Bottle opener

Last updated
Using a bottle opener Kronkorken.gif
Using a bottle opener

A bottle opener is a device that enables the removal of metal bottle caps from glass bottles. More generally, it might be thought to include corkscrews used to remove cork or plastic stoppers from wine bottles.

Contents

A metal bottle cap is affixed to the rim of the neck of a bottle by being pleated or ruffled around the rim. A bottle opener is a specialized lever inserted beneath the pleated metalwork, which uses a point on the bottle cap as a fulcrum on which to pivot.

Varieties

There are several distinct designs of such bottle openers. Wall mounted openers are typically found behind bars in pubs, whilst hand-tool bottle openers tend to be found and used in domestic environments. The functional elements of bottle openers (a tooth or lip to catch the underside of the cap, a fulcrum across which to exert the force that will remove the cap, and usually a lever for mechanical advantage) tend to be consistent, although they can vary in design and aesthetics.

A simple bottle opener Bottle Opener.jpg
A simple bottle opener

Crown cork opener

Invented at the same time as the crown cork, it is the original bottle opener. But as well as being portable it also comes as a fixed device to be attached to vertical surfaces, often with a tray to catch the bottle tops. It does not open wine bottles.

A simple opener is a piece of metal with a rectangular or rounded opening in one end and a solid handle large enough to be gripped between the thumb and forefingers on the other. The opening contains a lip that is placed under the edge of the bottle top, pulling it off when upward force is applied to the handle end of the opener.

Speed opener ('bar blade')

A Budweiser branded "bar blade", front and back Bar-blade.jpg
A Budweiser branded "bar blade", front and back

The speed opener is a flat blade of steel approximately 4 cm wide and 16 cm long with a thumb hole at one end and a letterbox cut at the other to remove the crown seals from a bottle. They go under the names 'speed opener', 'popper', 'mamba', 'bar key', and most popularly 'bar blade'. The thumb hole may be used to pull bottles out of ice, by placing the hole over the neck of the bottle, then lifting it. The speed opener is widely used by professional bartenders in Canada, the United States, and the UK. Carried in the pocket or against the body or on a zip string, it is both convenient and fast for the modern bartender. It is advantageous in that it is easy to open several bottles in rapid succession, and with more flair than other types of bottle opener. Consequently, 'bar blading' is often part of bar flair routines.

Wall-mounted

Wall-mounted bottle opener with magnet to catch lids Magnetic Bottle Opener.jpg
Wall-mounted bottle opener with magnet to catch lids

Works the same as the lever variation, except that it is attached to the wall, to allow for simpler bottle-opening, which can be done with one hand. The bottle cap can fall into a bottle cap catcher mounted below the opener, or it can be retrieved after removal from the bottle. A variant to this are similar types of openers mounted on older vending machines.

Multi-opener

Also known as a beverage opener, these usually includes a bottle opener of the simple bottle opener style but includes various other openers such as for plastic bottles or metal beverage cans.

Technique

Under most use, a bottle opener functions as a second-class lever: the fulcrum is the far end of the bottle opener, placed on the top of the crown, with the output at the near end of the bottle opener, on the crown edge, between the fulcrum and the hand: in these cases, one pushes up on the lever.

However, one may instead use it as a first-class lever, by placing the near end on the top of the crown, and the far end under the crown edge, then pushing down on the lever (thus the output is on the opposite side of the fulcrum from the hand). This is particularly used with bar blades, which form an obtuse angle. Mechanically, this is a marginally less effective lever, as the effort arm is shorter, but the action of pushing down is marginally anatomically easier.

While most lever-type bottle openers can be used in either configuration, the designed use can be determined if one of the edges is curved, in which case this edge is designed to sit in the middle of the crown, as the curve concentrates pressure, deforming the crown, and a curved edge does not connect with as much of the crown edge, hence being suboptimal and slipping more frequently if used to connect with the crown edge. This difference can be seen in comparing the traditional opener and contemporary bar blade at right.

