A
corkscrew is a tool for drawing
stopping corksCork material is an impermeable, buoyant material, a subset of generic cork tissue that is harvested for commercial use primarily from Quercus suber that is endemic to southwest Europe and northwest Africa...
from
wine bottleA wine bottle is a bottle used for holding wine, generally made of glass. Some wines are fermented in the bottle, others are bottled only after fermentation. They come in a large variety of sizes, several named for Biblical kings and other figures. The standard bottle contains 75 cL, although this...
s. Generally, it consists of a pointed metallic
helixA helix is a special kind of space curve, i.e. a smooth curve in three-space. As a mental image of a helix one may take the spring...
(often called the "worm") attached to a handle. The user grips the handle and screws the metal point through the
corkCork material is an impermeable, buoyant material, a subset of generic cork tissue that is harvested for commercial use primarily from Quercus suber that is endemic to southwest Europe and northwest Africa...
, entwining the cork and corkscrew so that moving one moves the other. Corkscrews are necessary because corks themselves, being small and smooth, are difficult to grip and remove, particularly when inserted fully into an inflexible glass bottle.
A
corkscrew is a tool for drawing
stopping corksCork material is an impermeable, buoyant material, a subset of generic cork tissue that is harvested for commercial use primarily from Quercus suber that is endemic to southwest Europe and northwest Africa...
from
wine bottleA wine bottle is a bottle used for holding wine, generally made of glass. Some wines are fermented in the bottle, others are bottled only after fermentation. They come in a large variety of sizes, several named for Biblical kings and other figures. The standard bottle contains 75 cL, although this...
s. Generally, it consists of a pointed metallic
helixA helix is a special kind of space curve, i.e. a smooth curve in three-space. As a mental image of a helix one may take the spring...
(often called the "worm") attached to a handle. The user grips the handle and screws the metal point through the
corkCork material is an impermeable, buoyant material, a subset of generic cork tissue that is harvested for commercial use primarily from Quercus suber that is endemic to southwest Europe and northwest Africa...
, entwining the cork and corkscrew so that moving one moves the other. Corkscrews are necessary because corks themselves, being small and smooth, are difficult to grip and remove, particularly when inserted fully into an inflexible glass bottle. The handle of the corkscrew, often a horizontal bar of wood attached to the screw, allows for a commanding grip to ease removal of the
stopperA stopper is a truncated conical piece of rubber, cork, glass, or plastic used to close off a glass tube, piece of laboratory glassware, a wine bottle or barrel and other containers with orifices....
. Corkscrew handles may incorporate
leverIn physics, a lever is a rigid object that is used with an appropriate fulcrum or pivot point to multiply the mechanical force that can be applied to another object....
s that further increase the amount of
forceIn physics, a force is any agent that causes a change in the motion of a free body, or that causes stress in a fixed body. It can also be described by intuitive concepts such as a push or pull that can cause an object with mass to change its velocity , i.e., to accelerate, or which can cause a...
that can be applied outwards upon the cork.
History
Its design may have derived from the gun worm which was a device used by musketmen to remove unspent charges from a
musketA musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, which is intended to be fired from the shoulder.Usually, the musket is thought to be the weapon that replaced the arquebus, and was in turn replaced by the rifle...
'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 WorlidgeJohn Worlidge was a noted agriculturalist. He lived in Petersfield, Hampshire, England.John Worlidge was one of the first British agriculturalists to discuss the importance of farming as an industry...
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 Samuell 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.
Wing corkscrew
A wing corkscrew, sometimes called a butterfly corkscrew or angel corkscrew, has two levers, one on either side of the worm. As the worm is twisted into the cork, the levers are raised. Pushing down the levers draws the cork from the bottle in one smooth motion. The most common design has a
rack and pinionA rack and pinion is a pair of gears which convert rotational motion into linear motion. The circular pinion engages teeth on a flat bar - the rack...
connecting the levers to the body. The head of the central shaft is frequently modified to form a
bottle openerA bottle opener is a device that enables the removal of metal bottle caps from bottles. More generally, it might be thought to include corkscrews used to remove cork or plastic stoppers from wine bottles....
, increasing the utility of the device. Corkscrews of this design are particularly popular in household use.
Sommelier knife
A
sommelierA sommelier , or wine steward, is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional, commonly working in fine restaurants, who specializes in all aspects of wine service...
knife or
waiter's friend is a corkscrew in a folding body similar to a
pocket knifeA pocketknife is a folding knife with a blade that fits inside the handle and that is small enough to fit in a pocket. Blades are typically no larger than 3 to 5 in. in length...
. It was conceived by the German Karl Wienke in 1882 and patented in Germany, England, and America.
An arm extends to brace against the lip of the bottle for leverage when removing the cork. Some sommelier knives have two steps on the lever, and often also a
bottle openerA bottle opener is a device that enables the removal of metal bottle caps from bottles. More generally, it might be thought to include corkscrews used to remove cork or plastic stoppers from wine bottles....
. A small hinged knife blade is housed in the handle end for removing the foil wrapping the neck of many wine bottles.
Twin prong cork puller
Also known as a
butler's friend, the twin-prong cork puller can also be used to put the cork back into the bottle, thus allowing to sample the wine without damaging the cork. To remove the stopper, the prongs are pushed in between the cork and the neck of the bottle, and the cork can then be twisted out of the bottle. Replacing the stopper involves taking it between the two prongs, then twisting it into the bottle and pulling out the prongs.
Manufacturers
- Armstrong
- Cope & Cutler
- A. P. Debouchoir, French
- Dowler
- Dunisch & Scholer, German
- Farrow & Jackson
- Griffon Cutler Works, German
- John & Robt Harvey & Co Ld, Glasgow
- James Heeley & Sons
- G. F. Hipkins & Sons
- Carl Hollweg, German
- Edmund Jansen
- Theodor Kampf, German
- Korkmaster, American
- Leboullanger
- Arthur Lehmann & Co, Peoria, Illinois
- W. R. Loftus, 321 Oxford St
- William Lund Cornhill and Fleet St, London
- Mercier & Co, French
- Monopol, German
- Lucien Mumford, American
- W. Neues, German
- Noyles
- Rockwell Clough, American
- Sanbri, French
- Sommer, German
- Stephen Plant
- Sturo, Italian
- Syracuse Ornamental Company (Syroco) of Syracuse, New York
- Sir Edward Thomason
- Vaughan, American
- Vogliotti, Italian
- Williamson, American
- Wingfield & Co, Sheffield
- Johan Wolters, German
Corkscrew collections
- In August 2006 the University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. The oldest of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley offers some 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines...
displayed a 1,500-item corkscrew collection at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology in Kroeber Hall, on the UC campus.
- Since July 2006, the Montecalvo Versiggia near Pavia, Italy is displaying a collection of over 200 different types of corkscrews.
- The Greystone campus
The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, California is a branch campus of The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone is dedicated to continuing education and career development for professionals in the food, wine,...
of the Culinary Institute of America has over 500 corkscrews on display in Saint Helena, CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
.
External links