153

Stephens

“

All-Ways

”

Opener

by Bob Roger

Figure 1. The All-Ways Opener

Have you been looking for a patent for the odd-shaped blade on the end of the

―

All-

Ways

‖

tool shown in Figure 1? You may think you know because of the patent numbers

on the tool, but they are not the whole story. But first, a quick glance at a few related

bottle closures.

William Painter had many inventions related to bottle stoppers. His August 11, 1885

patent (#324,040) had a loop in it to enable it to be lifted out. There were many earlier

patents for corks or stoppers containing some form of loop for pulling them, some

appearing as early as 1868. Fred O'Leary's

Corkscrews

contains many of them in his

section on Related Patents at the back of the book. Painter's August, 1885 stopper is

shown in Figure 2.

Fig. 2. Patent 324,040

Fig. 3. Painter Crown Cap

On February 2, 1892 Painter received three patents related to his 'crown cap' sealers,

numbers 468,226, 468,258, and 468,259. Figure 3 shows one of his crown caps, and

Figure 4 shows another.