IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- PACTURE OF CORKSCREWS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Lund, of Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Manufacturer, and William Edward Hipkins, Foreman to the
said William Lund, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
PACTURE OF CORKSCREWS."
Sealed the 8th June 1855, and dated the 2nd April 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Lund and
William Edward Hipkins at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 2nd April 1855.
We, WILLIAM LUND, of Fleet Street, in the City of London, Manufacturer,
and WILLIAM EDWARD HIPKINS, Foreman to the said William Lund, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF CORKSCREWS" to be as follows:-
Figure 1 represents a corkscrew of a well-known form and construction,
but with these important improvements, viz., that the screw which works
within the shaft A is dispensed with, and the rack B, which works in the
pinion C, is continued round the entire circumference of the shaft A, instead
of only traversing a narrow portion of it. The thread of the screw or worm D
may therefore be more open or wider apart than in ordinary corkscrews of
this description, where it must follow or be controlled by the thread of the
screw within the shaft A.
Figure 2 shews another of our said improvements. The worms A (and B,

page_text: Figure 3,) are separate from the nippers C, and either of them is first inserted
in the cork. The ring a of the nippers is then placed on the top or mouth of
the bottle, the hook 6 being at the same time inserted in the hole c, Figure 2,
or under the shoulder e, Figure 3, of either of these worms or corkscrews by
the aid of the shifting joint f, Figure 2, and the slot g, Figure 2. The cork
is then easily and quickly drawn by closing the handles of the nippers.
Again, Figure 4 shews another of our said improvements. Here the worm
A is separate from the case B of a well-known description of pocket cork-
screw; instead of being attached to a plug, which must be drawn out before
the worm can be fixed at right angles to the case, we intend to hold this worm
in the required position by the notch a, Figure 4, and the hollow or cup 6,
in which its stem is fitted, and to secure it there by the screw which unites
the top and the bottom of the case B, as shewn in Figure 4.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Lund and William Edward Hipkins in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 28th September 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
LUND, of Fleet Street, in the City of London, Manufacturer, and WILLIAM
EDWARD HIPKINS, Foreman to the said William Lund, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
William Lund and William Edward Hipkins, Her special licence that we, the
said William Lund and William Edward Hipkins, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Lund and William
Edward Hipkins, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF CORKSCREWS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said William Lund and William Edward Hipkins, or one of us,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or the hand and
seal of one of us, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause

page_text: 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 we, the said William Lund and William Edward
Hipkins, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
Our Invention relates, first, to an improvement upon those corkscrews in
which the screw is raised by means of a rack and pinion, and consists in
constructing the shaft, to which the screw is connected at one end and the
handle at the other, with a series of concentric rings placed equidistant,
into which an ordinary pinion works, whereby no worm inside the shaft is
required.
Our Invention relates, second, to an improvement upon lever or nipper
corkscrews, which consists in making a slot in the lever to enable it to adapt
itself to the screw in order to raise the cork, and in so constructing the screw
that it may be used either independently or in conjunction with the lever.
And, third, our Invention relates to pocket corkscrews.
Our improvements
consist in certain means of fixing the screw or worm into the handle when in
a position for drawing a cork without weakening any of tho parts thereof, and
in a means of fixing the worm inside the handle for the purpose of carrying
the same in the pocket.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed represents a corkscrew of a
well-known form and construction, but with these important improvements,
viz, that the screw which works within the shaft A is dispensed with, and
the rack B, which works on the pinion C, is continued round the entire
circumference of the shaft A, instead of only traversing a narrow portion of it.
The thread of the screw or worm D may therefore be more open or wider
apart than in ordinary corkscrews of this description, where it must follow or
be controlled by the thread of the screw within the shaft A.
Figure 2 shews another of our said improvements. The worms A and B,
Figure 3, are separate from the nippers C, and either of them is first inserted
into the cork; the ring a of the nippers is then placed on the top or mouth
of the bottle, the hook b being at the same time inserted in the hole c,
Figure 2, or under the shoulder e, Figure 3, of either of these worms or cork-
screws by the aid of the shifting joint f, Figure 2, and the slot g, Figure 2.
The cork is then easily and quickly drawn by closing the handles of the
nippers.
Again, Figure 4 shews another of our said improvements. Here the worm A

page_text: .
is separate from the case B of a well-known description of pocket corkscrew;
instead of being attached to a plug, which must be drawn out before the worm
can be fixed at right angles to the case, we intend to hold this worm in the
required position by the notch a, Figure 4, and the hollow or cup b, in which
its stem is fitted, and to secure it there by the screw which unites the top and
the bottom of the case B, as shewn in Figure 4.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is,-
First, with respect to those corkscrews in which the screw is raised by
means of a rack and pinion, constructing the shaft to which the screw is
connected at one end and the handle at the other with a series of concentric
rings placed equidistant, into which an ordinary pinion works, whereby no
worm inside the shaft is required, as described and represented in the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
Second, with respect to lever or nipper corkscrews, making a slot in the
lever to enable it to adapt itself to the screw in order to raise the cork, and so
constructing the screw that it may be used either independently of, or in con-
junction with, the lever, as described and represented in the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
Third, with respect to pocket corkscrews, certain means of fixing the screw
or worm into the handle when in position for drawing a cork without
weakening any of the parts thereof, and in a means of fixing the worm inside
the handle for the purpose of carrying the same in the pocket, as described
and represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Lund and William Edward
Hipkins, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-fourth
day of September, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
WILLIAM LUND.
(LAS.)
WILLIAM EDWARD HIPKINS. (L.S.)