13

It is not known whether Stapley's "Cork Extractor" or Bauer's invention were produced

in any quantity, but another air facilitated "Cork Remover" didn't come along until 1932.

New Yorker Ludwig Eger also used a standard pump for his invention and focused more

on his concern for "sucking of the bottle contents into said pump" than thoughts of

safety and convenience. His supports for the cork extractor on the bottle were bent

flexible lips that would engage the bead of the bottle neck. Using a bit of imagination,

one can envision Ludwig standing hunched over with his bottle of wine wedged between

his shoes and his bicycle type pump resting on top. He pulls up the handle, pushes it

down, and "pop" - his wine is ready to pour. Hopefully.

Eger invented his cork remover in

1932 near the close of the 1919-

1933 Prohibition "experiment" in

America. His Patent No. 1,921,811

was granted on August 8, 1933,

four months after Repeal of the

Prohibition act (The 21st

Amendment to the U. S.

Constitution effective April 7,

1933). His cork remover could now

be used on "legal beverages" but

what happened to Eger's devices?

Were any quantities produced?

Have any survived the passage of

time?

Josef Reitinger resurrected the ideas of Stapley and Bauer with yet another hand

pump/needle combination in his August 4, 1939 German patent application. Patent No.

1,530,207 was issued March 12, 1943.

In the years that followed, people continued to pull corks with

corkscrews or prong devices; needle type ejectors still had not

been accepted and popularized. Then on December 21, 1950,

Denis Farandatos of New York applied for a patent for his

"Cork Extractor with Gas Pressure Generating Means." His

colorful application introduction tells the examiner:

It is very difficult to extract a cork from a bottle in a whole

state. Usually the cork is torn and fragments fall into the

bottle. This is so common that it has led to the custom of

pouring for the host first, so that he gets the cork crumbs,

then for the guests. Frequently the screw rips out through the

cork, which is then pried out bit by bit with a knife, leaving a macerated half that has to

be thrust down into the bottle, improving neither the appearance nor the tastes of the

contents.