Supersize my Screwpull

March 3, 1981 Houston Texas - Screwpull inventor Herbert Allen's new "Cork Extractor" Patent No. 423351 has been assigned to the Hallen Company. It will be manufactured under the name Leverpull.

Allen's 23 page patent shows explicit details in 9 pages of drawings.. This is followed by 13 pages of description of prior art and how his invention works.Allen points out that the professional waiter's friend type corkscrew requires a "relatively high degree of skill and expertise is required to keep a simple screw properly aligned and centered..." and "the average consumer may have difficulty in utilizing such a device without breaking the cork." and "where a large number of bottles must be uncorked, as for a banquet, the simple screw, even in the hands of a professional, makes the process unduly time consuming."

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Women's History Month

Wirtz, Virginia - We continue our celebration. The bottom of the base on the nude corkscrew is marked "Miss America, Chicago, 1934." The Miss America pageant was started in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1921. The contest was suspended from 1928 through 1932. It was revived in 1933 and Marian Bergeron, Miss Connecticut, was crowned Miss America. The contest was again suspended for the year 1934. The World's Fair (Century of Progress) was held in Chicago in 1933-1934. Marian was the reigning Miss America for the fair.

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