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Donally's Perfect Cork Extractor

Left: Donally advertisement from the

October 1896 issue of the

Brewers' Journal

(

Courtesy of Mark Woodward

)

Donallly Manufacturing Co. produced

bottling equipment and was located at

the corner of Bedford and Downing

Streets in New York. During the 1890s

Melvin and Amalia Donally patented a

dozen plus inventions including bottle

filling apparatus, bottle washing

machines, and a bottle labeling machine.

The extractor was patented by Bernard

Tormey of New York City on November

25, 1890 (U. S. No. 441,604). He shaped the handle so

―

it may be utilized to press a cork

lodged in an unfavorable position in the neck of the bottle so that it will be forced

downward into the body of said bottle to enable it to be readily extracted.

‖

He further

notes

―

The device can be used for extracting corks from full bottles, jugs, &c., or from

empty ones in which the cork has been pushed inward into the same.

‖