Abstract:
A cork extractor having a plunger, a wire attached to the plunger and an extracting element attached to the wire. The cork extractor is used to remove broken corks from bottles.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    The inventor of the present invention is in the food service industry. He trained in one of the best food service industry schools in the country and yet there was one thing that the schools could not teach him: how to insure that every wine opened would not lose the cork within the bottle. The reason is that the schools could not manufacture the corks so that they would not break within the bottles. 
         [0002]    This caused the inventor grief, for when he or his waiter colleagues broke a cork within a bottle, they where made to eat the cost of the bottle. This is very taxing on waiters, for bottles of wine are very expensive and their wages are relatively low. On nights that they broke corks within bottles, they in effect worked part of the night for free in order to pay for the costs of the damaged bottles. 
         [0003]    The inventor was aware of cork extractors that were made to pull corks from bottles. The devices usually had hooking means to grasp corks from within the bottles. The problem with the extractors is that, like fishing, it takes a certain amount of skill to hook the cork. Another problem with the extractors is that sometimes the hooks damage the corks and leave cork remnants within the wine bottles. 
         [0004]    He decided that he had to invent a cork extractor that would pull a cork from within a bottle without having the need of hooking the cork. He also realized that in order to pull the cork from within the bottle he would first have to push the cork within the bottle so that the cork would float on top of the wine. Again, he had to create a device that would push the cork within the bottle that would not damage the cork. 
         [0005]    Information relevant to attempt to address these problems can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,240,808, 5,253,553, 4,679,467, and 3,967,512. However, each one of these references suffers from one or more of the following disadvantages: most of these devices use hooking means to recover the cork or take a great degree of skill to use. 
         [0006]    An object of the present invention is to allow a user to pull a damaged cork from within a bottle without leaving remnants within the bottle. 
         [0007]    Another object of the present invention is to allow a user of a damaged cork to push the cork within a wine bottle so that the cork can be removed without leaving remnants within the bottle. 
         [0008]    A further object of the present invention is to allow waiters not to fear opening a wine bottle. 
         [0009]    Still a further object of the present invention is to minimize the costs associated with damaged bottles in the food and wine industry. 
         [0010]    For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a cork extractor that does not use a hooking means to extract the cork. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0011]    The present invention is directed to a cork extractor that satisfies the need of not using a hook to extract a cork from a wine bottle. The cork extractor comprises a plunger, a wire attached to the plunger and an extracting element attached to the wire. The plunger has a first and a second end, the plunger defining an aperture at an intermediate position substantially towards the first end of the plunger. The wire has a first and a second end, the first end of the wire is placed through the aperture of the plunger and secured to the plunger by attaching a first clasp to the first end of the wire. The first clasp might also attach to a first intermediate position of the wire. The extracting element comprises a plurality of spacers and a plurality of washers, wherein the spacers and washers are placed over the second end of the wire so that the spacers and washers are in the following order, spacer washer spacer washer spacer washer and so forth, the last washer placed over the second end of the wire having a greater diameter than the other washers, and a second clasp being placed over the wire after the last washer, the second clasp attaches to the second end of the wire. The second clasp might also attach to a second intermediate position of the wire, all of the spacers being fixedly attached the wire. 
         [0012]    The present invention is used by first inserting the plunger of the cork extractor into the mouth of a bottle so that a broken cork is completely inserted within the bottle. Then, inserting the extracting element of the cork extractor within the bottle so that the extracting element lies beneath the cork. Lastly, slowly pulling the cork extractor upward so that the extracting element is made to slowly grasp the cork as the extractor is pulled upward. The cork will roll on the extractor as the cork is being pulled up until the last washer firmly grasps the cork, allowing the cork to be removed from the bottle. 
