Patent ID: 7146879

Claim:
An extractor for extracting a generally mushroom shaped stopper from the neck of a typical sparkling beverage bottle, there being an upwardly presented shoulder on said neck and at the top of said neck includes a lip, there being a downwardly presented and openly accessible rim or shoulder on said stopper, and said extractor comprising a pair of levers which are pivotally interconnected, each lever defining a handle at one end thereof and a bifurcated jaw having a recess at the opposite end thereof, wherein one of said jaws is located above the other and each of said jaws is adapted to be horizontally inserted about said neck, such that the lower of said jaws is adapted to make contact with said upwardly presented shoulder of said bottle and the upper of said jaws is adapted to make contact with said downwardly presented rim or shoulder of said stopper, so that a squeezing together of said pair of handles results in the separation of said jaws thereby urging said lower jaw against said upwardly presented shoulder and urging said upper jaw against said downwardly presented rim or shoulder, and with leveraged force sufficient to lift said stopper relative to said neck, wherein: the extremity of said bifurcated jaw of said upper lever comprise a pair of prongs defining said recess, with said bifurcated jaw formed entirely or partially from a material having sufficient flexibility to permit the momentary splaying of said prongs while being slid around said neck or over said lip of said bottle when the width of said recess, in its relaxed state, is less than the diameter of said neck or said lip at point of contact; and said recess within said upper jaw comprises both anterior and posterior sections such that the anterior section is defined by opposing generally non-parallel linear edges and the posterior section is defined by opposing generally identical semi-circular edges, wherein: said anterior section guides the device about said bottle during insertion, and said posterior section positions said extractor about said bottle for extraction of said stopper; with the cross-sectional width of said recess at the juncture of said anterior and posterior sections being narrower than any other cross-sectional width within said anterior section of said recess; and said posterior section inscribing a generally circular shape approximating the outer diameter of said lip of said typical bottle; such that said momentary splaying of said prongs in conjunction with described contours of said anterior and posterior sections provide means for anchoring and positioning the device to said bottle, and generating a tactile snap during insertion thereby informing the user that the device has been anchored and positioned to said bottle.