i dont know about the jaw and teeth, the cans are prob around 1850, and were opened with one of these
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Can opener - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
the can, mid pg is a vid
BBC News - The story of how the tin can nearly wasn't
Aren't the can openers shown only used on the edge of the can? I always assumed square holes were cut with a knife.
I agree that it was opened with a knife! I also found one similar in the desert here in Southern California. It is probably late 1800 to early 1900. If it were in the age of 1820-1850 they would have been much more rusted. in the last picture you can see the "cap", a disk about the size of a 50 cent piece. If you carefully clean it you should see the drop of solder used to seal the pin hole. here is a useful link: http://www.fire.ca.gov/resource_mgt/archaeology/downloads/Cans.pdf Nice finds!
I have dug cans from the late 1800's with square, round and x openings. Withe x openings, they would peel back the 4 parts of the lid where the x crossed.