Story of the Corkscrew

Uncorking a bottle of wine is a ritual which, thanks to the succession of measured gestures, allows you to foretaste the joy of the glass. A fundamental role in the wine ritual belongs to the corkscrew.

With this small tool, when you uncork a bottle, centuries of history pass into your hands.

Its origin could be dated to the mid-15th century, probably derived from the spiral tool used by soldiers to remove lead balls stuck in the barrels of muzzle-loading rifles. According others, the precursor of the corkscrew would have been the awl for tapping wine from barrels.

Thanks to the English "black" bottles, bottling became a method of conservation, shipping and large-scale trade, also favoring the spread of the corkscrew.

From then on there was a succession of innovations and patents: at the beginning of the 19th century the so-called "butterfly" corkscrew was born; in 1828, in France, the "tap" one, ten years later the "double screw" one.

To obtain the first Italian patent it was necessary to wait until 1864. Then the "rack" or "pinion" corkscrews and the "crank" ones were born, which resembled mini coffee grinders; the corkscrew that we know best, "with lateral levers", dates back to the end of the 19th century.

In 1877, the existence of a "Società del Tirabussìn" of enthusiasts who had a personalized model of corkscrew created for its members is documented in Milan.

During the 18th century, the increasingly widespread use of glass containers sealed with corks for perfumes, medicinal preparations of all kinds, ointments, inks and wines favored the spread of the corkscrew which became a tool for everyday use.

With an essential "T" shape, it is made up of three elements: handle, stem and worm or screw. The most common material for making the handle is wood in resistant and valuable essences (boxwood, pear, apple, walnut, ebony, rose) worked on a lathe and often dyed, but also metal, bone, ivory or, recently, synthetic materials.

To reduce the effort needed to extract the cork from the bottle, screw or spring systems capable of multiplying the force were soon developed.

The oldest model, patented by the English reverend Samuel Henshall in 1795, was equipped with a simple metal disk between the barrel and the screw, capable of turning the cork in the neck of the bottle.

However, the most convenient system allows you to transform - thanks to an open or closed bell that presses on the neck of the bottle - the rotational force into traction, according to the typology that is still most widespread today.

However, there are also variants with "accordion" compound levers, with minimal extraction effort, which have the progenitor in the English patent by Arthur Marshall Wier of 1884 and in the "Zig Zag" model registered by Jules Bart of Nancy in 1919, the best-known exponent.

The corkscrew was long considered a personal tool, like keys or glasses, which could always be carried with you and used when necessary. 

For this reason, craftsmen have devised protection systems for the tip or the entire worm and folding mechanisms capable of making the T-shape, which is not optimal for transport, more compact. Ingenuity and imagination have allowed us to create functional and aesthetic objects.

To facilitate daily life, the corkscrew was associated from its origins with other frequently used tools: from the steel to light the fire, to the lace puller, to the scissors, to the key for winding the watch or for the carriage, to the hammer, pliers, screwdriver, cutlery.

The most common combinations are  those with the bottle opener for crown caps, patented by William Painter in 1892 in Baltimore and which became popular 1911, with the can opener, the first model of which was patented by the Englishman Robert Yates in 1855. 

Already existing in some rare examples in cast metal in the shape of a fish, dolphin or snake at the beginning of the 18th century, later on a vast production of corkscrews developed in which the aesthetic aspect has taken over the practicality of the object.

Advertising corkscrews also belong to this group, commissioned by wine and beverage companies and adopted as early as the end of the 19th century by restaurants and waiters to remind customers of the brand. 

However, the name is often accompanied by a specific shape and design, which makes them true design objects.

In this section we can include the gas corkscrews of the 60s, "pump" or pneumatic, equipped no longer with a screw but with a needle: the flow of air or gas lifts the cork but can damage the structure of the wine or even the bottle.

The brightly colored pocket corkscrew of American origin with double worm screw dates back to 1978.
More recent is the three-lever "Screwpull" by the American engineer Herbert Allen (1990s), which combines the principle of the pliers with that of the lever.