The natural cork offers slight resistance, the hand makes a familiar motion, and a soft pop is heard. The wine is open. The corkscrew — a small, unassuming object — feels like an obvious part of this ritual, so natural that we rarely stop to wonder where it actually came from.
And yet… wine was not its original purpose. It was born in a world of noise, gunpowder, and urgency. Before it ever reached a bottle, it was used to solve very different problems — ones where far more than a pleasant evening was at stake. The history of the corkscrew does not begin at the table, but… on the battlefield.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. A wartime problem and a spiral solution
3. From weapon to bottle
4. An invention without an inventor
5. Summary
6. FAQ
A wartime problem and a spiral solution
On the battlefields of the 17th century, firearms were far from reliable. Muskets frequently failed: the powder misfired, the bullet became lodged in the barrel, or remnants of wadding prevented the weapon from being reloaded. In such situations, a soldier could not simply reach for another firearm — he had to clear the barrel quickly, often under extreme pressure and immediate danger. For this purpose, a simple yet ingenious tool was used: a metal spiral known as a gun-worm, sometimes called a “steel worm.” It was screwed into the stuck bullet or material and then pulled out in a single motion.
The spiral proved to be the perfect solution: it bit into soft lead or fabric, provided a secure grip, and restored control of the weapon. No one was thinking about wine or natural cork at the time — functionality and effectiveness were what mattered. Yet the very same shape that saved a musket from uselessness was about to begin a second life. All it took was for a similar problem to arise in a completely different context.
From weapon to bottle
When, in the second half of the 17th century, glass bottles sealed with natural cork began to be widely used in Europe — particularly in England — a new and surprisingly similar problem quickly emerged. A cork driven firmly into the neck of a bottle protected the wine perfectly, but at the same time was difficult to remove. Attempts to pull it out with a knife, wire, or hook often ended with crumbling cork or spilled wine.
The solution had existed for a long time — just in a different world. The spiral gun-worm, familiar to soldiers, was almost perfectly suited to this task. It only needed to be reduced in size and separated from the weapon to become a standalone tool. Screwed into the natural cork, it worked exactly as it had in a musket barrel: gripping the material from the inside and allowing it to be removed in one controlled motion.
The earliest known reference from 1681 already describes a “steel worm used to extract corks from bottles.” And that is precisely what it was. The same shape that once saved weapons on the battlefield found a new, far more peaceful purpose. Over time, the military association faded, but the spiral remained — and to this day it performs exactly the same task.
An invention without an inventor
Unlike many tools that have a clear date of origin, a patent, and a named creator, the corkscrew defies such classification. There is no document identifying who first thought to use a spiral known from muskets to remove natural cork. There is no single moment of inspiration and no workshop in which the object was born. The corkscrew simply appeared, as a logical response to a new problem.
This stems from its lineage. The spiral “steel worm” was a widely known and widely used tool for decades, even centuries. When natural cork began to serve as an airtight bottle closure, adapting this form was almost self-evident. The earliest corkscrews were simple iron tools, often T-shaped — very similar to their military counterparts and likely produced by the same craftsmen.
For this reason, historians tend to speak of an evolution of a tool rather than an invention in the classical sense. The corkscrew has no single author because it was the result of practical thinking by many people — an answer to a need, not a display of individual genius.
Summary
The next time you reach for a corkscrew, it may be hard to see it in quite the same way as before. It is no longer just an elegant gadget from a kitchen drawer or a neutral tool for opening bottles. In your hand, you are holding an object with a long, brutally practical history — a spiral designed not for pleasure, but for survival. A shape that today is associated with wine, conversation, and a quiet evening once served for centuries to solve far more dramatic problems.
What is striking is how little its function has changed. It still comes down to the same principle: screw into something that is stuck and pull it out intact, without chaos or loss. Only the context has shifted. The battlefield has given way to the table, and the tension of combat to a moment of relaxation. The corkscrew is therefore a reminder of how everyday objects can carry traces of a world entirely different from the one they inhabit today.
FAQ
1. Did soldiers really use it to remove unexploded ordnance?
It was more a matter of misfires, jammed bullets, or wadding that blocked the barrel. The modern phrasing is something of a shorthand, but the problem itself was very real.
2. Why has the spiral shape survived to this day?
Because it is exceptionally effective. The spiral provides a firm grip without tearing the natural cork — just as it once allowed jammed elements to be securely extracted from a weapon’s barrel. It is a form so well suited to its purpose that it never required fundamental change.
3. Do modern corkscrews still work on the same principle?
Yes. Whether you use a simple waiter’s corkscrew or a more advanced mechanism, the key element — the spiral “worm” — remains the same as it was several centuries ago.
