Rensselaer Democrat, Volume 1, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 April 1898 — Concerning Corkscrews. [ARTICLE]

Concerning Corkscrews.

A man who wondered how the towtat got into the corkscrew found, of course, that iit was put there by machinery, and. he learned also that such Improvements have been made In this country in recent years in the manufacture of corkscrews that, whereas formerly the greater part of the corkscrews used here were Imported from Europe, now nearly all the corkscrews used dn this country are made here, and the production amounts to millions annually, for there are few articles of more ooummom use. There is now made a corkscrew with the screw part of steel wire and the handle of wood, a very respectable sort of a corkscrew, that Is produced so cheaply that it can be sold at retail for live cents, with a very fair margin of profit. Corkscrews run from that up in price. There are now soldi grea t numbers of corkscrews that are made, handle and all, of a single piece of steel wire. There is a tiny little corkscrew that Is put up with patent medicines, a corkscrew with every bottle. This sort of wire corkscrew has for a handle a little loop or hoop just big enough to put a finger through. It Is a littfte bit of a corkscrew, but perfectly effective for the use for which it is Intended. If one bought a dozen bottles of a preparation with which such corkscrews are pecked he would get a dozen corkscrews, but he need not fear that he Is getting more than his share, or that he ought to return some of them, for they are produced at a cost that seems marvelously small, even when the wonderful results obtained by the aid of machinery are taken Into account. There is a corkscrew that is attached to a ®f>oon. With such a spooar there is never any trouble about getting the cork out of the medicine bottle. There are various kinds of pocket corkscrews, including the folding corkscrews, in which the screw part, turning on a pivot, turn* back into a triangular-shaped handle. There is also a folding corkscrew whose handle, made In two parts, folds down on either side over the screw. There are corkscrews whose screw part, when not In use, is. screwed Into a tube, which, passed through an eye at the upper end of the screw, serves a® a handle when the corkscrew Is used.