Over the Top
Chicago, Illinois, April 15,
1924 - Vaughan Novelty Manufacturing of Chicago was founded in 1910 as the
Crown Throat & Opener Company. At the time they produced a number of pocket
type cap lifters. Their line now includes a wide range of products including a
combination button hook bottle opener, screw driver and cigar cutter; the
"Dairy" lifter; a can opener with bottle opener and corkscrew; the "Dainty"
corkscrew; an "Over the Top" opener; the "Perfection" opener, the "Never Chip"
wall mount plus several key style and figural openers. But none of these
products has found as much success as the "Nifty."
The "Nifty" is a combination cap lifter and
corkscrew which was patented by Harry L. Vaughan on December 5, 1916 (U. S.
Patent No. 1,207,100). Millions of them have been produced and stamped with
hundreds of different advertisements for Vaughan customers. A counter display
of Nifty openers reads "Heavier, Stronger, Better. Nickel-plated. The easy way
to start a cork, lift up on handle. Sold all over the world."
Harry has now come up with a new bottle
opener that has a much larger surface for advertising and can snap the cap off
a bottle in the blink of an eye. This latest Vaughan invention is a lever-like
bar which has a hook to engage the bottle cap. The opener is placed over the
bottle cap with the hook under one edge of the cap. Pressing the handle down
removes the cap. Today Vaughan received United States Patent Number
1,490,149.
Vaughan intends to market the product
under the name "Over the Top." The opener can also be made with a corkscrew
affixed to the underside of the lever. Vaughan says "The ever growing business
coming to me from all sections of the world, serves to increase the feelings of
responsibility I have always felt towards my friends among the Bottlers. Their
loyalty incurs upon me the duty not only of maintaining the quality and service
that brings me their yearly specifications, but of constantly improving, by
every possible means, the machinery of factory and office by which I serve
these valued friends."
What are these?
The answers will appear in tomorrow's
edition of The Daily Screw.
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