Cork extractor

Apparatus for extracting a cork from a bottle comprising:

• a frame;
• a carrier mounted on said frame for longitudinal reciprocating movement with respect to said frame;
• a corkscrew rotatably mounted on said carrier for joint longitudinal movement therewith, the axis of rotation of said corkscrew being generally coincident with the centerline of said corkscrew and extending generally longitudinally with respect to said carrier;
• guide means laterally spaced from said corkscrew and cooperative between said frame and said carrier for guiding said carrier in a longitudinal path with respect to said frame and including an elongate movable guide member connected to said carrier and longitudinally slidably mounted in said frame,
• a control nut having a screw passage therethrough, said screw passage being positioned to receive said corkscrew and configured to mate with the configuration of said corkscrew whereby, upon longitudinal movement of said corkscrew in said screw passage, rotational movement will be imparted to said corkscrew, and including a mounting flange extending laterally therefrom and connected to said movable guide member for relative longitudinal sliding movement therebetween;
• actuator means operatively connected to said carrier for selectively longitudinally reciprocating said carrier in said longitudinal path;
• means cooperative between said control nut and said frame for preventing relative rotation therebetween;
• latch means engageable and releasable for releasably latching said control nut to said frame to restrain relative longitudinal movement therebetween;
• bottle-engaging means connected to said frame for positioning a bottle with respect to said frame in longitudnal alignment with said screw passage;
• and means for causing frictional binding of said mounting flange and said guide member, when said latch means is released, upon attempted upward movement of said control nut relative to said guide member.

Apparatus for extracting a cork from a bottle comprising:

• a frame;
• a carrier mounted on said frame for longitudinal reciprocating movement with respect to said frame;
• guide means cooperative between said frame and said carrier for guiding said carrier in a longitudinal path with respect to said frame;
• a corkscrew rotatably mounted on said carrier for joint longitudinal movement therewith, the axis of rotation of said corkscrew being generally coincident with the centerline of said corkscrew and extending generally longitudinally with respect to said carrier;
• a control nut having a screw passage therethrough, said screw passage being positioned to receive said corkscrew and configured to mate with the configuration of said corkscrew whereby, upon longitudinal movement of said corkscrew in said screw passage, rotational movement will be imparted to said corkscrew;
• actuator means operatively connected to said carrier for selectively longitudinally reciprocating said carrier in said longitudinal path;
• means cooperative between said control nut and said frame for preventing relative rotation therebetween;
• latch means engageable and releasable for releasably latching said control nut to said frame to restrain relative longitudinal movement therebetween;
• bottle-engaging means connected to said frame for positioning a bottle with respect to said frame in longitudinal alignment with said screw passage;
• and a catch element carried by said carrier member, said catch element and said control nut having interengageable catch surfaces permitting said control nut to be supported on said catch element, said catch element being resiliently biased toward said control nut for engagement of said catch surfaces, and said apparatus further comprising override means operatively associated with said latch means for urging said catch surfaces out of engagement with each other when said latch means is engaged.