Ermal C. Fraze
Ermal Cleon "Ernie" Fraze was an American engineer who invented the pull-tab opener used in beverage cans.
Early life
Fraze was born on a farm near Muncie, Indiana, but later moved to Dayton, Ohio, where he assembled novelties for Cracker Jack boxes.Career
He started his career in Ohio as a machine tool operator in the 1940s. Using a loan from his wife, Martha, he established the Dayton Reliable Tool & Manufacturing Company, his own machine tool business in 1949. The company produced tools such as improved gun barrels for war planes, including the NASA, General Electric, and Ford [Motor Company|Ford]. Fraze patented many of his innovations later graduated from Kettering University.In 1959, while at a picnic with friends and family, Fraze discovered he had left his "church key" can opener at home, forcing him to use a car bumper to open cans of beer. Fraze decided to create an improved beverage opening method that would eliminate the need for a separate device, leading to his creation of the pull-tab opener.
His first design included a lever that pierced a hole in the top of the can, but this caused a safety hazard as it produced sharp edges that could cut the user's finger. Later that year, he established a mechanism known as the "pull-tab" can, with its users simply being required to pull a removable tab to open the drink.
He received U.S. patent No. 3,255,917 for the invention in 1963, and subsequently sold it to Alcoa. By 1965, around 75% of U.S. breweries were using them, but in the mid-1970s, pressure from environmentalists due to litter led to the development of the non-removable tabs used today. By 1980, his company was supplying can-end machinery worldwide making over $500 million in annual revenue.