The Adjustable Corkscrew Holder: One Frame for Any Bottle and Any Corkscrew

"To use this improved holder, having first adjusted the frame to the length of the corkscrew, minus the length of the cork, draw back the adjusting-piece B′ by the handle D, place the skirt f against the top edge of the neck of the bottle, and then cause the adjusting-piece B′ to rest on the opposite side of said neck; hold it in this position, and insert the corkscrew; revolve the same until the cork is withdrawn from the bottle." "Then, taking the holder and corkscrew from the bottle, holding the sleeve in one hand and the corkscrew in the other, draw the cork hard up against the points, 1 2 3, thrusting them into the cork; now, turn the corkscrew backward until withdrawn from the cork, when the latter is easily forced off the points and discharged from the cylinder."

**Frame.** Print a cylinder 40 mm across and 60 mm tall with a skirt at its foot wide enough for a large bottle's neck, a slot in one side of the skirt, and a left-hand internal thread in its top about 25 mm across. **Adjusting piece.** Cut a strip of spring steel to the skirt's curve, bend its lower end to match the skirt, and rivet its upper end inside the cylinder so it springs inward across the slot. Fix a small bolt to it as the handle D, passing out through the slot. **Sleeve and points.** Print a sleeve with a matching left-hand external thread and a bore the corkscrew's worm passes through. Push three short nails through holes near its lower end so their points face down inside, as points 1 2 3. **Test.** Cork a wine bottle and a smaller bottle with the corking kit. Use the gimlet corkscrew and the wire corkscrew from the earlier blueprints. Set the sleeve for the first, draw back the adjusting piece, set the skirt on the neck, let the piece close on the other side, and turn the corkscrew in until the cork comes out. Draw the cork up onto the points and turn the corkscrew back out. Repeat on the other bottle, and with the second corkscrew after resetting the sleeve.

**H. M. Creamer** of Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, received US 38,155, dated 14 April 1863. His frame could be whole, with the adjusting piece B′ as a spring, or divided with a hinge 4; he used a left-hand thread on the sleeve C so that, if the corkscrew turned it while drawing, the withdrawal would be hastened, and a thumb-screw 7 could hold it. His claims cover the holder's adjustable width, its adjustable length, and the points that hold the drawn cork. **Honest limits.** A printed PETG frame and sleeve stand in for his metal ones, and nails for his points. The notebook's pitches, lengths and lead are examples. Your drawn corks are the result.