AN IMPROVED INSTRUMENT FOR WITHDRAWING CORKS PROM BOTTLES STOPPERS THEREIN
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Martyn Nicholls, Engineer, of 9, Essex Street,
Strand, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
INSTRUMENT FOR WITHDRAWING CORKS PROM BOTTLES
STOPPERS THEREIN."
ACTING AS
Sealed the 5th November 1861, and dated the 8th May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Martyn Nicholls at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th May 1861.
I, HENRY MARTYN NICHOLLS, Engineer, of 9, Essex Street, Strand, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED INSTRUMENT FOR WITHDRAWING CORKS FROM BOTTLES WHEN ACTING.
AS STOPPERS THEREIN," to be as follows:-
I fix rigidly the upper extremity of the ordinary screw for penetrating and
holding the cork to the centre or axis of a short cylinder, on the exterior
circumference of which a screw thread is formed. I enclose this cylinder in
another and somewhat longer cylinder, on the internal circumference of which
a corresponding screw thread is formed to that on the exterior of the former.
I adopt means to prevent the inner cylinder from being screwed out of the
outer cylinder if one of them be prevented from turning while the other is

page_text: made to revolve. If, now, we suppose the internal cylinder near one extremity
of the external cylinder, and screwed forward towards that extremity as far as
it will go, and the corkscrew projecting beyond the outer cylinder, and that
we screw the corkscrew in the usual manner into the cork we wish to with-
draw till the lower edge of the outer cylinder comes to bear against the mouth
of the bottle, and then, having means of preventing the inner cylinder from
turning if we make the outer cylinder to revolve in the opposite direction to
that in which it turned when the corkscrew was being screwed into the cork,
the inner cylinder, together with the corkscrew and cork, will rise up into the
outer cylinder in consequence of the screw on the interior of the said cylinder
having its thread running in the opposite direction to the thread of the cork-
screw, and so the cork is withdrawn from the bottle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Martyn Nicholls in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
MARTYN NICHOLLS, Engineer, of 9, Essex Street, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Henry Martyn Nicholls, Her special licence that I, the said
Henry Martyn Nicholls, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Henry Martyn -Nicholls, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "AN IMPROVED INSTRUMENT FOR WITHDRAWING CORKS FROM BOTTLES
WHEN ACTING AS STOPPERS THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Henry. Martyn Nicholls, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,

page_text: and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be,
filed. in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent..
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Martyn Nicholls, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
The principle on which this instrument is founded is this:--If a cylinder,
having a screw thread formed on its external circumference, is enclosed in.
another having a corresponding screw thread formed on its internal circum-
ference, and one of the two be prevented from turning while the other is made
to revolve, the one which is not allowed to revolve will move in the direction
of its axis with relation to the other, either forward or backward, according to
the direction in which the other is made to turn.
The manner in which I apply the above principle to the withdrawal of corks
from bottles, when acting as stoppers. therein, will be best explained by a
reference to the accompanying Drawings, where similar letters represent
similar parts in the several Figures.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of an instrument on this principle; Fig. 2 añ
outside view of the same; and Fig. 3 a sectional plan on line A, B, Fig. 1.
a is a corkscrew; b, a short cylinder, in which the upper end of the cork-
screw is fixed, and which has a screw thread formed on its circumference; c is
another and longer cylinder surrounding, the former, and having a corre-
sponding screw thread formed on its internal circumference. A mouthpiece d
is attached to the lower part of this cylinder; and is so fitted to it by means of
the collar e, which is formed round the bottom of the cylinder, that it can be
made to turn round it. The cylinder b is formed with a groove on-each-side
to allow of the key or thin piece of metal f passing through it. This key is
made to fit the interior of the cylinder c, and is attached at its extremities g, g,
to the mouthpiece d. The extremities g, g, are formed with the projections
h, h, for the purpose of preventing the cylinder 6 being screwed out of the
cylinder c; iisa shank rising from the top of the cylinder c, and having, the
handle k fixed on it...
The following is the mode of operation -The short cylinder 6 being in the
position shewn the corkscrew is screwed into the cork; when the mouthpiece d
rests. upon the bottle it must be held fast to prevent it from turning, by which
means the key f and the cylinder. 6 are held fast also; then by turning the
handle the opposite. way the cylinder b will. rise in the cylinder c in conse-

page_text: quence of the action of the screw formed on the interior of the cylinder cacting
on the corresponding screw formed on the exterior of the cylinder b. On the
cork being withdrawn, if the handle be again turned in the reverse direction,
and the mouthpiece d held fast, the cylinder 6 can be brought into its original
position, and the cork can be withdrawn from the corkscrew. In this modi-
fication of the instrument the screw formed on the circumference of the cylin-
ders runs in the reverse direction to the thread of the corkscrew, but if means
were adopted to allow the corkscrew to turn freely in the cylinder 6 while the
cork was being withdrawn from the bottle, the screw on the cylinders might
run in the same direction as the thread of the corkscrew.
Figs. 4, 5, and 6, are similar views of another modification of the instrument.
a is the corkscrew; b, the short cylinder; c, the outer cylinder; d, the mouth-
piece, which in this case forms part of the cylinder c; f, the key, having the
same projecting pieces h, h. Here the extremities of the key 9, 9, are not
attached to the mouthpiece d, and where the key fƒ passes across the top of the
cylinder c the shank i (in this case made to pass through the top of the
eylinder c) is fixed into it, so that if the handle k be turned either way it turns
the key f, and consequently the cylinder b. The corkscrew is held rigidly in
the short cylinder 6 while it is being screwed into the cork, but is free to turn
in it while the cork is being withdrawn; this can be effected by means of a
clutch or any similar mechanism used for gaining the like end. This modi-
fication of the instrument can be used in the same manner as the former, that
is, the cylinder 6 being in the position shewn, the corkscrew can be screwed
into the cork, and when the mouthpiece d rests on the bottle it must be held
fast, so as to prevent the cylinder c from turning; the handle can then be
turned the reverse way, which will cause the key k to drive round the cylinder
b, which will then rise in the cylinder c and draw the cork after it; or before
using the instrument the cylinder 6 can be screwed back in the cylinder c as
far as it will go, then the mouthpiece d can be placed on the bottle, and the
handle turned so as to drive the corkscrew into the cork, which being effected,
the handle can be turned the other way, and the cylinder 6 caused to rise in
the cylinder c, and so withdraw the cork. In this arrangement the thread of
the screw on the cylinders runs in the same direction as that of the cork-
screw.
What I claim is the use of the two cylinders, a longer and a shorter, one
enclosing the other, the inner and shorter one having a screw thread formed
on its exterior circumference, by which it can be raised or lowered in the outer
one by means of a corresponding screw thread formed on its interior circum-

page_text: ference, and which inner and shorter cylinder, having the corkscrew attached
to it, is made, when rising into the outer cylinder, to draw the cork after it
from the bottle, the lower portion of the outer cylinder meanwhile resting on
the mouth of the bottle.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Martyn Nicholls, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of November, in the year of
our Lord Eighteen hundred and sixty-one.
HENRY MARTYN NICHOLLS. (L.S.)