The Virtual Corkscrew Museum's Daily Newspaper


Thursday, October 16, 2003

News Index


Ghidini Design

Brooklyn, New York - On this date in 1973, Cipriano Ghidini of Brescia, Italy received United States Design Patent Number 228,613 for his corkscrew. The corkscrew can be found in a standard 8" model and a large 15" version.

The patent was assigned to the Ray Control Corporation of New York City.






Clough's Big Machine

Alton, New Hampshire - On this date in 1900 William Rockwell Clough was granted United States Patent No. 659,649 for his "Machine for Making Corkscrews".

In the on-line book William Rockwell Clough: Inventor and Manufacturer of over a Billion Corkscrews, Ron MacLean and Bob Nugent describe the invention: "This machine was horizontal wire reel fed, and could wrap the scarf cut wire around a suitable wooden handle, if required, with a twisted wire shaft or form a finger hole. An operator was needed to position the wooden handle in the apparatus and remove it after being wrapped with a wire corkscrew. It was also capable of making corkscrews formed with a wire looped handle. This technically comprehensive patent, contains seven pages of illustrations and five pages of description and claims."





Havell's Improvement

Newark, New Jersey - On this date in 1877, George Havell received United States Patent Number 196,226 for his "Improvement in Corkscrews". In his patent letter, Havell points out that corkscrews in this class are "usually made of round wire, and shaped in such a manner that in drawing the cork the fingers are crushed together, which, besides being unpleasant, reduces the power of the hand." To address this problem he says "I make the wire of the handle in oval form with indentations in the the under part of the top of the handle, so as to keep the fingers separate when drawing the cork."

In fact, in production, the corkscrew was made with a variety of handle shapes with many having just a straight opening with none of the "indentations."

When marked the corkscrews are marked on the outside of the handle with "Pat. Oct. 16 77".




Corkscrew Auction

Wirtz, Virginia - We are pleased to announce that in late October we will be auctioning online a collector's collection of approximately 700 corkscrews. If you would like to be notified when the auction begins, please send your name and email address via email.

When the auction is ready, an announcement will appear in The Daily Screw.


News Index



©2003 Don Bull, Editor

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