Corkscrews

Waiter's friend

Opened Waiter's Friend Opened Waiters.JPG
Opened Waiter's Friend

The 'waiter's friend' or 'wine key' consists of a flat housing (often plastic covered) similar to a Swiss army knife with a corkscrew and lever (which doubles as crown cork opener) with either a knife or auto-foiler to remove the foil top of wine bottles and then the cork. Designed to be screwed in to within 1 full rotation before the end of the screw (more will pierce the bottom of the cork and result in extra flotsam on the surface of the wine) before levering out the cork.

Mounted corkscrew

This tool is used by businesses that need to open a large volume of wine efficiently and without waste or breakage. It is a large brass tubular device, fixed at a 45° angle to the bar, with a lever pivoted halfway and extending towards the user. The bottle's neck is inserted firmly in the lower aperture of the tube and the lever pulled down firmly and steadily to the bottom. This drives a corkscrew into the cork at a regular depth each time. When the lever is returned to its original position it extracts the cork. When the bottle is removed pull the lever to expose the cork at the bottom, it loosens the cork and returns the lever firmly to its starting position, whereupon the cork will then fall out.

Twin prong cork puller

A twin prong cork puller Ah-so.png
A twin prong cork puller

The twin prong cork puller, also called the Butler's Friend [1] or Ah-so, is shaped like a large key with a squared oval handle about 5 cm × 8 cm, and two thin metal strips, approximately 10 cm long, 5 mm wide, and 0.5 mm thick, descending in tandem from the center of the handle. The two strips are spread open and then wiggled into the space between the cork and the bottle on either side. Once fully in place, a turn and pull of the handle causes friction to turn the cork and pull it out of the bottle.

Injuries

New Zealand has had in average 40 injuries recorded by the Accident Compensation Corporation per year due to injuries while opening a beer bottle that required to remove a metal lid. [2] Two ophthalmologists Cam Loveridge-Easther and Sacha Moore wrote a letter recommending for warnings to be put on bottles. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knife</span> Tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade

A knife is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools. Originally made of wood, bone, and stone, over the centuries, in step with improvements in both metallurgy and manufacturing, knife blades have been made from copper, bronze, iron, steel, ceramic, and titanium. Most modern knives have either fixed or folding blades; blade patterns and styles vary by maker and country of origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cork (material)</span> Tree bark tissue harvested for commercial use

Cork is an impermeable buoyant material, the phellem layer of bark tissue that is harvested for commercial use primarily from Quercus suber, which is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa. Cork is composed of suberin, a hydrophobic substance. Because of its impermeable, buoyant, elastic, and fire retardant properties, it is used in a variety of products, the most common of which is wine stoppers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oar</span> Implement used for water-borne propulsion

An oar is an implement used for water-borne propulsion. Oars have a flat blade at one end. Rowers grasp the oar at the other end.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drink can</span> Container specifically made for liquid such as beverages and usually made of aluminum

A drink can is a metal container designed to hold a fixed portion of liquid such as carbonated soft drinks, alcoholic drinks, fruit juices, teas, herbal teas, energy drinks, etc. Drink cans are made of aluminum or tin-plated steel. Worldwide production for all drink cans is approximately 370 billion cans per year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bottle cap</span> Top for holding liquid inside a bottle

A bottle cap or bottle top is a closure for the top opening of a bottle. A cap is sometimes colorfully decorated with the logo of the brand of contents. Plastic caps are used for plastic bottles, while metal with plastic backing is used for glass; plastic caps are commonly made from polyethylene or polypropylene, while metal caps are usually either steel or aluminum. Plastic caps may have a pour spout. Flip-Top caps like Flapper closures provide controlled dispensing of dry products. Caps for plastic bottles are often made of a different type of plastic from the bottle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Can opener</span> Device used to open metal cans

A can opener or tin opener is a mechanical device used to open metal tin cans. Although preservation of food using tin cans had been practiced since at least 1772 in the Netherlands, the first can openers were not patented until 1855 in England and 1858 in the United States. These early openers were basically variations of a knife, though the 1855 design continues to be produced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pliers</span> Hand tool

