In Wally’s book on British Corkscrews, there is a drawing of J.E. Morris’ patented “Improved means for extracting corks or others substances from the interior of bottles or other vessels”
Interestingly, the patent number given in Wally’s book is No. 20,963, but in literature from the time, specifically an 1899 issue of The Engineer, it shows that that patent is No. 20,968.
20,968 October 20th. J. E. Morris, Nottingham, “Uwanta lightning cork extractor.”
Of course you-want-a lightning cork extractor.
How brilliant!
Fortunately, I did want a lightning cork extractor, and when one turned up recently, I snapped it up.
It’s even marked with the patent number…
josef@vintagecorkscrews.com corkscrewing around 