CA1152347A - Cork extractor - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
The invention pertains to an apparatus for extracting a cork from a bottle comprising a cork-engaging member, including a corkscrew, and a holder for aligning and guiding the corkscrew, via its own diameter, with respect to the bottle. The cork-engaging member is completely removable from the holder for independent use, and to permit the corkscrew point to be used to sever the metal foil, which covers the bottle top, and both the holder and cork engaging member to be more easily cleaned. The holder includes a plural-ity of longitudinally extending circumferentially spaced, radially deflectable gripping elements connected to and spaced downwardly from a guide which receives the corkscrew, and are all approximately equally resiliently biased to a normal unflexed radial position. The corkscrew itself is improved by the provision of an outer layer of friction reducing material such as a tetra-fluoroethylene or other suitable plastic. Additionally, the tip portion of the corkscrew is formed in an improved manner which prevents fragments of cork from breaking off and falling into the bottle even though the screw is driven completely through the cork. Also disclosed is an improved method of making such a corkscrew.

Description

23~7 This application is a division of copending application Serial No.
331,960, filed July 17th, 1979.
The present invention pertains to apparatus for extracting corks from bottles. A number of features are desirable in such an apparatus. One of the most important of these is the provision of means to reduce the manual force required to drive the corkscrew into the cork and/or to extract the cork from the bottle. There is also a need for preventing small cork fragments from breaking off even if the corkscrew is driven completely through the cork.
Although numerous types of cork extractors have been designed in the past, they have fallen short of adequately filling the various needs described above. More particularly, the prior art has failed to produce a simple, relatively inexpensive device which incorporates the aforementioned desirable feature.
According to the present invention, there is provided a helical corkscrew including a main portion and a pointed tip portion, said tip portion having its downwardly facing surfaces substantially on lead with the helix of the downwardly facing surfaces of said main portion, but having its thickness reduced along non-downwardly facing surfaces to form said pointed tip portion.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of forming a corkscrew comprising:
a. forming a helix from a wire;
b. removing material from one end portion of said wire to form a pointed tip portion, said material being removed from surfaces of said tip portion which are generally upwardly facing when said helix is disposed vertically with said tip portion lowermost; and c. leaving the downwardly facing surfaces of said ~ip portion substantially on lead with the downwardly facing surfaces of said helix.