Pliers are a hand tool used to hold objects firmly, possibly developed from tongs used to handle hot metal in Bronze Age Europe. They are also useful for bending and physically compressing a wide range of materials. Generally, pliers consist of a pair of metal first-class levers joined at a fulcrum positioned closer to one end of the levers, creating short jaws on one side of the fulcrum, and longer handles on the other side. This arrangement creates a mechanical advantage, allowing the force of the grip strength to be amplified and focused on an object with precision. The jaws can also be used to manipulate objects too small or unwieldy to be manipulated with the fingers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corkscrew</span> Kitchen tool for drawing corks from wine bottles

A corkscrew is a tool for drawing corks from wine bottles and other household bottles that may be sealed with corks. In its traditional form, a corkscrew simply consists of a pointed metallic helix attached to a handle, which the user screws into the cork and pulls to extract it. Corkscrews are necessary because corks themselves, being small and smooth, are difficult to grip and remove, particularly when inserted fully into an inflexible glass bottle. More recent styles of corkscrew incorporate various systems of levers that further increase the amount of force that can be applied outwards upon the cork, making the extraction of difficult corks easier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bottling line</span> Production line for filling bottles

Bottling lines are production lines that fill a product, generally a beverage, into bottles on a large scale. Many prepared foods are also bottled, such as sauces, syrups, marinades, oils and vinegars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Closure (container)</span> Devices and techniques used to close or seal a bottle, jug, jar, tube, can, etc.

A closure is a device used to close or seal a container such as a bottle, jug, jar, tube, or can. A closure may be a cap, cover, lid, plug, liner, or the like. The part of the container to which the closure is applied is called the finish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drawknife</span> Woodworking hand tool

A drawknife is a traditional woodworking hand tool used to shape wood by removing shavings. It consists of a blade with a handle at each end. The blade is much longer than it is deep. It is pulled or "drawn" toward the user.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coping saw</span> Type of bow saw

A coping saw is a type of bow saw used to cut intricate external shapes and interior cut-outs in woodworking or carpentry. It is widely used to cut moldings to create coped rather than mitre joints. It is occasionally used to create fretwork though it is not able to match a fretsaw in intricacy of cut, particularly in thin materials. Coping saw blades are always thicker and much coarser cutting than typical fretsaw blades and many others of its family members. Coping saws can however cut slight bends in the work, allowing circles to be cut if used carefully.

Wine accessories are things that may be used in the storage or serving of wine. Wine accessories include many items such as wine glasses, corkscrews, and wine racks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wine cork</span> Stopper used to seal wine bottles

Wine corks are a stopper used to seal wine bottles. They are typically made from cork, though synthetic materials can be used. Common alternative wine closures include screw caps and glass stoppers. 68 percent of all cork is produced for wine bottle stoppers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scraper (kitchen)</span>

A kitchen scraper is a kitchen implement made of metal, plastics, wood, rubber or silicone rubber. In practice, one type of scraper is often interchanged with another or with a spatula for some of the various uses.

A beverage opener is a device used to open beverage cans, plastic bottles or glass bottles, which are the three most common beverage containers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alcoholic spirits measure</span> Instruments to measure alcohol

Alcoholic spirits measures are instruments designed to measure exact amounts or shots of alcoholic spirits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Screw cap (wine)</span> Cap for wine bottles

A screw cap is a metal, normally aluminium, cap that screws onto threads on the neck of a wine bottle, generally with a metal skirt down the neck to resemble the traditional wine capsule ("foil"). A layer of plastic, cork, rubber, or other soft material is used as wad to make a seal with the mouth of the bottle. Its use as an alternative to cork for sealing wine bottles is gaining increasing support. In markets such as Australia and New Zealand screw caps on bottles have overtaken cork to become the most common means of sealing bottles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mounted corkscrew</span>

A mounted or bar corkscrew is a device screwed or clamped to a wall or counter top, used to draw corks from beer, wine or other bottles.

References

  1. types of sheet corkscrews - web in spanish
  2. 1 2 "NZ averages 40 beer-related injuries a year". Stuff. 2018-04-06. Retrieved 2021-02-11.