Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[sejpdw]

What's the meaning or role of "would" in the last sentence?

" The tin can was invented in 1810 by a Londoner, Peter Durand. The year before, a Frenchman named Nicolas Appert had introduced the method of canning food by sealing the food tightly inside a glass bottle or jar and then heating it. He could not explain why the food stayed fresh but his bright idea won him a 12,000-fran prize that Napoleon had offered in 1795 for preserving food. Durand supplied the British Royal Navy with canned heat-preserved food whild Appert would help Na poleon's army march on its stomach."

[asterix]

Would in this case is the past tense of will. It's a modal verb.
In other words it means that, in the future (after his discovery) Appert went on to supply Napoleon's army, while Durand supplied the Royal Navy.
You can't use the simple future because both events occurred in the past.
Appert's system is still used for preserving food by millions of people around the world.
Incidentally, Durand's system proved to be the downfall of the Franklin expedition to the Arctic, because the lead solder used to seal the seams of the cans, poisoned the expedition members.
Nowadays, they don't use lead solder on food cans.