Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 10th May; 1898
Complete Specification Left, 10th Mar., 1899-Accepted, 15th Apr., 1899
We, CARLO VIARENGO, of Café Monico, Piccadilly, London, Gentleman, and
LUIGI ARMANNI, of 4 and 5, Warwick Court, High Holborn, London, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an improvement in or applicable to cork screws, the
object of the invention being to enable corks to be more easily drawn from bottles
than can be done by the existing hand cork screws.
In hotels, cafés, restaurants and the like places of public resort where large
quantities of corks are drawn, a considerable difficulty often arises from the in-
ability of the attendants to draw the corks, frequently necessitating resort to the
dangerous practice of knocking off the bottle neck to get at the contents. It is
found that this difficulty is principally due to a hardening of the cork a little
way within the bottle neck and to the firm frictional hold such part of the cork
consequently takes on the bottle neck, and which, moreover, is increased by the
lateral expansion of the cork when the softer bottom end thereof is drawn up in
the endeavour to withdraw the cork from the bottle. In such cases, it is found
that the difficulty mentioned is overcome if the cork screw is withdrawn from the
cork and the centre part of the latter at the part aforesaid is cut away, as this
hollows the cork at the part of its greatest resistance and reduces the resistance
sufficiently to enable the cork to be easily withdrawn upon the cork screw being
again inserted thereinto. This process is, however, tedious and tiresome, and it
is the object of the present improvement to adapt the cork screw with or to apply
thereto means of enabling the central part of such hardened part of the cork to
be removed by the operation of driving the cork screw into the cork, by an extra
turn or two thereof, if it cannot be easily withdrawn when the cork screw is
driven thereinto in an ordinary manner or to an ordinary extent.
To this end, the invention consists in the formation of the cork screw with or
in the application thereto of helically disposed cutting blades which, as the cork-
screw is turned, will serve to cut away and remove the central part of the cork
at the part thereof aforesaid, so that its resistance will be lessened sufficiently
to enable the cork to be readily withdrawn.
Dated this 5th day of Nov 180S
DAY, DAVIES & HUNT,
Chartered Patent Agents,
321, High Holborn, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement ;-
This invention relates to an improvement in or applicable to cork screws, the
object of the invention being to enable corks to be more easily drawn from bottles
than can be done by the existing hand cork-screws.
In hotels, cafés, restaurants and the like places of public resort where large
quantities of corks are drawn, a considerable difficulty often arises from the in-
ability of the attendants to draw the corks, frequently necessitating resort to the
dangerous practice of knocking off the bottle neck to get at the contents. It is
found that this,difficulty is principally due to a hardening of the cork a little
way within the bottle neck and to the form frictional hold such part of the cork
consequently takes on the bottle neck, and which, moreover, is increased by the
lateral expansion of the cork when the softer bottom end thereof is drawn up in
the endeavour to withdraw the cork from the bottle. In such cases, it is found
that the difficulty mentioned is overcome if the cork-screw is withdrawn from the
cork and the centre part of the latter at the part aforesaid is cut away as this
hollows the cork at the part of its greatest resistance and reduces the resistance
sufficiently to enable the cork to be easily withdrawn upon the cork-screw being
again inserted thereinto. This process is, however, tedious and tiresome, and it
is the object of the present improvement to adapt the cork screw with or to apply
thereto means of enabling the central part of such hardened part of the cork to
be removed by the operation of driving the cork-screw into the cork, by an extra
turn or two thereof, if it cannot be easily withdrawn when the cork screw is
driven thereinto in an ordinary manner or to an ordinary extent.
Such being the nature and object of the said invention, we will now proceed to
describe more in detail in what manner the same is to be performed or carried
into effect, referring to the accompanying drawings which represent the invention
applied to two different ordinary forms of corkscrews,-
Figure, 1, representing a closing or pocket cork-screw, and
Fig. 2, representing a hand cork-screw such as is customarily used by the
attendants in places of public resort of the nature aforesaid; and showing the im-
proved cork-screws in action on a cork in the neck of a bottle.
To the end aforesaid, the invention consists in the formation of the shank, a,
of a cork-screw with or in the application thereto of helically disposed cutting
blades, a¹, which will serve, if the screw part, a², is driven into the cork, b,
sufficiently far, (vide Fig, 2,) as it is turned, to cut or break away and remove
the central part of the cork at the part thereof aforesaid, which is the part of the
cork most liable to get hardened by atmospheric influences and to set fast in the
bottle neck, so that its resistance will be lessened sufficiently to enable the cork
to be readily withdrawn from the bottle, e, by simultaneously continuing the turn-
ing movement and pulling on the handle, d.
While serving the primary purpose of cutting or breaking away the central part
of the cork, the laterally extending blades, a', also attain the secondary purpose of
enabling a better leverage on the cork to be obtained, which facilitates the start-
ing of its movement and its withdrawal.
The whole shank and part forming the cutting blades and screw may be con-
veniently formed integral or in one piece by pressing the same as a blank from
sheet metal and subsequently bending lateral projections of the blank to form
the cutting blades and twisting an end extension of the blank to form the screw.
This method of manufacture also enables the shank to be shaped suitably to fit a
wooden handle, d, as represented in Fig. 2, or with a boss, e, formed with a locking
recess, el, and projection, e², on its opposite sides adapted to engage co-acting
parts of the cork-screw as represented in Fig. 1.
The cutting edge of the blades, a³, is preferably formed with a slight depending

page_text: angular inclination as represented on the drawings, but it may be made horizontal,
or with a slight upward angular inclination.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:-
A cork-screw characterized by being formed or fitted with lateral extensions
adapted to serve as cutting blades for cutting away and removing the central
part of a cork when screwed thereinto and facilitating the starting and with-
drawal thereof from the bottle neck, as set forth.
Dated this 10th day of March 1800
DAY, DAVIES & HUNT,
Chartered Patent Agents,
321, High Holborn, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.