Bag Inside a Can (Jun, 1970)

I’ve always wondered how those worked!

Bag Inside a Can
New kind of pressurized package keeps product and propellant separate You’ve probably used hundreds of aerosol cans to dispense everything from shaving foams to vermouth with astonishing ease.

But so far, these pressurized cans have only been able to dish out sprays and foams. Now science has perfected a new type of pressurized package that will let you dispense more viscous substances, like gels, greases, and caulks, with aerosol convenience.

A new shaving preparation called Edge, by Johnson Wax, is one of the first products to be packaged in this second-generation pressurized can. Unlike other whisker-wilters, which emerge as foam, Edge oozes out as a gel—but foams into lather on your face.

What keeps Edge a pressurized gel? It is stored in a plastic bag within the can and thus separate from the propellant, whereas in aerosols it is dissolved. The propellant pressurizes the bag to squeeze out its contents. And the bag folds up until all the contents are gone.