DigiKey-eMag-Tools, Test and Measurement-Vol 20

retroelectro

Eventually, a spring was added on the inside of the forge handle to return the pivoting head to a resting position. A look through all catalogs shows how companies have tried many different approaches to enhance the tool, but none were lasting. Today, you can still buy a wrench at your local hardware store that is virtually identical to the one sold by Walworth in the late 1800s. “Daniel Stillson built his wrench well – so well, in fact, that though we have had experts working on it constantly, we have been able to make no improvements of importance.” – Howard Coonley, President Walworth Manufacturing Co. 1920 Writer’s note: the writer contacted the Central Public Library in Somerville, and nobody there could find any such plaque. An unexpected connection at Walworth’s wires In this unrelated story, in 1876, while Colonel Green and Stillson managed the engineering department at the Boston Walworth central offices, Alexander Graham Bell first demonstrated the new telephone at the First World’s Fair in Philadelphia. Between March and October, Thomas Watson and Alexander Graham Bell collaborated to design a practical voice device. When it was time to show investors that it worked over a distance, J.

J. Walworth, owner of Walworth Manufacturing, installed the very first telephones between his office in Boston and his home two miles away. This arrangement was ideal because he already had telegraph lines connecting his home and the factory. Neither Green nor Stillson is mentioned in the history of the first telephone call, yet they were both overseeing the company’s engineering department at that time. It is not a stretch to believe that Daniel Stillson may have been involved in making the very first phone call. Dan Stillson’s late life Soon after Walworth released the Stillson Wrench, Dan Stillson built a house in Somerville,

Massachusetts, and moved his family there. This home is still standing today. It is said that, in his lifetime, he received up to $100,000 in royalties for his patent. He continued his life of innovation by patenting several other tools, fire extinguishers, plumbing faucets, water heaters, etc., earning nearly two dozen patents in his lifetime. In retirement, he worked as a local politician and performed charity work. A plaque to him is on display in the Somerville Public Library, which was dedicated in 1884. Daniel Stillson passed away in August 1899 at the age of 73.

Competition exploded. This tool was such a great revenue stream entire factories were dedicated solely to its production, and when the patent expired, dozens of companies started knocking it off, flooding the market. For many years, the thought was that you didn’t need to trademark something that was patented, so nobody trademarked the Stillson name until it was too late. In the early 1900s, after J.J. Walworth’s passing, the business was run by his son, A.C. Walworth. In 1905, he filed the trademark for the name ‘Stillson’ and even started a new company named Walworth Stillson specifically to sell this wrench. In the 1920s, Walworth made a strong commitment to the Stillson brand with large magazine advertising campaigns. The problem was that, in many magazine issues, you would find competitors selling the same wrench, which they also named Stillson. This rivalry made Walworth go in even harder trying to protect their brand with the ‘Genuine Stillson Diamond’ trademark and in 1925 they sued their largest competitor, Moore Drop Forge over trademark infringement over the ‘Stillson’ brand. In a landmark case that set a precedent that has effects even today, it was determined that in 1925 the term ‘Stillson Wrench’ had become a “generic descriptive term” for a type of pipe wrench. Walworth could not exclusively control the name anymore.

Advertising went from talking about the legend of the wrench to talking more about the superior quality with taglines like ‘Buy the real thing’, ‘Walworth Quality’, and ‘Service you can trust’, emphasizing the Walworth brand over Stillson. The Stillson Wrench is still used today, made by dozens of manufacturers globally. You can buy one in the tools or plumbing section of any hardware store across the country, while today, they are simply referred to as a ‘pipe wrench.’ However, the reader can easily purchase one from the 1800s today for less than $20 online, which will be as good quality, if not better, than the $120 wrenches you can buy today.

– Kevin Bochynski www. bochynski.com/stillson/html/ biography.html 5. USS Queen – Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_ Queen 6. Catalogue and Price List 1870 - James J. Walworth & Co. archive.org/details jamesjwalworthand cocatalogue1870/page/n7/ mode/2up?q=stillson 7. Illustrated Catalogue of Wrought and Cast Iron Pipe 1878 – Walworth Manufacturing Company archive.org/ detailsillustratedcatal 00walw/page/36/mode/2up 8. A History of One Hundred Years of Valve Manufacturing – Walworth Manufacturing

The life of the Stillson Wrench

The patent expired in 1886, and then the wrench was widely copied.

Company babel.hathitrust .org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.3011 2071165192&seq=1