~ 523~7 The corkscrew may be improved by the provision of an outer layer of friction reducing material such as polytetrafluoroethylene on at least a portion of the downwardly facing surfaces of the central body. This greatly enhances the ease with which the corkscrew may be driven into the cork. This friction reducing expedient not only virtually eliminates any problem in easily penetrating a tight cork, but also permits the use of design features in the central body, which could not be used without the friction reducing layer, and which themselvesenhance the ease of insertion and otherwise improve the cork-screw. Accordingly, the friction reducing layer on the corkscrew is helpful in making the corkscrew described above effective in easily penetrating and properly removing even extremely hard and/or tight corks.
In some instances, it may be preferable to provide the friction reducing layer along substantially the entire length of the central body. How-ever, where the apparatus includes a holder such as that described below, it may be advantageous to coat only the lowermost portion of the central body for reasons to be developed more fully hereinafter.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be made apparent by the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, along with the drawings and the claims. The novel corkscrew is described in the environment of the invention described in the above parent application.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view, with some parts being shown in elevation, of a corkscrew positioned on a bottle for extracting the cork therefrom.
Figure 2 is a view similar to that of Figure 1 showing the apparatus in another position as the cork is being removed from the bottle.
Figure 3 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken on line 3-3 of 1~5239~7 Figure 1.
Figure 4 is an elevational view of another embodiment of the cork-engaging member.
Figure 5 is an enlarged detailed elevational view taken on line 5-5 of Figure 4.
Figure 6 is a further enlarged view taken on line 6-6 in Figure 5.
Figure 7 is a further enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line 7-7 of Figure 5.
Figure 8 is a rectified longitudinal sectional view through the tip portion of the corkscrew.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 generally illustrate a cork extracting apparatus, while Figures 4-7 show, in greater detail, a cork-engaging member therefor.
However, it should be understood that the improvements in the corkscrew portion of the cork-engaging members can also be utilized in virtually any other type of cork extractor, including simple corkscrews as well as' more complicated mechanical devices.
Referring first to Figures 1 and 2, the apparatus generally comprises two main portions, namely a holder and a cork-engaging member. The holder includes a main body member 10 which, in the embodiment shown, is integrally molded from a suitable plastic. The main body member 10 includes a pair of diametrically opposed circumferentially spaced apart, longitudinally extending flexible legs 12, each of which comprises an upper portion 12a and a lower portion 12b. The main body member 10 of the holder includes an annulus 14 interconnecting and extending upwardly from the upper ends of legs 12. Annulus 14 serves as the foundation portion of the guide means of the holder, said guide means further including a bushing member 16 rigidly mounted within annulus 14 in any suitable manner. Bushing member 15 is preferably formed of ' ' ,: ~, ~' `' ~1523~7 a friction reducing material such as polytetrafluoroethylene and is in the form of a sleeve which extends longitudinally along the inner surface of annulus 14 and has an annular flange extending radially outwardly from the upper end and abutting the uppermost surface of annulus 14. It is noted that, as used herein, terms such as "upper," "lower," "upwardly," and "downwardly"
refer to the apparatus as shown in the drawings and as it would be positioned for use on an upright bottle. Such terms are used for convenience, and should not be construed in a limiting sense.
The other major portion of the cork extracting apparatus is a cork engaging member including a helical corkscrew 18 and a handle 20. The corkscrew 18 serves as the guide portion of the cork_engaging member and is thus removably receivable in bushing 16 of the guide means of the holder. Corkscrew 18 is longitudinally movable in the bore defined by surface 16a either with or without simultaneous rotation. The outer diameter of the helix of corkscrew 18 is sized to lie closely adjacent the cylindrical radially int~ardly facing surface 16a of the bushing 16 of the guide means. Additionally, the length of cylin-drical surface 16a is at least as long as, and preferably longer tXan, the pitch of the helix of corkscrew 18. Accordingly, surface 16a serves as the guide surface means of the holder, defining a guide passageway for corkscrew 18 and maintaining it in substantial coaxial alignment with the guide means 14, 16.
The handle 20 includes a lowermost annular hub 20a and a pair of diametrically opposed radially extending arms 20b. Hub 20a is sized and positioned to abut the upper surface of bushing 16 as corkscrew 18 moves down-wardly therein to thereby limit do~Ynward movement of the cork engaging member 18, 20 with respect to the holder 12, 14, 16.
To use the apparatus, the holder 12, 14, 16 is emplaced over the top of the bottle 22. Each of the legs 12 has a flange 12c extending radially , 3~

inwardly adjacent the juncture of the upper and lower portions 12a and 12b respectively of the leg. The lower surfaces 12d of the flanges 12c lie in a comn~on plane transverse to the lon~itudinal axis of the holder. Thus, the surfaces define stop shoulders which abut the top of the bottle 22 and *hereby limit down-iard movement of the holder with respect thereto. Accordingly, when the holder has been thus placed on the bottle 22, as shown in Figure 1, the holder legs 12 are positioned with the upper portions 12a thereof extending up-wardly from the top of the bottle 22 whereby the guide means 14, 16 is spaced from the top of the bottle and a cork receiving space is formed between the upper portions 12a of the two holder legs and intermediate the guide means 14, 16 and the flanges 12c.
The lower portions 12b of holder legs 12 extend downwardly along the neck of bottle 22. These portions 12b serve as the gripping elements of the holder. Legs 12 are-formed of a suitable lightweight material such as plastic, aluminum, or the li~e and have sufficient inherent flexibility and resiliency to permit gripping elements 12b to be flexed either inwardly or outwardly from the normal unflexed radial position shown in Figure 1. Thus, the gripping elements 12b may be grasped and sequeezed inwardly by the user with one hand to grip the nec~ of bottle 22 and firmly position the holder thereon. The flexibility of holder legs 12 also permits the holder to accommodate bottles of different sizes.
Because holder legs 12 are formed of the same material, are sub-stantially identical in size and configuration, and are symmetrically positioned with respcct to annulus 14, they are substantially equally biased to the normal flexed radial position shown in Figure 1. Accordingly, when they are urged inwardly by the user, as indicated by the arrows B in Figure 2, they tend to mailltain the guide means 14, 16 in a position ~hich is substantially centered , ~ .

