Bruce wrote:

(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

In article ,
Bruce writes:
I think it probably has. The "lift off" style of can opener which
cuts the side of the can under the rim with a circular blade seems
better suited than a traditional opener with a fixed blade and a hand
driven cog wheel.

I have both these types, however my favourite can opener is one that
resembles the lift off type in form, but has a safety cutter that cuts
through the rim itself. It only ever takes one go to open the can,
and the top is easily lifted off leaving no sharp edges at all.

When I was looking for an opener suitable for a frail person,
I though one of these looked ideal. It wasn't though. Removing
the upper rim loses the upper rigidity of the can, and she
couldn't then pick up the can without squashing it, resulting
in spill over and possible dropping.


Perhaps I wasn't clear, because it doesn't take off the rim. It cuts
*through* the rim. Slightly less than half of the rim goes with the
lid, leaving slightly more than half of it in place on the can. There
is therefore no significant loss of rigidity.

I think the one you bought was probably a "lift off" type, which makes
a cut below the rim and leaves an unsupported edge. I have a couple
of those, but I don't like them because they tend to encourage
spilling some of the can's contents through making a cut lower down.


At last (!) I have found one like mine on eBay:

http://tinyurl.com/4tz5px
or
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=120298863766

I recommend it very highly.