On January 9, 1947, Richard Itaru Nakamura filed a patent application for his Frame with Slidable Tool Bit. After a lengthy wait, his patent was finally approved on June 20, 1950.
Several years ago, I remember John Morris presenting a show and tell at one of the ICCA meetings, and sharing the story about this multi-tool with a corkscrew. I have been on a hunt for this ever since.
This morning, over a cup of coffee, I happened to find a random eBay lot that, amongst several other corkscrews, had the Nakamura patent.
When I first looked at the picture, I thought. “What is that odd opener, I know I have seen it somewhere.”
After a bit of searching, and knowing that Tommy had found one a while back, I went back through his blog of the time, and found the photo.
Definitely looks like the same Frame with Slidable Tool Bit to me.
A really neat, and hard to find, American patent, that will soon be headed to the island–along with all the other corkscrews in the lot.
Best 6 candidate? Indeed!
josef@vintagecorkscrews.com corkscrewing around 