25

England

On September 20, 1962 Robert Pollak of Promac Engineering Limited

filed for a patent on what was to become one of the longest surviving

cork ejectors on the market, the Corkette. British Patent 986,984 for

the Corkette was issued on March 24, 1965. In 1963 Spong & Co.,

Crompton Close, Basildon, Essex Registered Design No. 912,910 for

the cork ejector. Promac also patented the Corkette in Germany

(1,882,877).

The company operated under the name Spong & Co. with a fair amount

of success and began to waffle in the late 1970s. In 1986, ex-Spong

accountant Harold Kennedy established Corkette Limited in West

Yorkshire. After Kennedy died in 1994, his wife continued to operate

the business. The firm struggled for survival

and, in 1996, it was purchased for a mere

£15,000 by 73-year old Maurice Connell and

his wife Audrey of Bury, Lancashire. Until

2002 the Corkette was assembled in a tiny factory in Liversedge,

West Yorkshire. It was promoted as well suited for one-hand use.

Early Corkette boxes proclaim "Takes the strain out of bottle

opening" and "Needs no refills" while warning:

For your own protection - don't use your Corkette on bottles which

are damaged, faulty or partly empty, nor on fancy, square or flagon

bottles.

In addition to their 2000 Millennium Corkscrew and standard black

or white models, Corkette offered private labeling in any color with

a minimum order of 400 at £2.85 each.

Early packaging

of the sleek

Corkette

design was a

plastic

container with

cardboard

wrap and

graphically

simple

instructions.