The Key and Corkscrew: Throw the Wire Fastener Off, Then Draw the Cork

"Fig. 3 represents the combined key and corkscrew. A is the handle. B is the shaft or bar. C C represent arms projecting from the shaft B in lines parallel with each other and at right angles to the shaft. The ends of these arms are turned inward toward each other, forming the nibs D D. The arms are far enough apart to allow the neck of the bottle to pass between them, and the distance between the points of the nibs is equal to or greater than the thickness of the cork. In the end of the shaft B is placed an ordinary corkscrew, E." "Now by turning the key a little forward it is released, and the screw can be used as an ordinary corkscrew for drawing the cork. In replacing to its former position (seen in Fig. 1) the instrument is changed to the opposite side of the neck of the bottle, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 2. In both cases the neck of the bottle becomes the fulcrum for the key."

**Handle and shaft.** Cut 10 cm of hardwood handle stock and drill it across the middle. Cut 12 cm of 6 mm mild steel rod, pass one end through the handle and peen it over a washer. **Arms and nibs.** Cut 20 cm of 20 × 3 mm mild steel flat bar and bend it into a U whose legs are the arms, wide enough apart for the bottle's neck to pass between them. Bend the last centimetre of each leg inward as a nib, with the nibs' points at least as far apart as the cork is wide. Silver-solder the U's base across the shaft near its far end, the arms at right angles to it. **Corkscrew.** Wind 2 mm steel wire into an open helix round a 6 mm rod, file its end to a point, and silver-solder its straight end into a hole drilled in the shaft's end. **Fastened bottle.** Pour chilled soda water into a clean beer bottle and press a cork in. Twist a wire ring tight round the neck below the lip and bend a wire bail, hinged on the ring, that swings over the top of the cork and holds it. **Test.** Wearing safety glasses, pass the neck between the arms with the nibs over the bail, and turn the key a little forward: the bail is thrown back off the cork. Draw the cork with the corkscrew. Put the cork back and use the key from the other side of the neck to swing the bail on again.

**H. W. Putnam** of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, received US 36,528, dated 23 September 1862. The key was for his own patent bottle cork-fastener, shown at F embracing the top of the cork and at F′ thrown back. His claim is the arms C C and nibs D D combined with a corkscrew. **Honest limits.** A hand-bent wire bail on a beer bottle of re-corked soda water stands in for his patent fastener, whose exact form this rung does not reproduce, and flat bar and rod for his key. The notebook ignores friction; its forces and lengths are examples. Your thrown-off fastener is the result.