Vintage Stillson #14 Monkey Pipe Wrench Wooden Handle Walworth Mfg.Co.

The original makers of the Stillson patent wrench, Walworth made a range of plumbing tools. While Stillson apparently patented this particular type of pipe wrench, it appears that the name was used generically by Bonney Vise & Tool Works, the Erie Tool Works, the Moore Drop Forging Co., the J.P. Danielson Co., and probably others. On dies, they used the brand name RUFF & TUFF and alo MILLER'S PATENT, though the latter was possibly not until after 1900. It appears they made a 1907 Parmelee patent wrench and may have been succeeded by Parmelee Co. America's most prolific turn of the century (1900) adjustable non-monkey wrench manufacturer. Stillson (1826-1899), a mechanic at the Walworth Company, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, created the first such wrench. On October 12, 1869, U.S. patent #95,744 was issued to Stillson. On 17 August 1888, the Swedish inventor Johan Petter Johansson (1853-1943) took out his first patent on the adjustable pipe wrench. More info at https://www.davistownmuseum.org/bioWalworth.htmlhttps://www.bostonglobe.com/2019/12/06/magazine/forgotten-story-americas-most-famous-tool/ http://www.antique-engine.ns.ca/walworth.html