The Virtual Corkscrew Museum's Daily Newspaper
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Friday, July 11, 2003 |
A Jewel of an Opener
Washington, D. C., July 11, 1923 - Lewis D. Roberts, formerly from the Altoona, Pennsylvania area was granted U. S. Patent 1,461,162 yesterday. Roberts "Can Opener" patent is stamped out of sheet metal in such a fashion that it is, as he states, "cheap to manufacture and requires the minimum number of operations for assembling.
A key element in his patent is the cap remover which is stamped from the metal in the handle portion. It has a folding corkscrew on the underside.
The product is produced by the United Novelty Company of York, Pennsylvania and the handle is marked either "Our Jewel Patented" or "Pat. July 10 - 23, The Jewel Can Opener, United Novelties, Inc., York, Pa.
And Sew On
Solingen, Germany, July 11, 1913 - The cutlery manufacturing firm, J. Dirlam & Söhne has patented a knife in which a loosely fitted spring holds the worm solidly in place when it is folded out for use. In addition to knives, the firm manufactures scissors, razors and razor blades. The firm was founded in 1856 and is currently owned by Julius, Walter, and Paul Dirlam. Their products are exported worldwide. Agents and showrooms can be found in many cities including London, Sydney, Brisbane, Durban, Johannesburg, and Riga, Latvia.
On customer is the Singer Sewing Machine Company which has ordered the knives with different handles showing different languages.
Follow-Up Story
England - In the March 1 issue of The Daily Screw, we ran a story on the Job Conworth obituary corkscrew. Keith Pearce recently bought a book in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England from the library of Job Conworth and inscribed by him on January 18th, 1799. Note the similarity in the book signature and the corkscrew signature.
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©2003 Don Bull, Editor |
