Ingenious Design: The Drinks Can Tab

About this video

The engineering of a fizzy drinks can revealed through slow-motion video.

Bill Hammack, from the University of Illinois, demonstrates the ingenious design of the little stay-on tabs on the top of the everyday drinks can.

The design was created as an alternative to removable tabs, whose sharp ends posed a hazardous risk and became the bane of local councils who cleared up thousands of tabs from public areas.

The efficient design employs a single mechanism that changes the location of the load while in motion to move from a second to first class lever. Five years in the making, the efficient design now features on millions of beverage cans across the globe.  

Known as the 'Engineer Guy', Bill Hammack specialises in demonstrating the engineering, technology and design behind everyday objects.