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For many years the biggest "bottle neck" in the production of canned sardines was the putting on of the lids. They had to be soldered and place one by one by a huge gang of solderers/tin metal workers. In the course of a ten hour working day these "knights of the soldering iron" could put the lids onto about 600 tins, or on average one can per minute. If we compare this to the speed of the layers, the dimensions of this "bottle neck" become apparent. It was therefore necessary for the solderers to do a considerable amount of overtime. Many people in the canning milieu in Stavanger (Norway) endeavoured to make this part of the working operation more efficient, either by improving the soldering technique, or by creating a machine that could do the job. The breakthrough came just after the turn of the century when two different folding and sealing machines were patented. One of these was developed by Soren Opsal, the other by Henrik J. Reinart. These machines made possible the mass production of canned sardines. The normal capacity of one of these machines was 7.000 cans per day (15 cans/minute). Since theses early days the can sealing-seaming machines have been steadily improved up to a seaming capacity of 15.000 rectangular cans per hour - 250 cans/minute and up to 120.000 round cans per hour - 2000 cans/minute (beverage). |
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Oscar Somme and Jan Kielland Somme |
Most of the can seamers shown at this page were manufactured in Bilbao - Spain by the extinct SOMME SA of which our founder Oscar Somme following a family tradition was general manager and major share holder for more than 30 years. More than 5000 can seamers were build from 1915 to 1990. |
"The inventors of todays mechanical double seam."
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Wilhelm
Nessler
(1836 - 1926)
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Henrik Jorgen Reinert (1870 - 1936) |
Soren Opsal
(1856 - 1937)
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1900 - Typical norwegian fish canning plant (soldering technique).
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1905 - Reinerts semi automatic can seamer booming in Norway.
1905 - Johannes Somme becomes the exclusive agent for selling the Reinerts can seamer in Spain.
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1915 - Beginning of can seamer manufacturing in Spain.
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First can seamer manufactured in Spain for canning Spanish sardines (Reinerts T140) by Johannes Somme, who emigrated from Stavanger - Norway to Bilbao - Spain at the beginning of the 20th century. First machines were manufactured following a license from Jorgen Reinert. More than 2000 units were sold in Spain and Portugal. |
Click on image for a larger view.
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S 5
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S 10
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S 120
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S 125
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S 130
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S 135
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S 230
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S 312
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S 250
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Other fully automatic can seamers (norwegian & german).
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TRIO
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TRIO B
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LUBECAWERKE 303
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TRIO TAF 4
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