The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-07-18
About Corkscrews.

The corkscrew is . Continuance
10 facilitate the removal Of corks
from bottles. When . cork protrudes
from the neck of the bottle far enough
to admit of grasping it with the hand or
clinching it with the teeth. q corkscrew
is unnecessary. But when cork 10
flush with the bottles mouth, or,
through unskillful manipulation, has
become lodged down in the neck, q
corkscrew is not only a convenience.
but almost necessity. The bottle may
be emptied of its liquid contents by
crowding the cork down through the
neck with penholder or any other
suitable article that may be at hand,
but this method of opening bottle is
generally regarded as inelegant.
There are several kinds of corkscrews.
That which has been the longest in use
IS the simplest. For several hundred
years it was the best. until a genius
added an improvement which brought
it to perfection. The primeyal corkscrew
consisted of wire, pointed at one end,
twisted into spiral with about five turns
tempe ed so as TO give rigidity to it, and
provided with a wooden handle like
that of a gimlet. The spiral part of
the wire was about two inches long
after being twisted, the part left
straight was of about the same length,
and the wooden cross piece was
round. and about three inches in length
and half an Inch in diameter. The
handle was made fast to the metal by
putting the wire through hole in the
wood and clinching 1t. The metal was
not FURNISHED, nor was the wood pol
ished or painted 1t is safe to say that
there never was a corkscrew job which
could not have been accomplished
with one of these primeval corkscrews.
The name of the inventor of the
corkscrew has not been handed down
to these generations. He lived before
the days of le;te patent. 1t Is held
by certain school of theorists that he
was no other than Archimedes. The
similarity of the corkscrew to the spiral
of Archimedes is "a theta. The cork
screw can not have a constant equation,
for the pit h varies not only in different
screws, but in the different spirals of
the same screw. A corbscrew fash
of Archimedes, with important modifi-
cations, would be serviceable; but there
seems to be no sufficient reason for be-
lieving that Archimedes invented the
cOrkscrew.
An important improvement in cork
screws is mentioned in the foregoing.
In order to comprehend its value. the
practical use of the ordinary cOrkscrew
must be understood. The bottle is
grasped by the neck with the left hand,
the top of the cork is pricked with the
point of the spiral, and about six or
seven half twists are gwen to the cork
screw. The body of the bottle is then
gripped between the knees, and q lift
ing force is applied to the corkscrew
and through it to the cork. The re-
moval of the cork is accompanied by q
sound which MAY be ;airly initiated by
putting the left forefinger in the mouth
with its end against the inner surface
of the right cheek, initiating the cheeks,
and then removing the finger by quick
push against the yielding right hand
corner of the mouth. His perfected
corkscrew has the blunt end of the wire
brought back through the wooden
handle and twisted around the stem of
the corkscrew' till il comes down to the
top of the spiral, where it is wound into
q conc nitric coil. When the spiral has
sunk into the cork the blunt end of this
coil strikes against the cerk near its
periphery, and with the purchase thus
! obtained the cork is turned around in
the neck of the bottle and withdrawn
far more gently than with the unim-
proved corkscrew. A good article OF
the perfected pattern may be fought
for about fifteen cents in almost any
general store in the country. In cut
Iere establishment in the city the price
would not be over seventy-fve cents.
There are other complications which
are intended to increase the usefulness
I. f the corkscrew or make::it more con-
veniently portable. A metallic contri-
vance shaped like the bow of Jews
harp. is substituted for the wooden
handle, and the stem Of the spiral is
fastened between the ends of the bow
with pin in such manner that the inn
pIement may be shut up like pocket
knife. This pattern of portable cork
screw is adapted foc excursion or pic
MICS, where there may be bottles ofmilk
to be opened. There is also a very elabOr-
kind of cor6screw sold in some OF
the drug stores and cutlery establish
ments. 1t is nickel plated and looks
rs formidable as toy steam engine.
1t is so constructed that after it has
been adjusted the engineer has only to
keep on twisting and The cork will be
hoisted high and dry. There are few
rules regarding the use of the cork
screw which are generally observed by
the elite. The place for the corkscrew
is not BY the side of the hostess's plate.
Champagne bottles are not opened
with corkscrew, nor condensed milk
cans, nor cocoanuts. Any person who
has tried to take small pickles
from bottle with a corkscrew viii
ever afterward endeavorto have pickle
fork al hand, ii he does not go t. the
extreme of having the pickles removed
from the original package before they
are brought to the table. 1t may be
set forth as general rule that any at
tempt to utilize the corkscrew for any
purpose other than the removal Of corks
VIII result in embarrassment, and had
best not be tried except in privacy
". Y. Sun.
Rev. DR.. Van Horne, of the First
Reformed Church in Philadelphia, re-
Gently preached a sermon to show that