Corkscrews have a long history.
Its design may have derived from the gun worm which was a device used by men to remove unspent charges from a musket’s barrel in a similar fashion, from at least the early 1630s
The corkscrew is possibly an English invention, due to the tradition of beer and cider, and Treatise on Cider by John Worlidge in 1676 describes “binning of tightly corked cider bottles on their sides”, although the earliest reference to a corkscrew is, “steel worm used for the drawing of Corks out of Bottles” from 1681.
In 1795, the first corkscrew patent was granted to the Reverend Samuel Henshall, in England. The clergyman affixed a simple disk, now known as the Henshall Button, between the worm and the shank. The disk prevents the worm from going too deep into the cork, forces the cork to turn with the turning of the crosspiece, and thus breaks the adhesion between the cork and the neck of the bottle. The disk is designed and manufactured slightly concave on the underside, which compresses the top of the cork and helps keep it from breaking apart.
from Wikipedia
INTRICATE
This beautiful handle on this corkscrew
is beautifully crafted.
CARICATURES
Quite often corkscrews were created with various characters, symbols, or logos.
Just like all other items, a corkscrew was often great advertising. This one from Bowman Hotels is easily carried to be used anywhere. Picnic anyone?
Think you might be a helixophile
… or want to be? CLICK HERE for a fun article on this very collectible single-purpose tool from NOLA.com.
Might you be wondering about the most expensive corkscrew sold?
Wonder no more:
A heritage corkscrew. When the old London Bridge was demolished in the 1831, its surviving fragment was turned into a corkscrew, which was sold at an auction in Essex, UK for £40,000 (around $62,790), about 100 times its guide price.
from LUXURYLAUNCHES.com
So there you go … more than you ever wanted to know about the familiar corkscrew. But it just might put you on the path to being a helixophile. We’re here to guide you. And you bet, we’ll be watchin’ for ya!
