For The Love Of Port

I used to use an Ah So cork puller most of the time - the kind with 2 prongs - that you have to wiggle, push and coax into the bottle, hopefully without pushing the cork in, then twisting and pulling till it comes out... Until the bottle broke in the process. Now I rarely ever use the Ah So, am much more careful than I used to be AND barely apply pressure as I put it in the bottle.

One friend says he can't stand the use of it because he thinks glass is being scraped off the inside of the neck and ends up in the bottle!?

The story(+ stop at 'my wrist' if you're squeamish)...
One time as I was pushing the Ah So into the bottle, with the usual amount of light to moderate force, when the bottle broke and neck sheered off into an upwards knife-like point. I have pretty good reflexes and was lucky enough to stop my downward motion in time not to shove the point right into my wrist (where I have another scar which I got in high school trying to get into a dance for free by pounding too hard on one of those windows with the cross-wires running through it, but when my buddy Steve saw the window break he smartly turned the other direction - so when I went to the front of the building, Smitty the policeman, sees me holding my wrist and says 'what have you got there', at which point I uncover my wrist and when my heart beat, blood would squirt out several inches above my wrist - so, he looks over to the principal and says 'hey Mr. Pearson, you've gotta see this!' - yes, it was another night which ended at the hospital - ...) !!

Maybe it had an undetectable hairline crack in it, but whatever it was it won't be the last.

BE VERY CAREFUL with your Ah So EVERYBODY!!

I also vividly remember Roy's description of using a gas pressure opener on an old bottle that burst... I'll probably never use one of those and hope my wine servers don't either.

And yes, I know to 'tilt-wiggle' the Ah So, not push it directly in.

Yep, it did happen to me too once. A part about one inche by half an inch from the neck just shattered in dust under the pressure from the Ah-So. No chance for a cut here but it was close to receive some in my eyes. Some particules where found 3 meters away from the bottle.

Since then too I do not use it as often as I used it before, mean always. Some bottles must have flaws.

My ultimate bottle opening contraption is slowly taking shape.

It has to be one of the most ludicrous bits of engineering ever, and owes more to Heath-Robinson than common sense, but if it eventually works, it should be able to remove the most decayed old corks in one piece.

It will work on the gas injection principle, but with all but the top of the bottle enclosed in a pressure vessel at the same pressure as the injected gas, to remove the risk of explosion.

The cork, as it emerges, will be gripped by a succession of rising clamps to stop the cork bursting under the gas pressure, and to enable the pressure to be dropped when the cork is nearly extracted, leaving the clamps to do most of the work at the end.

So far I'm about half way through building it - an amusing little project!

Tom

Uncle Tom, sounds very interesting. I can't wait to see how it works out (and for the video).

Could you possibly design one where the cork gets pulled off by a large bottle rocket? Maybe the bottle could be secured to the ground and the rocket would have a leader so as not to blow burned sulfer into the bottle? And forget about saving the cork, unless the rocket would have a parachute...we sure sent a lot of things up in the air as kids.

I'm currently in negotiation over bottle rockets - like firing more in five seconds than has ever been done before:

Venue: Island of Jersey, British, but semi autonomous, not far from France.

Occasion: Annual 'Battle of the flowers' celebration.

Date: August '07 - exact date to be fixed.

Number of rockets: 100,000

Will it happen? Sponsors are being sought - about 70% chance at this point.

Can I be involved? Contact me next spring - we'll need some unpaid helpers...

Tom

Tom, can I light the fuse? :twisted:

Derek

Tom, can I have a few of the "Flowers" you don't use :twisted:

Tom, I'd be the first to volunteer if I wasn't an ocean away!

Tom,

Ever consider a visit to Seattle?

Ever consider a visit to Seattle?

Maybe - I do have shares in Boeing...

Tom