US204389A - Improvement in corkscrews - Google Patents

Description

A. W. SPERRY. Cork-Screw.

No. 204,389; Patented May 28, 1878.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGE.

ALFRED W. SPERRY, OF WALLINGFORD, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN CORKSCREWS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 204,389, dated May 28, 1878; application filed May 13, 1878.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALFRED W. SPERRY, of Wallingford, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Corkscrews; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1, perspective View; Fig. 2, sectional side view.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of corkscrews in which the screw is hinged to the shorter arm of a lever, and in which the fulcrum of the lever is constructed to set upon the neck of the bottle, so that when the corkscrew has been inserted the turning of the lever on the fulcrum will turn the corkscrew and with it draw the cork.

In the usual construction the screw has been made a permanent or immovable part of the instrument-that is to say, the pintle by which it is attached to the lever has been riveted, so that when the screw is broken the instrument is useless except it be sent to a mechanician competent to repair it.

The object of this invention is to construct the instrument so that several screws may be supplied with the instrument, or any person unskilled may remove the screw or introduce a different one; and it consists in constructing the lever forked at its lower end, with each leg of the fork made into hook shape, opening to oneside, with a turn-button or equivalent device to be closed over the opening or removed from it, as occasion may require, combined with a screw, the shank of which is constructed with trunnions to fit the said hooked ends of the fork, as more fully hereinafter described.

A is the longer arm of the lever, provided with a suitable termination or handle, B. It is hung to the fulcrum O, which extends upward from a yoke, D, formed to surround and rest upon the neck of the bottle, and in a wellknown manner. The lower arm E of the lever is forked, as seen in Fig. 3, and each arm of the fork notched, or so as to form hooks a. On the face of the lower arm of the lever a turn button, F, is hung, so as to turn over and cover the mouth of the hooks, as seen in Fig. 1, or away, so as to open the mouth, as seen in Fig. 3.

The corkscrew portion is of the usual form, and constructed with a shank, H. The head of this shank has a trunnion, d, on each side, and so that the head will pass into the fork and the trunnions within the hook, as seen in Fig. 1; and after they have been so introduced the turn-button. F is turned over the mouth and rests upon the face of the head of the screw. The face being flat, the turn-button acts as a spring to retain the screw in the line of the lever, and in that condition the corkscrew is run into the cork in the usual manner. The metal of the yoke rests on the neck of the bottle; then turning the lever, as indicated in broken lines, Fig. 2, raises the screw and draws the cork.

It will be understood from the foregoing that no claim is here made to a corkscrew attached to one arm of the lever and the lever hinged to a yoke, so as to rest on the neck of the bottle; but

What is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is-

The lever constructed with the forked end, each part of the fork in hook shape, combined with a screw, the head of which is constructed with trunnions to rest in said hooks, and means, substantially as described, on the lever for closing the mouth of the hooks, and with a yoke hinged to the lever, substantially as described.

ALFRED XV. SPERRY.

Witnesses:

JOHN E. EARLE, H. A. KITsoN.

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