William Rockwell Clough was born in Manchester, New Hampshire on November 8, 1844.
His parents John Chesley and Lydia Jane (Teddick) Clough happened to be in Manchester at that time, but their home was really the family farm in Alton, New Hampshire, where young William and his brother Oscar were raised. He was educated in the public schools of Alton and later attended the Franklin Academy in Dover, New Hampshire. Initially he worked on the family farm, but in the summer of 1861, the call of duty sounded. A year later at the age of 17, Clough left the farm, seeking wider fields, and journeyed to Boston. He arrived in time to volunteer for duty in the American Civil War (1861-1865), and enlisted on August 18, 1862 as a Private, Co. `G’ 50th, Massachusetts Regiment. It was with this unit that he engaged in the battles that opened up the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Vicksburg. At the end of the war Clough was mustered out as Lieutenant W. R. Clough. Clough kept up his connections with the military. He maintained his ties with his old regimental unit, becoming President in 1909 of the Fiftieth Massachusetts Regimental Association and of the Fourth Battery Association, an organization made up of his former comrades at the front. While in New York City he became a Charter Member of Winfield Scott Hancock Post, Grand Army of the Republic. He also joined the Ninth Regiment of Infantry in the National State Guard in New York entering as a lieutenant in 1882 and elected to captain in 1885. Clough is pictured in the program for the Full Dress Reception of the Ninth Regiment held on Tuesday evening, September 14, 1886. He was also a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston. Returning from Civil War Service in 1865, Clough enrolled in the Eastman Business College in Poughkeepsie, New York, from which he graduated as an accountant although he preferred to be referred to as “one who dealt with figures”. From there he returned to Boston, where he worked in private firms before joining and serving as an expert accountant for two years in the United States Bureau of Internal Revenue service. Clough “invented” the corkscrew. In the mid 19th century, small medicine and perfume bottles were normally stoppered with a tapered cork. At the time only rather expensive perfume corkscrews were available to remove these small tapered corks. The business of making corkscrews began, according to Clough’s second wife Nell, after he cut his fingers opening a “bottle of something or other”. As the story goes, Clough couldn’t see any reason why a man should mutilate himself to get to the contents of a bottle! A proper corkscrew was the answer of course and W.R. Clough was the man to find the solution. His resulting inventions earned him a fortune and a virtual wire corkscrew monopoly for many years to come. An early biographical review (published in 1896) states that the idea of mass corkscrew manufacturing was conceived by Clough while still working for the U.S. Department of Internal Revenue! He reasoned that if wire screws could be manufactured in sufficient quantities and at a low enough cost to enable manufacturers of patent and standard medicines to supply a screw for every stopper sold, it would make a paying business and be of general utility. Screws could be manufactured at a very small expense if the proper machinery could be found and a market procured. So Clough devised the means to do it. Wire was firm, points were sharp and penetrating, cork was pliable. If a useful handle for turning was attached to a screw shaped length and inserted, any cork could be easily removed. The idea was simplicity itself!
Volume 67 No. 2 Apr. 2012