Uncork it

Warwickshire, England, May 19, 1888 - Hugh McBride has received British Patent No. 7431 for his "Improvements in or connected with corkscrews and the like instruments" application. McBride's intention is to make an extended, strong point at the end of the worm to be used for breaking wires and strings securing corks on Champagne and similar bottles.

McBride says that he makes the handle to represent a Champagne cork "in order to indicate the purpose for which the instrument is intended."

A McBride corkscrew with the cork advertising "Dry Monopole, Heidsieck Reims."
A McBride corkscrew with wire helix (from the collection of Josef L'Africain).
A modern silver version of McBride's corkscrew presented to members of the ICCA by host Frank Ellis at the 1998 annual meeting in London. It is engraved "ICCA 1974 - 1998."

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Bottle Attachment

Statesville, North Carolina, May 19, 1903 - William J. Lowenstein has come up with a new gimmick for corkscrews. He says "The object of my invention is to provide means for utilizing the label of a bottle for holding a corkscrew or other tool, thereby dispensing with rubber bands, strings, wires, &c, for this purpose."

Lowenstein proposes a bottle that will have a recess in the side of it with a round portion for the ring and an extended straight portion for the worm. Obviously he has the ring pull design by William Rockwell Clough in mind. With the corkscrew in place in the recess, a portion of the bottle label or an adhesive strip can be applied to keep it in place. Although he suggests adding an advertising tag to the ring, it is not part of his patent claim. He has been granted U. S. Patent No. 728,735 under the title "Bottle Attachment."

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