The Can

A beverage can is a tin can designed to hold a single serving of a beverage. Beverage cans are made of tin-plated steel or aluminium. There were once cans in the United States called cone tops and crown-tainers which had tops that were conical, rater than flat. Cone top can were sealed by the same caps that were put on bottles. There were three types of cone-tops: high profile, low profile and j-spout. The low profile and j-spout were the earliest, dating from about 1935, the same as the flat top cans that had to be opened with an opener. The crown-tainer was a different type of can that was drawn steel with a bottom cap and the favourite of some collectors. Various breweries used crowntainer and conetops until the late 1950s, but not every brewery used every variety mentioned above. Crowntainers were developed by Crown Cork & Seal, now known as Crown Holdings, Inc., a leading beverage packaging and beverage can producer. This design returned to use in 2008 for packaging Coca-Cola's Caribou Coffee beverage.

The stay-tab opening mechanism characteristic of most post 1980s drinking cans.