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A church key or churchkey is an American term for various kinds of
The term in the beverage-opening
Opening Instruction Cans
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File:- Coca-Cola - Old bottle opener -.jpg
File:1940 - Daeufer Beer Bottle Opener - Allentown PA.jpg
File:Combination can bottle opener.jpg
File:Bottle Opener (5849549547).jpg
File:Flaschenoeffner.jpg
File:Opening a Beer Can 1963.jpg, Opening a beer can with a "church key", 1963
World Wide Words
Food preparation utensils {{Bartending-stub
A church key or churchkey is an American term for various kinds of bottle opener
A bottle opener is a device that enables the removal of metal bottle caps from glass bottles. More generally, it might be thought to include corkscrews used to remove cork or plastic stoppers from wine bottles.
A metal bottle cap is affixed t ...
s and can opener
A can opener (in North American English and Australian English) or tin opener (used in British English) is a mechanical device used to open tin cans (metal cans). Although canning, preservation of food using tin cans had been practiced since ...
s.
Etymology
The term in the beverage-opening sense
A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the cen ...
is apparently not an old one; Merriam-Webster finds written attestation only since the 1950s. Several etymological
Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words and ...
themes exist. The main one is that the ends of some bottle openers resemble the heads of large keys such as have traditionally been used to lock and unlock church doors.
History
A church key initially referred to a simple hand-operated device for prying the cap (called a " crown cork") off a glass bottle; this kind of closure was invented in 1892, although there is no evidence that the opener was called a church key at that time. The shape and design of some of these openers did resemble a large simplekey
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
.
In 1935, beer cans with flat tops were marketed, and a device to puncture the lids was needed. The same term, ''church key'', came to be used for this new invention: made from a single piece of pressed metal, with a pointed end used for piercing cans—devised by D. F. Sampson for 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 ...
, which depicted operating instructions
An owner's manual (also called an instruction manual or a user guide) is an instructional book or booklet that is supplied with almost all technologically advanced consumer products such as vehicles, home appliances and computer peripherals.
...
on the cans, and typically gave away free "quick and easy" openers with their beer cans./ref>
Gallery
See also
*Churchkey Can Company
Churchkey Can Company is a defunct brewery founded in 2012 by actor Adrian Grenier and former Nike Inc., Nike designer Justin Hawkins in Seattle, USA. The brewery's name refers to its flagship beer, which must be opened using a can piercer, or "ch ...
References
External links
World Wide Words
Food preparation utensils {{Bartending-stub