1~2~7 with respect to the bottle 22 and its cork 24, even if the diameter of the drip ring 22a of the bottle neck differs from the distance between the adjacent portions of the gripping elements 12b. Furthermore, such equal resilient bias-ing further helps to prevent canting of the holder on the bottle and thereby maintain the axis of the guide means 14, 16 substantially coaxially aligned with that of the bottle 22.
This latter effect is further enhanced by the fact that the stop shoulders 12d define a plane transverse to the two aforementioned axes. In order to take full advantage of this expedient, the gripping elements, i.e.
lower portions 12b of the holder legs 12~ are flared radially outwardly at their lower ends whereby generally upwardly facing bearing surfaces 12e are formed on their outer sides. This assists the user in squeezing inwardly on gripping elements 12b while simultaneously bearing down on surfaces 12e to thereby hold both shoulders 12d in firm engagement with the top of the bottle.
l~len the gripping elements are thus employed, they will engage and grip the bottle neck at least at the drip ring 22a. It is primarily the flexi-bility of the upper portions 12a of the holder legs which permits radial flexing of gripping elements 12b to accommodate drip rings of differing sizes. However~
gripping elements 12b are additionally flexible ard resilient within themselves.
Thus, depending upon the diameter of the bottle to be gripped and the length and degree of flexibility of gripping elements 12b, the lower ends of the gripping elements 12b may be flexed inwardly to further engage and grip the bottle neck at a second location spaced downwardly from drip ring 22a. It has becn observed that the tapered necks of most wine bo-ttles reach an outer dia-meter approximately equal to that of their drip rings at a location around 2 to

2.5 inches (about 5 to 6.5 cm.) below the top of the bottle. Accordingly, if thc gripping elements 12b are sized so that there is a like distance between .

. :

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stop shouldcrs 12d and the points at which the gripping elements 12b begin to flare outwardly, this double gripping action may be more readily achieved with a minimum of distortion of the gripping elements. Nevertheless, even where such double gripping is not possible, due to the size of the bottle and/or the length of gripping elements 12b, proper alignment o the guide means 14, 16 with the cork 24 can still be maintained by the combined action of engaging the upper edge of bottle 22 with shoulders 12d and gripping drip ring 22a with gripping elements 12b.
In any event, it is desirable to make the gripping elements 12b at least long enough to enable the user to firmly grip the holder in an area pri-marily surroullding and aligned with the bottle neck, as opposed to an area located generally thereabove. It will also be observed that legs 12 are inward-ly concavc ~as shown in Figure 3) to enhance the gripping ability thereof.
Referring to Figures 1 and 2 together, the operation of the cork extractor is as follows. After the holder has been emplaced on the bottle as shown in Figure 1 and described hereinabove, the corkscrew 18 is inserted in the bushing 16 so that its lower end abuts the top of the cork 24. The user then grasps gripping elements 12b with one hand urging them radially in~Yardly and downwardly (as indicated by the arrow B) 'o grip the bottle neck as shown in Figurc 2. I~ith the other hand, the user grasps the handle 20 and rotates the cork-engaging member 18, 20 (as indicated by arrow A) while simultaneously bear-ing down on it to drive the corkscrew 18 into the cork 24. The length of cork-screw 18 is such that when hub 20a comes into engagement with the upper surface of bushing 16 thereby limiting further downward movement of th~ cork engaging mcmber, thc corkscrew 18 ordinarily will have been driven through the lower end of cork 24. ~ith a larger cork, the screw may not pass through lower end of

