A NEW METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING AND IMPROVING CORKSCREWS
Year: 1795

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
HENSHALL, in Princess Street, in the Parish of Christchurch, in the County of
Middlesex, Clerk, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day of August, in the thirty-fifth
year of His said Majesty's reign, did give and grant. unto me, the said
Samuel Henshall, his special licence, full power, sole priviledge and
authority, that I, the said Samuel Henshall, my exors, adñors, and assigns,
should and lawfully might, during the term of years therein expressed, make,
usc, exercise, and vend, my Invention of "A NEW METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING
AND IMPROVING CORKSCREWS," within that part of His Majesty's Kingdom of
Great Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and also in His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, in
such manner as to me, the said Samuel Henshall, my exors, admiors, and
assigns, should, in my or their discretion, seem meet; in which said Letters
Patent was contained a proviso, whereby it was and is declared, that if I, the
said Samuel Henshall, should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month
next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, that
then the said Letters Patent should be void, as in and by the said Letters
Patent, relation being thereunto had, may more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, and in pursuanco
of the said Letters Patent. I, the said Samuel Henshall, do hereby declare that.

page_text: the following is a particular description of the nature of my said invention, and
of the manner in which the same is to be performed (that is to say):-
This Juvention (A) consists in effecting the operation of a worm or screw
internally on soft and elastic substances, such as cork, tow, hemp, sponge,
paper, woollen, and linen, so as to overcome with greater facility than hereto-
fore the resistances arising from adhesion and the swelling of the substances to
be drawn. The manner of applying this Invention is as follows:-The screw
should be accurately constructed in its spiral part, concerning which, if any
directions be necessary to a workman, I conceive a steel maundrell, of a proper
size, with a groove cut into it, will serve as a gauge to turn it upon in the
usual manner, will best ensure the accuracy of the construction, and cause
the several upper parts of the screw to follow the point in one continued line
of direction, by which the breaking or tearing the cork will be prevented.
Tho screw having been introduced in the usual manner through the cork.or
other substance to be extracted, as far as to get perfect hold thereof, is,.
according to my new method, to be prevented from penetrating further; and
this is done by a cap, or button, or plate, affixed to the upper termination of
the worm or screw, which cap or button covering the upper part of the cork,
and being in contact therewith, continues to be turned with the screw, and
with it the cork turns also, whereby the resistance arising from adhesion is
overcome, and at the same time the cork is shortened in its length, and by a
gradual elevation or drawing upwards, as well as turning of the hand, the cork
is easily drawn. This operation, too, is facilitated by making the cap, or button,
or plate, concave in its under side, by which construction the screw has much
more power over the cork, and holds it much firmer together than the common
screw can do, and the hand is thereby enabled to turn it round, and thus the
adhesion between the cork and the neck of the bottle is overcome, and the
cork is twisted out much easier and without the breaking the cork. What.
I have said concerning a cork applies in like manner to the wadding of
canon, which may be extracted in the same manner by a screw of sufficient
size, with a cap, button, or plate perforated to permit the passage of air. and
with a handle adapted to the length of the canon. And the foregoing is a
description of my first improvement in the said Letters Patent referred to,.
and the same is further explained by the Drawing (A) hereunto annexed, and
the maundrell (M).
The same Invention (B) may be applied in a more artificial or compound
way, as represented in the Drawing B, in which (a) is a cap, button, or plate
before described; (b) a screw to penetrate the cork, &c.; (c) a frame having
at the upper part thereof (d) a brass female screw; (e) a handle; (f) a
small mortice lock or catch in the inside of the handle; (9) a screw or button

page_text: which screws to pull up the lock by. In the handle (e) is a hollow space at
the upper end of the screw (h), into which the female screw passes before you
begin to act, and at the same time the lock or catch entering into and being
detained by the small square hole or perforation (i) in the frame (c). Whilst
the instrument is in this position you are to introduce the principal worm or
screw (6) into the cork, until the cap or button reaches the top of the cork and
is stopped by it; then you are to pull up the little screw (9) and immediately
turn round the handle (e), and without any other effect the cork will be drawn,
coming within the hollow space of the frame (c).
The Drawings C 1 and C 2 represent a corkscrew, like B, but having a
cylindrical socket S, which is to receive the neck of the bottle into it, in order
to guide the screw centrically into the cork.
The several other Drawings hereto annexed represent several other parts of
the instrument for the more perfect explanation thereof; and this instrument,
which in its general form has some considerable resemblance to, a corkscrew,
already known and in use, nevertheless differs therefrom in very essential
particulars, as will appear on comparing them.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-
fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand seven
hundred and ninety-five.