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Subject: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: fusefan on 07/14/06 at 4:04 pm

I collect old cans and i'm wondering what year did people stop using pull off tabs to open beverage cans?

-thanks  :)

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: AmericanGirl on 07/14/06 at 7:09 pm

I'm not precisely sure.  But I'll say it was around 75 or so.  Google mentioned the pop top was introduced sometime in 1974.  As I recall, the pull off tabs coexisted for a short while as different beverage packagers tried to get in step, but not terribly long.  People got used to the pop tops quickly, and liked reducing the garbage.

I recall as a Junior High kid taking the tabs from the old pull-off pop cans, bending the seal around and around, until it became a ring for my finger.  A real fashion statement, if you ask me!  ;D

(Of course, it was a bit large, but who cares, when you're in Junior High?)

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: Davester on 07/14/06 at 7:34 pm


I'm not precisely sure.  But I'll say it was around 75 or so.  Google mentioned the pop top was introduced sometime in 1974.  As I recall, the pull off tabs coexisted for a short while as different beverage packagers tried to get in step, but not terribly long.  People got used to the pop tops quickly, and liked reducing the garbage.

I recall as a Junior High kid taking the tabs from the old pull-off pop cans, bending the seal around and around, until it became a ring for my finger.  A real fashion statement, if you ask me!   ;D

(Of course, it was a bit large, but who cares, when you're in Junior High?)



  Good question.

  Around '75...was it really that early..?

  We used to hook them together like a long chain and use them as tinsel for the Christmas tree..!  Nah, not really... :P

 

 

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: whistledog on 07/14/06 at 11:32 pm

Soda Cans still had pull tabs in the early 80s because I remember them :)

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: AmericanGirl on 07/14/06 at 11:32 pm


   Around '75...was it really that early..?


Could've been a little later too, I suppose...   :-[

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: Mushroom on 07/15/06 at 10:51 am

It actually depends on the state.  There were some states that stopped the sale of "pull off tabs" as early as 1972.

In Oregon, they were made illegal around 1972-1973.  They were replaced with this horrible system that consisted of 2 circular push-in areas.  The smaller one was towards the center of the top, and was about the diameter of a pencil.  You pressed this one first in order to release the pressure in the can.  Once that was done, you then pressed in a larger circle that was against the rim of the can.

Think of it as the push-top cans we have today, but without the push top.  You simply used your finger to push the tab into the can.  And as you can imagine, this resulted in a lot of cut fingers from hitting the sharp inner edge.

A few other states in the NW USA also used this system.  In Idaho, they were an option.  And since all cans of Lucky Lager came from Oregon, every can shipped had that type of opening, no mwtter where it was sent to.  Coors and Oly also switched a lot of their production to this form as well.

By around 1975-76 the modern push top was invented, and you saw it increasingly used.  By around 1980, all of the beverage companies switched because of either customer pressure or state/regional laws.  The pull-top did last a while longer on other beverage cans.  I know that V-8 juice used the old pull top until the mid to late 1980's.  Since it was a juice and not a carbonated beverage, they often did not fall under the same laws.  Some of the "supplament drinks" have also used them until fairly recently.

One of the reasons why Oregon was a front runner in this was because of the fishing industry.  Any old-time fisherman can tell you that those pull off tabs made great fishing lures.  If you drop one in the water near fish, they will all rush towards it, and if they are large enough they will try and eat it.  There was some report that came out that claimed that part of the reason why the salmon were decreasing in numbers was because of this happening.  So in response, they banned them.

Of course, there were also the people who would drop them back into the cans, and accidentially swollow them.  I know a lot of people were seriously hurt and killed from that act of stupidity.

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: Davester on 07/15/06 at 10:20 pm


Could've been a little later too, I suppose...   :-did read your post correctly.  I was thinking the pull-tabs went the way of the dodo in '75...