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the cork when the cork engaging member ceases its downward movement. However it will, in any event, have penetrated a substantial portion of the length of the cork. The user then continues to rotate the cork-engaging member 18, 20 in thc direction of arrow A. Since the abutment of hub 20a with bushing 16 prevents further downward movement of the cork--engaging member, such rotation will cause cork 24 to climb upwardly on the-corkscrew 18. The user can observe the cessation of upward movement of cork 24 through the space between portions 12a of the two holder legs. He can then remove the holder from the bottle neck along with the cork engaging member and cork. Even if a small portion of the lower end of the cork should still be disposed in the bottle, the cork will at this point have been raised a sufficient distance so that it offers very little resistance to this lifting action. Thus, the user need exert only a very slight upward force to complete the removal of the cork.
The extractor apparatus can then be used to remove the cork 24 from the corkscrew 18. By grasping the holder legs 12 and urging them radially inward-ly, the user can grip the cork 24 with the flanges 12c. He can then remove the corkscrew 18 by simply rotating handle 20 in the direction opposite to that used to initially drive the corkscrew 18 into cork 24. Alternatively, cork 24 can be grippcd by the user's fingers directly through the spaces between upper portions 12a of the holder legs.
From the foregoing it can be seen that the appara~us of Figures 1, 2 and 3 provides a relatively simple and economical means by which a user can easily and accurately guide the corkscrew into the cork in a centered and co-a~ially aligned orientation. Tlle holder of t}le apparatus permits the user to get a firm grip on the bottle while maintaining the guide means steadily aligned with the cork. The guide means in turn properly directs the corkscrew by guid-ing it via the O.D. of its own helix. Furthermore, it c~n be seen that the ~ .

1~5~3~7 apparatus substantially reduces the force which must be exerted in extracting the cork from the bottle by the threading interaction between the cork and screw, as opposed to a straight pull.
The fact that the cork engaging member 18, 20 is removable from the holder results in additional advantages. Not only does this removability permit the cork engaging member to be used as an ordinary corkscrew, if and when desired, but also allows the sharp end portion thereof to be used to sever the foil covering the top of the bottle before removal of the cork. Furthermore, the separability of the two major portions of the apparatus permits both portions to be more easily cleaned and permits one cork engaging member 18, 20 to be used alternatively with different holders.
The invention comprises improvem0nts within the corkscrew per se and its method of manufacture. As best seen in Figures 4-8, one embodiment of cork-screw 18' is formed from a length of high tensile metal wire wound into a helix.
This wire forms the central metallic body 19 of the corkscrew. The end of the wire destined to be disposed lowermost or distal handle 20 in the finished pro-duct is formed into a pointed tip portion 23. As best shown in Figures 5 and 6, no metal is removed from the downwardly facing surfaces 23a of tip portion 23 whereby they remain on lead with the helix of the downwardly facing surfaces, 18a of the main portion of the corkscrew thereabove, i.e. surfaces 18a and 23a define a continuous helix of constant lead or pitch. However, the thickness of tip 23 is reduced along non-downwardly facing surfaces, and preferably substan-tially upward]y facing surfaces 23b to form the pointed tip. As used herein, a surface will be considered "downwardly" facing if a vector extending away from the surface and normal thereto has a vertically downwardly directed vector com-ponent. The reduction in thickness to form surfaces 23b may be performed by any suitable metal removing technique. Figure 8 is a rectified longitudinal section-al view of the lower part of corkscrew 18'~ i.e. as if the helical wire were - ":

