Loring Coes (April 22, 1812 – July 13, 1906) was an American inventor, industrialist and Republican politician who invented the screw type wrench, commonly known as the monkey wrench and who served as a member of the Worcester, Massachusetts City Council and Board of Aldermen, and as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives[1][2] in 1864–1865.
Hon. Loring Coes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Worcester, Massachusetts Board of Aldermen | |
| Member of the Worcester, Massachusetts Common Council | |
| Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives | |
| In office 1864–1865 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 22, 1812 Worcester, Massachusetts |
| Died | July 13, 1906 Worcester, Massachusetts |
| Resting place | Hope Cemetery, Worcester, Massachusetts |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Harriet Newell Read |
| Signature |  |
Early life
editCoes was born in Worcester, Massachusetts on April 22, 1812.[2]
Family life
editOn January 14, 1835, Loring married Harriet Neal Read of Attleboro, Massachusetts.[2]
Invention of the screw wrench
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Coes and his brother Aury Gates Coes worked for the firm of Kimball and Fuller, a company that made machinery for the woolen industry. In 1836 the Coes brothers purchased the business, and formed the L. & A. G. Coes Company as a partnership. In October 1839 the facility where they worked was destroyed by a fire.[2] The Coes brothers were unable to continue in businesses so they moved to Springfield, Massachusetts to work as pattern makers in the foundry of Laurin Trask.[2] It was while they were living and working in Springfield that Loring Coes invented the screw wrench commonly known as the monkey wrench. Previous to the invention of the Screw Wrench, previously the wrenches of the time, the two common wrenches of the time the English patent wrench; and the Merrisk wrench, also known as the Springfield wrench, needed two hands to adjust, the new screw wrench could be used and adjusted with one hand.[2]
The Coes brothers sold their pattern for spinning machines that they had rescued from the fire that destroyed their plant, and used the money to pay for the patent on the Screw Wrench that Loring Coes was granted on April 16, 1841.[2]
L. & A. G. Coes
editAfter they were granted the patent, the brothers' company L. & A. G. Coes went back into operation and they began to manufacture their new wrench.[2]
Death
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Coes died at his Worcester, Massachusetts home on July 13, 1906.[3]
References
edit- ^ William T. Davis, ed. (1897), The New England States: Their Constitutional, Judicial, Educational, Commercial, Professional and Industrial History, Volume 1, Boston, Massachusetts: D. H. Hurd & Co., pp. 418–420
- ^ a b c d e f g h William Richard Cutter, ed. (1914), New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial:A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation, Volume IV, New York, New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company., pp. 1839–1841
- ^ Hardware Dealers' Magazine, Volume XXVI, no. 2, New York, New York: Daniel T. Mallett, August 1906, p. 251
External links
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Media related to Loring Coes at Wikimedia Commons