1878 William Tucker U. S. Patent Number 207,631 Corkscrew

William W. Tucker of Hartford, Connecticut was granted U. S. Patent Number 207,631 on September 3, 1878 for his "Improvement in Cork-Extractors." Tucker said to use his corkscrew, you start with the handle in the vertical position, then you turn the whole assembly to screw the worm into the cork. Once the ring meets the bottle neck, the foot engages the side of the bottle to hold the device steady. The handle is then pulled down and the cork is extracted.

In his application Tucker includes an interesting description of the foot: "...a foot projecting downward, therefrom (the ring) and bifurcated, so as to (in a limited sense) embrace the neck of the bottle." From the dictionary:

bi·fur·cate Pronunciation: 'bI-(")f&r-"kAt, bI-'f&r-;Function: verb Inflected Form(s): -cat·ed; -cat·ing Etymology: Medieval Latin bifurcatus, past participle of bifurcare, from Latin bifurcus two-pronged, from bi- + furca fork Date: 1615 transitive senses : to cause to divide into two branches or parts intransitive senses : to divide into two branches or parts - bi·fur·cate /(")bI-'f&r-k&t, -"kAt; 'bI-(")f&r-"kAt/ adjective .

Marked PAT'D SEP. 3.1878. 

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