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Taiwan

Taiwanese inventors and manufacturers are taking a very active role in the new millennium growth of

the cork ejector market. Here are several inventions which have been patented in a number of

countries.

On October 15, 2001 Chia-Hsien Lin of Taipei, Taiwan

, filed for a United States Patent for “Safe and

Quick Bottle Opener for Removing a Cork Stopper.” U. S. Patent Number 6,502,481 was issued

January 7, 2003.

Chia-Hsien Lin

notes that “there are certain disadvantages with the conven

tional bottle opener:

1. The size of the needle is rather small, and may easily break when not held properly. The

broken needle may hurt the user's hand.

2. As the size of the needle is rather small, the user may feel unsafe when using the bottle

opener, which may affect the balance of the hand when the user applies a force, resulting in

greater likelihood of breaking of the needle.

3. In order for the needle to pass through the cork stopper, the needle has to be pressed

downwardly until the syringe end covers the bottle opening, as the user ascertins [sic] the