HOUSTON – Welcome to Made in Texas, where we write about products made in the Lone Star State.
Today, we’re featuring the Houston-made device that makes opening a wine bottle an easy task, the Screwpull.
The product
Dubbed as the world’s best corkscrew by Texas Monthly, the Srewpull is a wine opener made of polycarbonate plastic and metal that has helped wine lovers uncork a bottle effortlessly since 1979.
The inventor
The person who oenophiles can thank for this innovative tool is a man named Herbert Allen.
Allen was a Texas native and Rice University alumnus who became a prolific American inventor and mechanical engineer, according to Texas Archival Resources Online.
Allen had nearly 400 U.S. and foreign patents that listed him as the sole or joint inventor, according to the National Academy of Engineering.
As an oenophile himself, Allen had a breakthrough moment after a frustrating attempt in opening a wine bottle for his wife, according to Wine Bottle Openers.
Following his death in 1990, his company, Hallen Company, was bought by French company Le Creuset, according to United Press International.