Locking pliers, also called Vise-Grips, Vice Grips, mole wrenches or mole grips, are pliers that lock into position using a bistable cam action, so the tool continues gripping a workpiece without the user having to keep squeezing the handles. They are made with many different jaw styles, including needle-nose jaws, wrench-like jaws and clamp shapes for holding metal parts steady during welding, and come in a wide range of sizes. William S. Petersen invented the first locking pliers under the trade name Vise-Grip in De Witt, Nebraska, in 1924; in 1955 the British manufacturer M. K. Mole and Son, under Tom Coughtrie, began producing a nearly identical tool in the United Kingdom, which is why the tool is called a mole wrench or mole grips outside the United States. The American spelling vise appears as far back as Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary, while the spelling vice, traceable to 1584, remains standard elsewhere in the English speaking world.
Facts
Introduced When (Circa) OriginInvented by William S. Petersen in De Witt, Nebraska; by 1955 a UK manufacturer, M.K. Mole and Son under Tom Coughtrie, was independently making nearly identical pliers 1 Introduced era (class) In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Vise-Grip (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundationopening paragraph naming the inventor, place and year
The first locking pliers, with the trade name Vise-Grip, were invented by William S. Petersen in De Witt, Nebraska, United States in 1924.
paragraph on the 1955 M.K. Mole and Son version in the United Kingdom
Later, in 1955, in the United Kingdom, M.K. Mole and Son, a hand tool manufacturing company, under the managing direction of Tom Coughtrie, began making nearly identical pliers.
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