Look a little closer
See the mechanism
A second support continues the lift
Read the diagram
The first bearing rests on the bottle lip during the initial lift. Changing to the second bearing places the handle and worm attachment higher for another part of the extraction. In this selected double-support design, the first bearing retracts within the second as the supports change over.
Original bearing-position model, not a manufacturing drawing or use instruction. The bottle lips stay at the same height. Colored support is the active bearing; dashed gray is the retracted first bearing in the second view. Worm height and cork travel are qualitative. No leverage percentage or cork-breakage guarantee.
Diagram basis: WO2011045502A1: successive bearing surfaces 310 and 410.
The spiral gives the lever something to pull
The screw-shaped spiral, often called the worm, engages the cork. Its upper end is connected to the handle. A separate support arm can bear on the top of the bottle's neck, so moving the handle pulls the worm and cork relative to the bottle.
That is a lever arrangement with a moving load. As the cork rises, the worm's attachment point rises with it. The geometry available at the beginning isn't the same geometry available halfway through. A compact tool has only so much handle travel before a change of position becomes useful.
The second step changes the bearing point
The first bearing surface rests on the rim for the initial stage. Once the cork is partly out, a second surface takes over for the next stage. The hand can then move the handle through another useful stroke, continuing to lift the same cork.
Patent WO2011045502A1 describes one particular double-support arrangement. Its first bearing surface, numbered 310, is replaced by a second, numbered 410, after the first extraction step. In that version the first support retracts into the second. Other familiar two-step tools use hinged supports, so their parts need not fold in exactly the same way.
Two stages aren't two corkscrews
The worm remains engaged while the support changes. The user isn't starting a second hole in the cork. The two stages divide the lifting movement between two lever positions, using the bottle rim as the support in each stage.
This also distinguishes the tool from a winged corkscrew. Its two steps are alternative bearing positions near one end of a compact lever, not the pair of long side handles seen on a winged design. Count the contacts and follow the cork's height, rather than treating every pair of metal projections as the same mechanism.
The thing to remember
The second step gives the lever a fresh support position after the cork has moved. One engaged worm lifts the cork through two successive strokes.
What this example leaves out
The illustrated sequence follows the double-bearing principle and the retracting-support example in WO2011045502A1. It doesn't combine that geometry with a different hinged design or guarantee that a particular cork will stay intact.
Sources & further reading
Source access dates are listed below. Manufacturer descriptions and patents support the specific constructions described, not every product.
- WO2011045502A1 — Lever corkscrew having a double fulcrum and method for using same ↗
WIPO patent publication via Google Patents · Retrieved 2026-10-16 · Worm/handle/two supports; first bearing310 replaced by410; selected first support retracts within second during changeover using contact with neck.
Description of invention and bearing310/410 passages read, web lines97–110,183–185,219 and261–262. English machine translation cross-checked against adjacent French for appui/levier/escamoter. Exact figure pixels not inspected; no force gain or cork-breakage guarantee inferred.
