The Virtual Corkscrew Museum's Daily Newspaper


Wednesday, March 5, 2003

News Index


Pack 'em in

Newark, Ohio, March 5, 1918 - William Moore has been issued U. S. Patent No. 1,258,035 for his new Can-Opener. Although his patent claim his for the can opener itself, his product will include a corkscrew, a bottle cap lifter, and a fork. The latter will be ideal for plucking sardines out of a can.

The flat metal sides of the handle will be an ideal spot for advertising products such as sardines.




Rack 'em up

Sabadell, Spain, March 5, 1991 - Ramon Brucart Puig received American Patent No. 4,996,895 for his "Pocket Hand Corkscrew" today.

Concerning other corskcrews, Puig says "In the case of certain known corkscrews, the lever is pulled, which requires a great force, sometimes greater that the force the user is capable of applying. Frequently said force is not applied axially of the stopper, which easily causes the stopper to break. Furthermore, the brusque cessation of the resistance, when the cork comes fully out, is frequently not accompanied by a simultaneous cessation of the force, which may lead to an undesirable application of said force."

Puig continues "In the case of other corkscrews, the lever is provided with a hinged arm at one end thereof and frequently the hinged arm is shaped for removing crown corks. After penetration of the screw member, the free end of the hinged arm is placed in engagement with the edge of the bottle neck and the lever is pulled in such a way as to rock it around the hinge axis. Thus, the cork follows the movement of the lever, but the fact that this movement follows an arcuate trajectory means that breakage of the cork is also frequent, particularly bearing in mind that the screw member presses the cork against the bottle neck. Also, the fact that crown corks are removed by a hinged arm is also a drawback, since the rotation thereof makes a correct positioning difficult."

Puig has added a sliding "rack" to the typical waiter's friend which enables the user to simply jack the cork out of the bottle. Almost a year ago, Puig got a European patent for his device known as the Puigpull.


Women's History Month

Wirtz, Virginia - We continue our celebration. Sometimes they get a little cranky, but The Daily Screw salutes them anyway.







More "Bone Carvings" Found

Wirtz, Virginia - In our February 28 "Buyer Beware" article, we looked at current "carved corkscrews" offered on Internet auction sites and at other sales. It looks like there are more to come. The latest offerings are three dogs and a hand. Note that these also have the same poorly executed worm.

Two of the three dog corkscrews turned up within four hours of each other by two different California sellers. Both had starting bids of $9.99. One had this brief description: "Ivory or bone carved corkscrew, nice condition."

The hand is offered by an English seller with a starting bid of GBP 5.00. The description is "This corkscrew is all OK. It came from two that was cleared from a house contents. Here is one of them we think it is good quality reproduction made from what looks like bone or something else." We would prefer to see "current production" instead of "reproduction." We certainly agree with the "something else."


What's this?

The Answer will be seen in tomorrow's Daily Screw.


Yesterday's "What's this" Answers:


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©2003 Don Bull, Editor

The Virtual Corkscrew Museum