The Pocket-Case Corkscrew: A Tube That Holds the Screw, Then Becomes Its Handle

"Within this tube A there is fitted a slide, B, of cylindrical form, and having a pin, c, projecting from it, which passes through the slot a, and to one end of said slide the shank e of the corkscrew C or other tool is attached by a joint, f." "When the corkscrew is turned or adjusted in line with the slide B, the former may be shoved entirely within the case or tube A, as shown in Fig. 2, and by drawing out the corkscrew from the case or tube A until the pin c strikes the edge of the slot a the corkscrew may be turned at right angles with the slide, and the latter shoved back within the case or tube until the shank e strikes against the inner end of the slot b."

**Tube.** Cut 10 cm of aluminium tube about 14 mm across and close one end with a hardwood plug and epoxy. Cut slot a along one side, 4 mm wide, stopping 8 mm from each end. Cut slot b on the opposite side from the open end, a little wider than the corkscrew's shank and reaching just past the tube's middle. **Slide.** Cut a 4 cm length of hardwood dowel that slides freely in the tube. Drill it across for a nail as the pin c, and saw a slot into one end for the joint. **Corkscrew.** Wind 2 mm steel wire into an open helix round a 6 mm rod, file a point, and flatten its straight shank at the end. Drill the flat and the slide's slotted end and join them with a small bolt as the joint f. **Assemble.** Put the slide in the tube with the pin through slot a and peen the pin's ends. Fold the corkscrew in line with the slide and push it into the tube. To use it, draw it out until the pin stops, turn it square, and push the slide back so the shank drops into slot b. **Test.** Cork several bottles of water with the corking kit and draw them with the case as a T handle, then fold it and carry it in a pocket.

**Charles Chinnock** of Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, received US 40,674, dated 24 November 1863. His tube A was of sheet metal swaged into shape, closed at one end, with slot a nearly its whole length and slot b reaching a little beyond its centre; he applied the same case to gimlets, screwdrivers and tuning keys for pianos. His claim is the slotted case, the slide with its pin, and the tool on a joint. **Honest limits.** Aluminium tube, a dowel slide and a nail stand in for his swaged sheet-metal case and slide. The notebook treats the tube as an unslotted beam, so the real stress is higher; its pulls and sizes are examples. Your drawn corks are the result.