Tin plate, the raw material of tin can has a much older history than we usually think. Tin plate was first made in Bohemia in the first half of 13th century.

The production of tin plate was kept as a secret in this area until the beginning of 17th century. It was then followed by trials in Saxonia in 1620's and in England in 1670's. 

12 facilities of various sizes are known to exist in Saxonia as of 1570. Dresden was the center of tin plate trade in those years. 

In 1665, Andrew Yarranton established the first continuous tin coating facility in England. The iron plate production changed from forging to rolling method in 1697.
 
In 1720, Capel and John Hanbury started to produce tin plate with patent in South Wales.  When the new and practical methods started to be applied in England, it decreased the costs, and therefore the export chance of German goods decreased a lot. While the number of facilities producing tin coated iron in England was 4 in 1750, this number increased to 11 in 1800. Rasselstein AG, which is one of the most important iron-steel producers in Germany, was established in those years.  

In 1810, Peter Durand in England showed that tin cans can be used as food packaging.
In 1853, the first tin plate production trials were made in Pittsburgh, USA. 
Between 1873 and 1875, tin plate production started in various places in  USA but they could not compete with imported tin plate, so they were shut down. 
Between 1850 and 1891, the number of facilities in England reached to 90. 
In 1848, Morewood and Roger in England used the rolling method instead of immersion with a patent.
While tin plate was produced from iron until 1875, steel plates started to be used starting from that year.
After the limitation of imports in 1890, tin plate production restarted in USA and shortly 26 companies started 2000 tons / year production.
In 1896, the number of companies was 74 and the annual production rate was 90.000 tons. Tin plate production in USA was more than the production of England in 1912. 
Immersion method was used for tin coating until 1908. The tin cans and canned food produced with this method have a very thick tin coating layer and are without buckles. They are still demonstrated in Louvre Museum..
In 1908, Dr. Ing. Max Schlötter invented the electrolytic plating method in Germany which was assumed as a revolution in tin coating.  Starting from this date, tin plates started to be produced with this method.
In 1927, continuous cold rolling started to be used.   ?
In 1960, Tin Free Steel (TFS) started to be produced in Japan.