The Rod-and-Eye Stopper: Pull the Eye and the Plate Beneath Pushes the Cork Out Whole

A cork drawn with a corkscrew is pierced and weakened, crumbles after a few uses, and is easily lost. Joseph Bell Alexander of Washington, District of Columbia, received US 65,857, dated 18 June 1867, for a stopper "which can be easily drawn in a moment without a cork-screw, and which, when in place, will present no corrodible substance to the action of gases or liquors with which it is inserted and may come in contact; and also to so construct the stopper that it will bear continued use without becoming broken or lost." A rod with an eye at its top runs down a bore through the cork, from a washer on top to a plate near the bottom; the bore below the plate is filled with cork, gum or a screwed plug, and the stopper can be tied to the bottle through the eye. This rung works out the stress the rod saves the cork, then makes the stopper from a cork, wire and washers and draws it many times.