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Germany

A German firm that entered

into the production of gas

cork ejectors at an early

stage was an old established

firm founded in 1879 in

Steinbeck-Hallenberg in

Thuringia, Germany. The

well-known manufacturer of

corkscrews is Monopol at

Frauenbergstrasse 33, 3350

Marburg, Germany. The firm

is active today producing a

wide variety of corkscrews.

Their only attempt to

market gas cork ejectors

was in the early 1960s when

they introduced the Kork-Ex. This sleek design was produced using

aluminum blue oxidized casing. A small box wrench was supplied to

remove the top for replacement of the "Sparklets" type gas cartridge.

There were two versions: On the first a lever on the side was depressed

to open the gas cartridge and on the second a button on the top was

pushed down.

On February 14, 1963, Monopol filed an application for a patent on their Kork-Ex

designed in the form of a rocket. The body was now a tapered design accompanied by a

bayonet fit shield that served as a cork stripper. Assembled it would stand proudly on

the bar like a small rocket to be launched. Once put to work, the bottom of the rocket

hovered over the bottle directing the needle to the center of the cork. Once in the

needle was fully inserted, the "nose cone" of the rocket was depressed and the cork

was blasted out of the bottle. German Patent No. 1,872,302 was issued for the rocket

on May 16, 1963. Monopol also produced a corkscrew with a similar design.