Thread by @blakeaburge

The year is 1959 and Ermal "Ernie" Fraze Needs a Beer

The Only Problem? He's forgotten his can opener...

What happened next?

The Story of an Indiana farm boy, a family picnic, and the invention of the "Pop-Top" can
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1/ Ernie Fraze was born in 1913 on a livestock and alfalfa farm near Muncie, Indiana

From an early age, he was bitten with the entrepreneurial bug

Delivering over 500 newspapers per day, he would sell sandwiches to customers along his route to earn extra money

2/ As Ernie grew older, he eventually moved to Dayton, OH where he would find work as a machine tool operator

Enrie's main job? Milling novelty prizes for Cracker Jack boxes

As the years passed, he continued his work, while dreaming of one day opening his own business

3/ In 1949, Ernie's dream would come true

Thanks, in part, to an $800 loan from his wife Martha, the "Dayton Reliable Tool & Manufacturing Company," was born

DRT would go on to manufacture a wide array of products and amass an impressive customer list

4/ Names like General Electric, Ford, Chrysler, and Nasa were among his most prestigious clients

Ernie's compnay was a success...

Yet it wasn't until a family picnic in 1959 that the inspiration for his most iconic invention struck

5/ A fan of Schlitz, Ernie grabbed a can of his favorite beer, only to realize he had forgotten his "church key" can opener

Forced to open the cans using the bumper of a nearby car, he thought,

"There must be a better way"

6/ Armed with a combination of annoyance and inspiration, Ernie set out to create a new style of can

One that would no longer requrie a separate tool to open

To Ernie, the secret was in the rivit-style fastener at the top of the can

7/ Initial designs featured a lever attached to the rivet

When one end of the lever was pulled, the other end would depress a pre-scored section of aluminum on top of the can

Thus allowing the beer to flow freely

8/ Over the next few years, Ernie continued to improve on his initial design, ultimately receiving a patent in 1963

Despite the innovation, Ernie's creation was met with resistance

9/ Large brewing companies, fearing increased production costs due to re-tooling requirements, were slow to adopt the new technology

Due to this; Ernie approached Alcoa, the nation's leading aluminum manufacturer at the time

10/ After a period of negotiation, a deal was made and Alcoa was on board

The deal? Alcoa would own the rights to the design while Ernie's company, DRT, would continue to make the machinery needed to produce the new style of can

11/ With the new agreement in place, Alcoa and DRT set out to secure the only thing they were missing...

CUSTOMERS!

The first large brewer to adopt the new tech was Pittsburgh Brewing Company, makers of "Iron City Beer"

12/ In their first year, PBC would order over 100,000 of the new style cans

The result? Iron City Beer sales balooned over 400%

Alcoa and Ernie were off to the races

13/ By 1965, Ernie's technology was used in over 75% of all U.S. breweries

Yet, as sales began to soar, issues surrounding the removable nature of Ernie's "pop-top" began to rise

Safety concerns, as well as increased litter, caused consumers to push for yet another new design

14/ Ever the innovator, Ernie again pivoted and by 1977 had patented the first "push-in / fold-back" tab

By 1980; this new design, along with DRT's manufacturing of the machinery used to make it, had driven Ernie's company to record sales

Amassing yearly revenues of over $500M

15/ Despite all of his success, Ernie remained humble

15 years after initially selling his company, he would purchase it back

Concerned over the direction of the company and fearing a move out of Dayton,

Ernie wanted to ensure all of his employees would keep thier jobs

16/ Upon his death in 1989, Ernie and his wife Martha still lived in the same house they originally purchased in 1957

Ultimately, DRT was purchased by it's managers from Ernie's heirs and remains in operation in Dayton to this day

17/ That's All Folk's!

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