Vanished Tool Makers: L. Coes, Worcester, Massachusetts

Loring Coes (1812-1907) is recognized as the father of the monkey wrench.   He and his brother Aury Gates Coes formed L. & A.G. Coes in Worcester making shear blades for the woolen industry until a fire destroyed their factory in 1839.  They moved to Springfield, where Loring Coes invented the screw wrench, an improvement over Solymon Merrick's previous wrench patents of 1834 and 1835.  Unlike Merrick's wrench, the Coes wrench could be held and adjusted with one hand.  The brothers moved back to Worcester and eventually merged L. Coes & Co. and the Coes Wrench Company, manufacturing the new monkey wrench design from 1869 to 1900.
 Below, the offering from the Coes Wrench Co.