  Silly Davester... :D :P

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: karen on 07/18/06 at 5:41 am

in the UK the pull off tabs were in use until much more recently than the 70s.  I'd say the pop top cans probably started in the mid to late 90s

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: CeramicsFanatic on 07/20/06 at 2:04 pm


   We used to hook them together like a long chain and use them as tinsel for the Christmas tree..!  Nah, not really... :P



I remember making chains out of them, too!  :D

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: gemini on 07/20/06 at 2:08 pm


I remember making chains out of them, too!  :D

Did you ever step on one of them in your bare feet?  Ouch!  :o

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: Tinkerbell on 07/20/06 at 3:31 pm

My mom, the macrame queen,  ;D actually had everyone around her save all those pull tabs.  She collected hundreds of them.  Then she got some of that plastic dipping stuff in all colors of the rainbow.  She dipped every one of those little suckers and made several long chains, and hung them in front of our patio doors.  And I am not embarrassed a bit to say they were really pretty!  :D

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: Tinkerbell on 07/20/06 at 3:33 pm

I have to say, this was the same woman who made a trash can out of an ice cream bucket, catalog pages, and clothesline.  It was also pretty.  LOL. 

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: zotsfreak on 07/21/06 at 5:32 am

I saw a documentary last night regarding the history of Coke and Pepsi. They discussed the various packaging / bottling changes over the years and stated that the current non-pull tabs were invented in 1974.

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: Mushroom on 07/21/06 at 3:04 pm


I saw a documentary last night regarding the history of Coke and Pepsi. They discussed the various packaging / bottling changes over the years and stated that the current non-pull tabs were invented in 1974.


That sounds about right.  That is why we had that horrible "push button" system in Oregon until they came along.  Oregon was ahead of it's time for banning the pull-off tab before anything else good was around to replace it.

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: Nostalgic on 07/23/06 at 9:55 pm

I think in Australia they stopped using them sometime in the mid '80s, but I can't remember exactly.

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: Foo Bar on 05/13/11 at 12:09 am


It actually depends on the state.  There were some states that stopped the sale of "pull off tabs" as early as 1972.

In Oregon, they were made illegal around 1972-1973.  They were replaced with this horrible system that consisted of 2 circular push-in areas.  The smaller one was towards the center of the top, and was about the diameter of a pencil.  You pressed this one first in order to release the pressure in the can.  Once that was done, you then pressed in a larger circle that was against the rim of the can.

Think of it as the push-top cans we have today, but without the push top.  You simply used your finger to push the tab into the can.  And as you can imagine, this resulted in a lot of cut fingers from hitting the sharp inner edge.


Fascinating.  They're listed as "Citation Needed" on the Wikipedia entry for beverage cans.

http://bevhavlik.powweb.com/eBay/SodaPepsi.jpg

And yet, they existed.

Now it's my turn for Alzheimer's to strike.  That can looks awfully skinny compared to the modern can, so does anyone remember when cans went from 10 ounces/280mL to 12 oz/355mL?  Was it done at the same time as the transition from push-button cans to the modern stay-on-tab?  I can't remember if the "fat" (modern 355mL north american) can came at the same time as the move away from 10-oz pushbutton cans.

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: Hud on 05/13/11 at 12:24 am

I miss the good ol' days before 1974 when people threw their takeout trash into countryside ditches where they did not live...along with the discardable pull-tabs that coated convenience store parking lots. Then that actor came along portraying a native American with Visine on his cheek and whooosh! We cleaned up our act! Don't discard the dramatic musical score, nor the John Facenda-like inspirational narrator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R-FZsysQNw

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: JohnnyVirgil on 05/26/11 at 2:27 pm

We used to break the ring off from the tab, and then put the tab in the little notch in the ring and shoot the ring across the room.  It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye. Then it's fun and games you can't see.

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: MaxwellSmart on 05/27/11 at 8:57 pm

In the old days before you had the stay-on tab and the bottle bill (which many states still don't have) there were discarded pull-tabs and beverage cans all over the place. 

