156

do the lifting. Johnston was the first to do that, and he also included an end hook for

lifting stoppers with loops. He also sharpened the inside edge of the longer hooked arm

so that it could be used to cut the wires that were often used to hold a cork in place.

This wire cutting function was not incorporated in the All-Ways. Johnston's patent

drawing shows his blade incorporated into a jack knife, an application that was popular

for many years.

The All-Ways advertisement in Figure 6 also shows it being used to lift aluminum

stoppers. Although the drawing is not detailed enough to identify the stopper type, it

may have been referring to one of Painter's many stoppers or seals such as that shown

in Figure 4 or his October 21, 1890 patent (# 438,709) shown in Figure 9. In the latter

case, the edge of the blade could be laid under the lip of the stud in the middle of the

stopper, which could then be lifted.

Fig. 9. Painter's 1890 Stopper