Unsung Heroes
Bottle Opener
A bottle opener is one of those things you only truly appreciate when you can’t find it. The simple act of cracking open a bottle with a purpose-built tool is hugely satisfying – and has an enviable success rate. Bottle openers avail themselves of the lever principle: a small amount of force is applied over a longer lever arm and is thus multiplied and transferred to the contact point on the rim of the bottle top. The metal of the bottle cap promptly caves in and the bottle is open. Generating maximum effect from minimal effort, the bottle opener embodies this fundamental principle of physics, one known to man since ancient times.
The bottle cap itself has nothing like the same history. It was invented in the USA in the late nineteenth century, as the bottling of drinks on an industrial scale began to gather pace. Bottle caps are the norm in the USA, so a bottle opener is a staple of any household there – as it is in Germany and Austria, for example. However, across broad swathes of Asia and in South America screw tops are more popular, making a bottle opener rather less essential. For those who do not have one to hand, a little improvisation will go a long way. Sure enough, the lever principle also works without a specialist tool, so a cigarette lighter, a table edge or one’s teeth (to be clear, we are not recommending this!) can all step into the breach.
The world is full of things that perform their prescribed roles with serene reliability. They control traffic, make sending packages easy, and ensure that processes can be planned securely and do not grind to a halt. We have come to rely on such things to the point where we now afford them little further thought. Indeed, our attention tends to be drawn instead to things that are not working so well.
Which is a shame, as, if we zoom in a little, there is much to discover in the small details of unsung heroes like roundabouts, barcodes, checklists, and breathing exercises. All are rooted in a core focus on people and their needs. Understanding why something works can sharpen our awareness of how our day-to-day life can be made easier or more stress-free.
In ATLAS #25, we’re inviting you to view things differently, to look more closely at apparently unremarkable staples of life that help us in pretty remarkable ways.
