164
For Corks of All Sizes
On June 27, 1876 Joshua Barnes of
Brooklyn, New York was granted United
States Patent Number 179,090 for his
―
Improvement in Corkscrews.
‖
It was well-known that there are a great
variety of cork sizes in bottles. Wines and
beers were sealed with a fairly large cork
compared to those use for medicines, inks,
perfumes, and the like. Barnes idea was to
make one device that can pull a variety of
cork sizes. To accomplish this he
suggested two pieces of wire mounted in
his handle. The longer piece has a longer,
slender spiral for pulling small corks. The
shorter wire is larger and more stout for
pulling larger corks. In removing larger corks, the smaller wire is inserted and
turned into the cork and when the second wire is reached, the user continues to
turn it until seated far enough for a healthy pull.
Barnes left his patent open to an even greater number of spirals by including in
his claim
―
...with two or more coils or spirals...
‖
Collectors may find Barnes patented corkscrew with one of the spirals broken off
as they were not very strong. But Barnes also produced the corkscrew with one
single spiral as shown in the above photo. Even though his patent was for more
than one spiral, the handle still carried the patent date stamp.
