Tin boxes are among the most popular types of packaging. They are made of steel with a thin coating of tin.
There are many advantages to use tin cans or tin boxes. They are durable and providing ample protection for items. They are also attractive, making them ideal containers for giving gifts and special occasions. Plus, tin boxes are recyclable and can be used over and over again.
Let’s have a glimpse of their history.
Origin of Tin Boxes
Before refrigerators, metal containers were the only way to preserve food. In the 1200s, tin plating was invented in Bohemia, a historical region in the Czech Republic. It eventually became the birthplace of tin packaging.
In 1667, engineer Andrew Yarranton and ironmonger-turned-politician Ambrose Crowley brought the manufacturing of tin boxes to England. They improved the product and the first rolling mill for tin products was established in 1697.
The first tinplate boxes were commercially sold in 1725.
It wasn’t just England that was interested in Bohemia’s discovery. The industry expanded to Germany while France learned how to produce the boxes locally. The movement also reached Italy.
Before long, countries from around the world were using tin boxes for packaging various products.
Different Uses of Tin Boxes
There are so many products that are stored and packaged in tin cans — food being the most popular. Tin cans with lids are used to package cookies and breath mints. Candies, popcorn, chocolates, and other treats also come in tin boxes.
The cylindrical tin stores and preserves processed food like fruit and vegetable preserves, corned meat, tuna chunks, tomato sauce, and hundreds of other food products.
Tin boxes are also sold as is. You can use tin boxes as personal storage boxes or as gift containers. Some people even collect them because many have gorgeous designs that are worth keeping.
Other products stored in tin packaging include: Mints,Cigars,Coffee and tea,Lighter fluid,Oil,Paint,Shoe polish
Types of Tin Boxes Over the Years
Let’s take a look at the evolution of tin packaging over the years.
Tin Box With Hinge Lid
By the 1800s, tens and thousands of tin boxes were manufactured all over the world. One of the earliest documented products that used tin packaging was the snuff used in tobacco which became popular in the mid-1700s. The snuff tin came in either a round or rectangular tin case.
Canned Food
In the early 1800s, the first canned food was made through necessity. Napoleon Bonaparte encouraged experts to find a way to preserve food better for soldiers at war. The first canned food was developed in 1805. The method is still popular today and canned products are either stored in two or three-piece cans.
Decorative Cookie Tin
Since the 16th century, metallic containers have been used to preserve cookies while traveling but it wasn’t until 1815 that cookies were sold in decorative tin cans.
Beverage Can
In the 1900s, beverage manufacturers started packaging their products in cans. They used to be solely stored in glass bottles.
Tin cans have been used for hundreds of years. The fact that they are still popular today is a testament to their efficiency and appeal. Tin boxes keep food fresh and when food has been consumed, tin boxes continue to be useful because they are infinitely recyclable.
Hottinbox.com has all types of tin boxes for various occasions. We make hundreds of tin boxes to suit a wide variety of packaging needs.
