In the mid 60's, when canned soft drinks became popular, they were much thicker tin and would stack such that the bottoms fit easily into the tops of cans below them. Note now they are very thin material and both ends are beveled. If you ever wanted to make a cannon out of them and discovered you could not, well thank my brother and his 2 friends. His friends were sons of one of our city councilmen, so you see the influence that could have created the reason both ends of cans became beveled -- quite shortly after this incident. It probably also helped that we had then and still do, a Coca Cola bottling works in Newark Ohio. I'm not saying the connection is definite but when one adds up the factors, it's easy to see the possible influence.

OK, how about the story? Well, my brother's friends, Barry and Sherman, figured out can openers could be used to remove the tops and bottoms of cans, of course the base can bottom is not removed. Using a small hand drill, a hole was made where a match could be placed. They had taken a 6 pack of cans and made a cannon of all 6 cans.

Well, they had loads of fun launching tennis balls. Once puts in some lighter fluid, drops in the tennis ball and passes a match near the aperture and BLAM! -- there goes a tennis ball. The force was quite strong. An aluminum tool shed at 50 or so feet of distance was dented by a mere tennis ball.

Well, this was too much fun. There was an open garage across the alley. Was it possible to aim a tennis ball into the garage. Well, several shots followed by the sound of breaking/falling items in the garage was too much for these young kids. Once was NOT enough at this game.

Well ... what about a Super Ball? Yes, they did try it. They stood the cannon upright in the middle of the street (there was little if any traffic -- side street) and launched it vertically. My brother said it went up out of sight and they were all looking for the ball to come down. It did -- missing all of them and shattered into pieces after.

Oh well, back to tennis balls and the open garage across the alley. In the midst of their laughter, my brother being between both Barry and Sherman, tells it like this: "Mike, I saw Barry and Sherman move up into the air. I turned over and saw their Dad (the city councilman) holding one each of his sons in each hand, feet off the ground and faces showing resignation to their fate. He told me, "Ronnie, I think it's time you went home."

He said he could hear the screams all the way back to the house. We had quite a laugh over this.

Shortly after, like weeks, I noted one could not get soft drink cans made like this anywhere, any longer. Fancy that ...

Proof that it takes supervision from our parents to make sure the race propagates itself.

Submitted on 09/27/2008

Submitted by: Mike Durthaler
Reference: Personal Account

Copyright © 2008 DarwinAwards.com

James said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Why not a small rock??! This COULD have gotten ugly! I know people used to stuff cherry bombs in coke cans, &c, often with dire results! Needless to say, I think the can redesign had more to do with economics than potential use as artillery, but I'll wager that this incident certainly had people talking! Excellent story, Mile! Thanks!

Candi said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
I agree with James! The economics and logistics involved probably mean that the cans were already well on their way to transformation, but hearing about this probably made the soda people happy they'd MADE that decision! Thanks, Mike! Oh, and how long did it take your friends to pay the owner of the garage?

The Darwin Awards Gift Shop

The Darwin Awards Condom Keep yourself out of the gene pool! A condom in a matchbook, useful for emergency contraception, bachelor parties, frat parties, and important rites of passage. LOADED inside and out with funny quotes and stories. Everyone loves this item! Friends don't let friends reproduce! $13 for Pack of 4