The first official corkscrew patent was filed in 1795 by the English Reverend Samuel Henshall. He added a flat button of metal to the helix to make a firmer fit with the cork.

How did they open wine before corkscrews?

Rudimentary corkscrews of necessity soon appeared using a piece of equipment a soldier would have in his kitbag: a gun worm. ... To remove the offending ball, the soldier would use the gun worm — which was screw-shaped — to drill into the lead and drag the bullet out. The same principle could be applied to a wine bottle.

Who invented the wine key?

Modern Innovations. 1979 saw the introduction of the “Screwpull” corkscrew, designed and patented by Herbert Allen, an oil and aerospace industry engineer who fell in love with wine while traveling through Europe in the 1950s.