I'll say this for those old steel cans.  They were built to last.  You can still find them out in the woods.  I've seen steel cans so old they were punched open with a churchkey and you could still read the label.  Sixty years sitting in the New England woods.  Could drive a man to drink!
http://www.beercanpro.com/images/large/june24.jpg

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: bestof70s on 06/11/11 at 12:27 pm

I remember seeing my first can without the old pop top and had a heck of a time getting that can of Coke open, actually worked the top off completely before being told it wasn't necessary.

My dad worked as a bartender and he saved those old pop tops by the hundreds and brought them home for us kids to make chains with them.  There were enough of those top to make a 10' partition for me and my brothers room from ceiling to the floor and also to 'close' off our door. 

Always got a kick out of the movie "War Games" where Matthew Broderick finds that old pop top and hot wires the phone in the phone both to make a call.  ;D 

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: Foo Bar on 02/25/12 at 12:05 am


Fascinating.  They're listed as "Citation Needed" on the Wikipedia entry for beverage cans.


Frack Wikipedia!

Everything you wanted to know about beer cans is at rustycans.com.  But back to the topic of this thread:

http://www.rustycans.com/Graphics/definitions/poptops.jpg

I got Wikipedia's citation as to how old is that beer can right heah.  (Actually, the page with the link to the picture that documents the transition from the pull tab to the push button, and then to the modern Statab, is here, but you get the idea.  /closes 62 tabs in browser window, opens another beer!)

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: amjikloviet on 02/26/12 at 6:59 pm



http://www.beercanpro.com/images/large/june24.jpg

That can is all rusty, LOL. That's horrible ;D

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: MaxwellSmart on 02/27/12 at 11:24 pm


That can is all rusty, LOL. That's horrible ;D


Iron = rusty.

Hadn't made the association!
:D

Here's something you don't see every day -- An aluminum can with a crown cork! 
Drink up, it's good 4ya!

http://www.ebeercans.com/images/large/CT-18317.jpg

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: Inlandsvägen1986 on 02/28/12 at 11:12 am

In Germany they stopped using them around 1987/88. Just around the same time when the cans got the new shape.

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: goodsally on 03/02/12 at 10:48 pm

@Mushroom.  Your post is right spot-on, as I recall.  I'd forgotten about the interim 2 hole style, but now that you mention it, I can attest to the cut finger issue. 

Since Oregon was the first state to ban pull tops, and an small player in the national pop market, Pepsi and Coke didn't sell their canned products in Oregon briefly, as they didn't want to develop and retool for the type of cans.  Fortunately, we had Shasta.  The two big ones came around shortly, though.

In addition to making necklaces from the pop can top, I recall schools collecting them and either getting money for them, or them being donated to an organization which contributed money to a kidney foundation for each one turned in.  I never understood how that worked.

I wasn't aware of the fishing issue.  I recall part of the move was to clean up the streets, which were often littered with pop top pulls.

I have to say, this is one of the changes from the "old days" which has no down side.

I still see some cans with the old style tops on nectars at small ethnic markets.

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: MaxwellSmart on 03/03/12 at 10:40 pm

http://www.legaljuice.com/beer%20can.jpg

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: karen on 03/04/12 at 6:21 am


In addition to making necklaces from the pop can top, I recall schools collecting them and either getting money for them, or them being donated to an organization which contributed money to a kidney foundation for each one turned in.  I never understood how that worked.



Aluminium?  Fairly easy to melt down and reuse and the raw material was very expensive.

In the UK I recall collecting foil milk bottle tops for various charities over the years.

Subject: Re: When did beer/soda cans stop using pulltabs?

Written By: CatwomanofV on 03/04/12 at 12:04 pm


Iron = rusty.

Hadn't made the association!
:D

Here's something you don't see every day -- An aluminum can with a crown cork! 
Drink up, it's good 4ya!

http://www.ebeercans.com/images/large/CT-18317.jpg



When you're out of Bud, tough Schltz.



Cat

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