Surf Wiki
Save to docs
general/liquid-containers

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Oil can

Can holding oil for lubricating machines

Oil can
Summary

Can holding oil for lubricating machines

Singer]] sewing machine
Oil can used to store household lamp oil (1882). Windows in the tin allow to observe the level. Cap for the spout on a chain.
Soldered Oil can with a push-button pump, indented at the top with the screw cap.

An oil can (oilcan or oiler) is a can that holds oil (usually motor oil) for lubricating machines. An oil can can also be used to fill oil-based lanterns. A worker, referred to as an oiler, can use an oil can (among other tools) to lubricate machinery.

Oil cans were made by companies like Noera Manufacturing Company and Perfection in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1957, aluminium oil cans were introduced, produced by companies like the American Can Company.

Rocanville, Saskatchewan, Canada is home to a large-scale oil can industry because of the Symons Oiler factory which produced oil cans during World War II.

Design

Oil cans come in a variety of designs, from a simple cylindrical disposable can opened with a churchkey (or with a combined spout-opener), to a hemisphere base and tapered straight spout to more intricate designs with handles and push-buttons, to the modern plastic bottle. In 2000, the 3-In-One Oil can was redesigned to look like the early 20th century design (hemisphere base with tapered straight spout).

References

References

  1. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TAfiAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA291 ''A Book of Tools: Being a Catalogue of Tools, Supplies, Machinery, and Similar Goods''], Chas. A. Strelinger & Co., Detroit, Michigan, 1895, pp. 291–4 (from [[Google Books]])
  2. Around this time, oil cans frequently leaked and contributed to fires.[https://books.google.com/books?id=dCQAAAAAMAAJ&pg=22 ''The Engineers' review''], Volume 16, W.W. Benham, 1905, p. 22 (from Google Books)
  3. [https://books.google.com/books?id=xq7kAAAAMAAJ&q=%22oil+can%22+manufacturer ''Petroleum week''], Volume 9, 1959, p. 82 (from Google Books)
  4. [http://dfenginc.com/hdpe_oil_bottle.htm HDPE oil bottle squeezes another prize], ''[[Packaging Digest]]'', 11 November 2000 (from dfenginc.com, retrieved 19 July 2010)
  5. [http://www.allbusiness.com/plastics-rubber/plastics-product-manufacturing/472481-1.html New plastic oil can puts WD-40 "over the rainbow".], ''[[Food & Drug Packaging]]'', Lisa McTigue Pierce, 1 March 2000 (from [[AllBusiness.com]], retrieved 19 July 2010)
  6. [https://www.arconic.com/aap/north_america/catalog/pdf/oil_canning_policy.pdf Alcoa Architectural Products – Oil Canning Policy]{{Dead link. (December 2025)
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

liquid-containers lubrication
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Oil can — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report