8

Introduction

In January 2000 the

Wine Spectator On-Line

asked the question "Have any corkscrew

capers to tell?" One response was: "While working in a hospital late one night we took

a break for a bottle of wine. Having no corkscrew available we assembled one. A 50 ml

syringe with a 14 G spinal needle. Filled the syringe with air, plunged the needle through

cork, injected air and voila! A nice way to 'take the edge off' on an otherwise harrowing

night."

This resourceful nighttime crew had injected air into that

small space between the cork and the pool of liquid in

the bottle. This very simple idea has been explored by

many individuals and companies in recent decades. Few

have had lasting success in the face of bad press

concerning safety and spoilage of wine. How scary this

incident reported to the

Wine Spectator

could be to one

of the long-time successful companies?: "After multiple

failed attempts at uncorking a bottle, I discovered the

Corkpops gas pressure system. Cork after cork started

popping out perfectly. Then one day, I misjudged the

pressure of the cork, and the Corkpop popped from the

top of the cork. While I was busy hitting the floor for

fear of being stabbed in the head, the Corkpop flew

straight into my kitchen ceiling and rocketed down, the

sharp needle end piercing my kitchen counter. I now just

use my husband to open bottles while searching for the next perfect bottle opener."

This is the product that Cork Pops

advertises with "…gently remove the cork from the

bottle without affecting the taste of the wi

ne…"

Whether one uses a hospital syringe, an air pump system or a gas pump system, corks

can be easily removed without personal injury or damage to the wine. Is there a better

way? Is a corkscrew a better mousetrap? Helmut Reinbacher, inventor of a gas "Cork

Removal Apparatus," proclaimed, "For many years corks were typically removed from

bottles, such as wine bottles, through the use of a cork screw. This practice had many

drawbacks, including being cumbersome, and inefficient. Additionally, the cork screw

would often times break or crumble the cork, contaminating the contents of the bottle."

He goes on to discuss prior inventions using needle injectors and the dangers they

presented. Breakage of the unguarded needle could result in a serious puncture wound.

Uncontrolled ejection could occur due to the lack of a cork capturing device (ah, the

poor woman who reported such an incident to the

Wine Spectator

!). And finally, there

was no safe way to remove the needle from the cork. Reinbacher addresses the issues

of capturing the cork and protecting the user from the needle by adding a safety shield.

He skirts the issue of "uncontrolled ejection" with his invention that will use either a