lead but that was in the early 1900s. No idea when they started.

 

[Farnham]

Cans go back prior to the mid 19th Century. We once found, while demolishing a log house, a tin of percussion caps. Exact age is impossible to say, only that percussion caps went out of common use in the years following the 1860s.

Note: It belatedly occurs to me that this lead impression came after lead soldered cans. A lead soldered can would have come apart. Thus if crimped cans postdate the US Civil War, then the impression comes from a later date.

 

[Jazz Club]

I don't know much about this at all, but they definitely had canned food in the Peninsular Wars (v early 1800s).

 

[MaeZe]

The reason is nothing more than curiosity. I know of a site that was a muster point during the US Civil War. I've found unfired Minie Balls in several calibers, including one that looks like it came from a homemade mold. A few yards from the one that looks homemade, I found lead that had been poured into a can. Either it was dumped from the can or the can had rusted away.

The problem is that just because I found where someone had poured lead into (or used to heat lead) doesn't mean that it dates from the 1860s. But it made a good impression of the bottom of the can, and I was wondering if there was a source of information on how cans were constructed in the mid 19th Century? If the impression matches, it's a possibility. If not, it's from more modern times.

Thanks in advance.

Can you post an image of the homemade mold and the lead that looks to have been poured into a can? It sounds quite interesting.

 

[Farnham]

Can you post an image of the homemade mold and the lead that looks to have been poured into a can? It sounds quite interesting.

Not quickly. It would take days. I don't have the homemade mold itself, only a perfectly smooth Minie ball. Minie balls usually had rings formed into the base and came to a point. This one had a rounded point. Like the regular Minie balls I found, it has a conical depressions in the base. The original Minie balls had a cone of wood in the base. The idea was gas pressure pushed against the base, letting it spread to make a better fit on the inside of smoothbore muskets.

The lead impression would tell the tale. It shows the presence of corrugation. But the main distinguishing mark is a series of numbers in the center of the base. When I found it, thought Serial number and assumed it dates from the 20th Century. Then I had second thoughts because I don't know what the lead could have been used for in the 20th Century. There's a structure on the site, circa 1950s, but galvanized pipe, cast iron, and that dreaded orange peel pipe was used in the plumbing. The site has been under continuous human occupation from at least the early 1800s.

 

[Chris P]

As for lead in the 20th century, I used to make my own sinkers for fishing in soup cans (which occasionally burned through and all my lead drained out) and molds, much as your minie ball maker would have done.

If the impression on you can was just a bunch of numbers, that seems.like it would be very hard to trace. Most enthusiasts I can think of are going to be interested in what was printed on the can rather than the can's manufacture. Sounds like a tough one, but if you succeed in finding out it will be a story in itself!

 

[Farnham]

If the impression on you can was just a bunch of numbers, that seems.like it would be very hard to trace. Most enthusiasts I can think of are going to be interested in what was printed on the can rather than the can's manufacture. Sounds like a tough one, but if you succeed in finding out it will be a story in itself!

True, just numbers can be hard to trace, particular if it's for a defunct company. That it exist is significant. If no one was stamping numbers on the bottom of cans in the 19th Century, then it's from the 20th. Similarly, if it turns out that all cans in the 1860s were soldered together, then odds are it doesn't date to that period.