~15~

straightened. The surface 23b preferably extends along a length of said wire sufficient to form a full turn of the hellx, although shorter ground surfaces may also be satisfactory~
Finally, the wire or central body 19 is coated with a layer 25 of friction reducing material. For the sake of clarity of illustration, layer 25 is shown only in Figures 7 and 8. The friction reducing material of layer 25 may be a polytetrafluoroethylene or any other suitable material bonded to central body 19 by techniques known in the art. As used herein, the term "friction-reducing" will be construed to cover any material which reduces the friction between the corkscrew and cork to a significantly greater degree than could be achieved by merely polishing the central body. Although the polytetra-fluoroethylenes, and similar plastics produce particularly striking results, other materials such as molybdenum disulfide or silicone coatings could also be used.
The primary purpose of layer 25 is to increase the ease with which the corkscrew may be driven into the cork. Referring again to the embodiment shown at 18 in Figure 1, the layer 25 is provided only on the lower portion of the corkscrew, terminating at line 27. This lower portion includes the part of the corkscrew which is driven into the cork before the latter begins to rise on the corkscrew, the upper uncoated portion of the corkscrew being spaced from the bottle neck by the holder. When the cork begins to rise in this manner, it also begins to emerge from the bottle, and as it so emerges, it expands so that its friction against the corkscrew is drastically reduced. Thus, the need for the friction reducing material is much less along the upper portion of the corkscrew which, due to the abutment between the handle 20 and the bushing 16 and the spacing of bushing 16 from the upper end of the bottle neck, is permitted to engage the cork only as it emerges from the bottle in an expanded state.

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AccordinglyJ while leaving the upper portion of the corkscrew uncoat-ed does not substantially detract from the performance of the apparatus, it may decrease the cost of production. Additionally, it is primarily the upper portion of the corkscrew which engages the bushing 16. If this upper portion were coated with the friction reducing material, depending on the type of friction reducing material employed, such engagement could facilitate wearing away of the material from the upper portion of the corkscrew thereby detracting from its appearance. Thus, in some embodiments, particularly those including a holder of the type shown in Figures 1-3, it may actually be preferable to provide the friction reducing material only on the lower portion of the cork-screw.
In other embodiments, it may be preferable to coat a greater portion of the central body of the corkscrew. Figures ~-8 disclose such an embodiment, designed to be used either alone as a simple corkscrew or with a holder of the type shown in Figures 1-3, and in which the corkscrew 18' has its central body 19 coated along its entire length, exclusive of the end portion received in handle 2Q, with the friction reducing layer 25.
To reduce the possibility of wear of such layer 25 from the upper portion of central body 19, the wire of said body is ground to form a radially outwardly facing flat 21 to provide a greater surface area for contact with bushing 16.
In any event, it has been found that, where a plastic friction reducing material such as polytetrafluoroethylene is used, even if such material does appear to wear away from the central body ~including its lower portion) in use, a certain amount of the plastic remains in the surface of the metal body l9.
Thus, such wear does not substantially change the ability of the corkscrew to ~, , 1~5~:3~7 penetrate a cork. On the contraryl any differenres in the ease of penetration due to normal wear is negligible.
In both corkscrew embodiments '18 and 18', the friction reducing layer extends about the entire circumference of the underlying wire. However, good results can still be obtained by coating only the downwardly facing sur-faces, such as 18a and 23a. Likewise, while the coating preferably extends over the lower portion of the corkscrew for a length at least approximately equal to the length of an average cork, i.e. about 5 cm. a substantial increase in the ease of insertion may be obtained by coating only the tip portion 23 or the lower surfaces 23a thereof.
Friction reducing coatings as described above have been found to dramatically increase the ease with which a corkscrew such as 18 or 18' may be driven into a cork. Indeed, the reduction in friction is so great as to permit theuse, in central body 19, of design features and parameters which would not be practicable without layer 25. For example, the wire of which body 19 is formed may be thinner than in conventional screws, and a wider range of helix leads is available. Such design features in turn may even further enhance the ease of insertion. Thus, for example, the use of layer 25, especially in co-operation with other friction reducing features made possible thereby-sub-stantially ensures the capability of driving corkscrew 18 to a sufficient depth in cork 2~, even where the latter is relatively hard and/or tightly engaged in the bottle neck, and even though the central bocly 19 of the corkscrew might be so flexible that it would, in the absence of layer 25, be unwound or otherwise distorted in an attempt to drive it into a cork.
The manner in which tip portion 23 is formed, together with the use of friction reducing layer 25, substantially eliminates the tendency for small fragments of cork to be broken off and fall into the bottle even though the tip -11$23~

