Why Pringles Originally Decided to Put Their Bespoke Potato Chips Into Cans

Tom Blank of Weird History Food explored the age-old question of why Pringles decided to be the first brand to put their bespoke hyperbolic paraboloid (saddle)-shaped potato chips into a can. It turns out that Frederick Baur, a chemist for Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati and the inventor of Pringles in 1966, felt that bags were too flimsy, so he designed a canister at the same time to keep the crisps intact and uniform.

Baur knew that potato chips were fragile and easily broken when stored in bags. He believed that stacking them in a tube would keep them all the same shape and protect them from shattering, offering a unique opportunity for consumers to purchase a product where all chips were consistent and whole all the time.