22

As a reference point, Northeast Pennsylvania was the location of one of

Walker Manufacturing Company

‘

s larger plants and when the company

finally closed in the early 1900s, Welch

‘

s Grape Juice Company bought the

facility and it is now the world

‘

s largest grape juice processing facility--

apropos for the beginning of a corkscrew and other tools manufacturer.

The handle is an elk horn of 30

‖

length on the curve, the steel shaft

(corkscrew) is 10

‖

and the bell is 2.5

‖

in diameter. There were elk herds in

Pennsylvania in the early 1900s so that is the likely source of the handle

(sorry no elephants).

In the photo of Edwin Walker, there appears to be a horn handled

corkscrew in the background but it appears to have a silver cap on the

end. My corkscrew has no silver on either end, but just the horn as cut

from the lucky elk.

Ron MacLean reports on another large

Walker corkscrew

―

I checked my more

common large burled hardwood

handle Walker and it has a 2 3/4 inch

diameter bell not including the 3/8

inch or so for the wire cutter. The

handle is marked WALKER

‘

S SELF-

PULLER and the bell and the helix tip

have threaded holes perhaps for

mounting for display purposes. My

photograph shows it with a normal

size Walker.

‖