     
    
     
       DRAWINGS 
         [0013]    These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and drawings where: 
           [0014]      FIG. 1  shows a perspective view of a cork extractor; 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  shows another embodiment of the present invention in a first position; and 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  shows the embodiment of  FIG. 2  in a second position. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
       [0017]    As seen in  FIG. 1 , a cork extractor  100  comprising a plunger  10 , a wire  12  attached to the plunger  10  and an extracting element  14  attached to the wire  12 . 
         [0018]    The plunger  10  has a first  10   a  and a second end  10   b , the plunger  10  defining an aperture  10   c  at an intermediate position substantially towards the first end of the plunger  10 . 
         [0019]    The wire  12  has a first  12   a  and a second end  12   b , the first end of the wire  12   a  is placed through the aperture  10   c  of the plunger  10  and secured to the plunger  10  by attaching a first clasp  16  to the first end of the wire  12   a . The first clasp  16  might also be attached to a first intermediate position of the wire  12   d.    
         [0020]    The extracting element  14  comprises a plurality of spacers  18  and a plurality of washers  20 , wherein the spacers  18  and washers  20  are placed over the second end of the wire  12   b  so that the spacers  18  and washers  20  are in the following order, spacer  18  washer  20  spacer  18  washer  20  spacer  18  washer  20  and so forth, the last washer  21  placed over the second end of the wire  12   b  having a greater diameter than the other washers  20 , and a second clasp  22  being placed over the wire  12  after the last washer  21 , the second clasp  22  attaches to the second end of the wire  12   b . The second clasp  22  might also be attached to a second intermediate position of the wire  12   e . All of the spacers  18  are fixedly attached to the wire  12 . 
         [0021]    In another embodiment of the present invention, the plunger  10  defines a chamber  10   d  to house the extracting element  14 . 
         [0022]    As seen in  FIG. 2-3 , a cork extractor  200  comprising a plunger  50 , a wire  52  attached to the plunger  50  and an extracting element  54  attached to the wire  52 . 
         [0023]    The plunger  50  has a first  50   a  and a second end  50   b , the plunger  50  defines a chamber  50   d  running through the plunger  50 , and the plunger  50  comprises of a plunger washer  57  housed and fixedly attached to the plunger  50  at a position between the first and second end of the plunger  50 , the plunger washer  57  defines a centrally positioned aperture  57   a.    
         [0024]    The wire  52  has a first  52   a  and a second end  52   b , the first end of the wire  52   a  is placed through the aperture of the washer  57   a  and secured by attaching a first clasp  56  to the first end of the wire  52   a . The first clasp might also attach to a first intermediate position  52   d  of the wire  52 . 
         [0025]    The extracting element  54  comprises a plurality of spacers  58  and a plurality of washers  60 , wherein the spacers  58  and washers  60  are placed over the second end of the wire  52   b  so that the spacers  58  and washers  60  are in the following order, spacer  58  washer  60  spacer  58  washer  60  spacer  58  washer  60  and so forth, the last washer  61  placed over the second end  52   b  of the wire having a greater diameter than the other washers  60 , and a second clasp  62  being placed over the wire  52  after the last washer  61 , the second clasp  62  attaches to the second end of the wire  52   b . The second clasp  62  might also attach to a second intermediate position of the wire  52   e , all of the spacers  18  being fixedly attached the wire. 
         [0026]    The cork extractor  100 ,  200  might be made of materials approved for use in the food and beverage industry. 
         [0027]    An advantage of the present invention is that it allows a user to pull a damaged cork from within a bottle without leaving remnants within the bottle. 
         [0028]    Another advantage of the present invention is that it allows a user of a damaged cork to push the cork within a wine bottle so that the cork can be removed without leaving remnants within the bottle. 
         [0029]    A further advantage of the present invention is that it allows waiters not to fear opening a wine bottle. 
         [0030]    Still a further advantage of the present invention is that it minimizes the costs associated with damaged bottles in the food and wine industry. 
         [0031]    Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred versions thereof, other versions are possible. Therefore the spirit and the scope of the claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained herein.