Swing Away Can Opener
Mustard Yellow Swing Away Can Opener
The Swing Away can opener is a very poor can opener. It is very difficult to find a really good can opener. The good ones are always too expensive and the cheap ones either do not work, or break down after a couple of uses. The Swing Away can opener falls into the cheap and does not work category. Ranging from the design to the usability of the product the Swing Away can opener does not qualify as a good technology.
Let us start with the design, the can opener is a manual can opener that does not follow the common design of two interlocked handles with the gear teeth at the end and a twisting handle. Instead of the two handles, there are two metal sheets that move in a swinging motion. The two sheets open and close the gears around the lid of the can to open it. The can opener is surprisingly poorly mapped because you will not know where to put the edge of the can to open it. Normally there is a tiny point the pokes into the can and then you clamp the the opener tight around the lid. Then you will have to turn the gears and mechanically the lid will open due to the gears turning the can. For the Swing Away can opener, there is no point that pokes the lid, instead there are two gears that have a fine circular edge to them that has to clamp around the lid.
Once you do get the gears clamped down onto the can the real problem begins. The handle that you use to turn the gears to open the can lid is longer that the average canned food. As you try to turn it, you will hit the table on each rotation so you may have to use it near the edge of the table. This is an example of poor usability. The manufacturer should have made the lever shorter or even use the common bunny ear handle that takes up very little space and offers an easy motion to open the can.
The can opener ranks very poor in effectiveness because once the user is able to figure out how to use the can opener, the user will be shocked to find out that it can barely open cans too.
When you do get the gears clamped down on the can lid, the gears struggled to penetrate the aluminum can. The gears can clamp down on the lid okay but the pressure is not enough to dent the can. The feedback from the can opener is poor because you can go around the whole can with the can opener, only to realize that the gears only scratched the can instead of opening it.
Overall, the Swing Away Can Opener does not meet the measures of success of a good design. The design will give the user fits with how poor the usability and the minimization of the desirable aspects of a can opener. The combination of these qualities will dampen the users experience and drive them away from using the Swing Awa can opener. Sometimes it is better to purchase a more expensive can opener that can do what it needs to do.
You don’t use this can opener in your hand, you mount it on the wall. That’s why it’s called “Swing Away”. The loop on the end goes in a bracket that the can opener would’ve originally came with. Millions of these have been sold and they are often regarded as one of the best can openers out there
Thanks for your comment Bruce. This was an analysis performed for a class project attempting to critique the design of everyday objects. Evidently it was found without any documentation and it was not immediately obvious that it was to be mounted to a wall.