An oil can (oilcan or oiler)''A Book of Tools: Being a Catalogue of Tools, Supplies, Machinery, and Similar Goods''
Chas. A. Strelinger & Co., Detroit, Michigan, 1895, pp. 291–4 (from

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

) is a can that holds oil (usually

motor oil Motor oil, engine oil, or engine lubricant is any one of various substances used for the lubrication of internal combustion engines. They typically consist of base oils enhanced with various additives, particularly antiwear additives, deterg ...

) for

lubricating Lubrication is the process or technique of using a lubricant to reduce friction and wear and tear in a contact between two surfaces. The study of lubrication is a discipline in the field of tribology. Lubrication mechanisms such as fluid-lubrica ...

machines. An oil can can also be used to fill oil-based lanterns. An occupation, referred to as an oiler, can use an oil can (among other tools) to lubricate machinery. Oil cans were made by companies like Noera Manufacturing Company and Perfection in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Around this time, oil cans frequently leaked and contributed to fires. In 1957,

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

oil cans were introduced, produced by companies like the

American Can Company The American Can Company was a manufacturer of tin cans. It was a member of the Tin Can Trust, that controlled a "large percentage of business in the United States in tin cans, containers, and packages of tin." American Can Company ranked 97th amon ...

Rocanville, Saskatchewan Rocanville is a community in Saskatchewan, Canada, and home to the largest oil can in the world. It is home of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (PCS) potash mine which recently announced a $1.6 billion expansion. Rocanville is also th ...

, Canada is home to a large-scale oil can industry because of the Symons Oiler factory which produced oil cans during World War II.

Design

Oil cans come in a variety of designs, from a simple cylindrical disposable can opened with a

churchkey A church key or churchkey is an American term for various kinds of bottle openers and can openers. Etymology The term in the beverage-opening sense is apparently not an old one; Merriam-Webster finds written attestation only since the 195 ...

(or with a combined spout-opener), to a

hemisphere Hemisphere refers to: * A half of a sphere As half of the Earth * A hemisphere of Earth ** Northern Hemisphere ** Southern Hemisphere ** Eastern Hemisphere ** Western Hemisphere ** Land and water hemispheres * A half of the (geocentric) celes ...

base and tapered straight spout to more intricate designs with

handles A handle is a part of, or attachment to, an object that allows it to be grasped and manipulated by hand. The design of each type of handle involves substantial ergonomic issues, even where these are dealt with intuitively or by following t ...

and push-buttons, to the modern

plastic bottle A plastic bottle is a bottle constructed from high-density or low density plastic. Plastic bottles are typically used to store liquids such as water, soft drinks, motor oil, cooking oil, medicine, shampoo, milk, and ink. The size ranges from v ...

. In 2000, the 3-In-One Oil can was redesigned to look like the early 20th century design (hemisphere base with tapered straight spout).

References

External links

The Sutcliffe Midget Oilcan
miniature oil cans made by Sutcliffe Pressings for toy/miniature steam engines, stationarysteamengines.co.uk, retrieved 19 July 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Oil Can Liquid containers Lubrication

Design

See also

References

External links