The Virtual Corkscrew Museum's Weekly Newspaper

Wine Otter Patent

Wine Otter Prototypes

Inventor Brent Warner wrote "Don, Can you believe after 8 years we have finally gotten a patent on the wine otter (wineotter.net)? Remember you helped me with understanding some points. The patent number is 7,614,323 corkscrew for one-handed operation. Well who out there wants to make this thing? With the screw tops coming in I'm definitely uncertain. Thanks again, Brent.

The Portland, Oregon resident filed for his patent on November 18, 2002. Patent number 7,614,323 was issued November 10, 2009. A provisional application had been filed on November 29, 2001.

The abstract from Brent's patent is "This invention relates to a corkscrew (1), of the first-class lever type, designed so that once the screw (3) is driven into a cork (10) that is fully inserted into the neck of a bottle (12) and that free end (8) of short fulcrum (5) is placed on the bottle lip (11), a single hand (14) can hold the bottle neck (12) and the free end (2") of the lever (2) simultaneously. A squeeze of one hand (14) will bring the free end (2") of lever (2) against the bottle neck (12). The cork (10) is now raised an initial distance from its original position. The operation is repeated using long fulcrum (6) whose free end (9) is placed against the bottle lip (11). In this second position the free end (2") of lever (2) and the bottle neck (12) are again within range of being grasped with one hand (14). A second squeeze of the hand (14) now moves the cork (10) the rest of the way out of the bottle neck (12)."

Are you interested in manufacturing Brent's Wine Otter? Email him at brentjwarner@yahoo.com

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Images of Jesus

Mary Jo Coady's iron

In recent years a number of people have reported finding the image of Jesus or the image of the Virgin Mary on various things. The latest comes from Massachusetts where Mary Jo Coady spotted the image on an iron in her daughter's bedroom. It was reported that she will put her iron away in the closet, and simply buy a new one.

Jim Stevens' pick-up truck

In early November 2009, Jim Stevens of Jonesborough, Tennessee, found the image of Jesus on his pick-up truck window. It appeared for several weeks in the morning condensation on the window. Stevens said he isn't going to wash the truck for a while.

Others have found the image of Jesus on a piece of cheese toast (April 2009 - Spartanburg, South Carolina), on a hardware store window (Rio Grande Valley, Texas), on a Cheeto* (May 2009 - Houston, Texas), in a frying pan (July 2009 - England), on a kitchen cabinet (June 2009 - Texas), in a vomit puddle (Long Beach, California), on a potato chip (June 2005 - St. Petersburg, Florida), and in a tree (March 2007 - Chicago, Illinois),

The finds prompted us to look closely at all of the corkscrews in the offices of The Weekly Screw.

And sure enough ... SUCCESS!!! ............................

*They named it Cheesus."

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The Old Rugged Cross Corkscrew

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Another Corkscrew Stabbing

Remember the Knuckle Duster Corkscrew in last week's issue? We mentioned there had been three corkscrew stabbings in the United States in the month of November. Well, now December has begun with yet another. We wonder if any of the corkscrew wielding folks were using a knuckle duster corkscrew!

This latest stabbing was billed as part of the "San Francisco Reign of Terror". Several publications reported that a thirty year old homeless male stabbed a woman on the San Francisco Municipal Railway train with a corkscrew on December 2. He jabbed her twice with the unidentified corkscrew weapon. The male was arrested and charged with the December 2 stabbing as well as one in September and two in November with other weapons.

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J. E. Doyle & Co.

Last Week's lead story was about the Freyseng cork manufacturing firm. It included a photo of horse's legs with Freyseng advertising. Readers Bert Giulian and Ron MacLean have reported the same corkscrew with advertising for "J. E. Doyle & Co., Montreal, Cork Manufacturers." Giulian's example is marked on the shank DRGM No 21718 and MacLean's is marked REGISTERED GERMANY. The DRGM number refers to Steinfeld & Reimer's German registration of 1894. We suspect the Doyle firm took the Freyseng name sometime after 1894.

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Excelsior Parts

On the left is an Excelsior corkscrew. Next to it is a corkscrew with the same handle and some of the same parts. A larger photo is to the right. Was the corkscrew on the right made from reclaimed parts of a broken Excelsior? Or was it factory produced using some of the same parts? Do any readers have another example of the corkscrew on the right? Opinions? Email

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Monkey's Butt Corkscrew

On pages 7 and 8 of Figural Corkscrews, I discussed Fakes, Frauds, and Fantasies. I cited the monkey with a Williamson corkscrew stuck in his rear end as something that could have been a single creation of a craftsman. By drilling a hole in the hollow monkey's rear, he could insert the Williamson sheath and have a new figural corkscrew. Oftentimes, we consider a questionable "corkscrew" like this to fall into the "fantasies" category. But what happens when a second one turns up? That find is pictured above. They came from opposite coasts of the United States! Note the difference in the position of the corkscrew! Did the craftsman make two? Were they made in a factory? Do any readers have another? Email

The different corkscrew positions

The monkeys' rears

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