portion 23 is driven completely through the lower end of the cork. As noted hereinabove, the removal of the material from tip portion 23 to reduce its thickness and form a point is from non-downwardly facing surfaces 23b. The surfaces 23a, which do have at least some do~mward component of orientation, remain on lead with the helix defined by the downwardly facing surfaces 18a of the main upper portion of the corkscrew, i.e surfaces 18a and 23a define a helix of constant lead or pitch. Thus, surfaces 23a are also on lead with or parallel to the helical path of movement of the corkscrew through the cork.
Accordingly, as tip portion 23 is driven through the cork, $he wedging action thereof will exert a compressive force perpendicular to surfaces 23b since they are not on lead with or parallel to the path of movement. It cCm be seen that a vector perpendlcular to non-downwardly Eacing surfaces 23b will either face directly vertically upwardly, or will at least have a substantial upward com-ponent and no downward component, depending on its precise position on surfaces 23b. On thc other hand, any vector perpendicular to any portion of surfaces 23a will have a vertically downward component, but no force will be e~certed in the directions of these latter vectors for reasons mentioned hereinabove.
Accordingly, as tip portion 23 breaks through the lower end of cork 24, there will be no downward compressive force on the cork and thus no tendency to break away any small fragments. On the contrary, the compressive force on the cork by the wedging action of tip portion 23 will be directed substantially verti-cally upwardly and will thus tend to help pull the cork itself in an upward direction.
This effect is further enhanced by the friction reducing coating 25 along at least surfaces 23a, and preferably along a greater portion of cen-tral body 19. This is due not only to the reduction in friction per se but also to the fact tllat such reduction in turn permits a smaller diameter wire t ~iZ3~7 to be used for the central body. Of course, the smaller the diameter of the wire passing through the cork, the less likely is the chance of a piece of cork chipping off. A cork extracting apparatus of the type shown in Figures 1-3 and having a corkscrew with a tip portion formed in accord with Figures 5 and 6 and also having a small diameter central body fully coated with a layer of polytetrafluoroethylene has been used in tests wi~h corks of various ages, densities, etc. These preliminary tests have indicated that there is little or no possibility of a chip or fragment of cork breaking away and falling into the bottle as the lower end of the tip portion of the corkscrew breaks through the lower end of the cork.

Claims (7)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A helical corkscrew including a main portion and a pointed tip portion, said tip portion having its downwardly facing surfaces substantially on lead with the helix of the downwardly facing surfaces of said main portion, but having its thickness reduced along non-downwardly facing surfaces to form said pointed tip portion.

2. A method of forming a corkscrew comprising:
a. forming a helix from a wire;
b. removing material from one end portion of said wire to form a pointed tip portion, said material being removed from surfaces of said tip portion which are generally upwardly facing when said helix is disposed vertically with said tip portion lowermost; and c. leaving the downwardly facing surfaces of said tip portion substantially on lead with the downwardly facing surfaces of said helix.

3. The method of Claim 2 wherein said helix is formed prior to the removal of material from said tip portion.

4. The method of Claim 2 wherein said wire is comprised of a metal.

5. The method of Claim 2 comprising the further step of bonding a friction reducing coating of plastic to at least the downward facing surfaces of said tip portion.

6. The method of Claim 5 wherein said friction reducing plastic is a polytetrafluoroethylene.

7. A corkscrew as defined in Claim 1 having a friction reducing coating of polytetrafluoroethylene.