"Charles Moncky lived in Baltimore and worked as a mechanic. He acquired a patent for his invention of the "monkey" wrench in 1858. According to multiple sources, the tool is not named because it's easy to toy with (like a monkey), but instead it was originally named after the inventor Moncky. Due to other evidence some historians say it was named monkey wrench because other screw-adjustable wrenches and the term monkey wrench were used as far back as the 1840's."
But, Ask Jeeves has:
"The following story can be found in sundry publications from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries:
That handy tool, the "monkey-wrench", is not so named because it is a handy thing to monkey with, or for any kindred reason. "Monkey" is not its name at all, but "Moncky." Charles Moncky, the inventor of it, sold his patent for $2000, and invested the money in a house in Williamsburg, Kings County, where he now lives.[7][8]
However, this was refuted by historical and patent research in the late nineteenth century.[2]
Ask Jeeves also says:
The World English Dictionary gives a nautical definition for monkey, as a modifier "denoting a small light structure or piece of equipment contrived to suit an immediate purpose: a monkey foresail ; a monkey bridge."[1]
Then the Davistown Museum has an extensive and very worthwhile article (
http://www.davistownmuseum.org/bioBostonWrench.htm ) with lots of interesting pictures. From that site comes this sentence:
"Also, it is amusing to note that the Omaha Mechanics Band in 1926 saw fit to issue and be identified with "The Song of the Monkey Wrench."
That blows up the Charles Moncky 1858 patent story.
