Charles Moncky

[Branson]

"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.

[rusty]

I have seen the same story claim Connecticut, and other places.

Perhaps the oddest one is this one, by an irrefutable sorce, a whiskey company ;P

http://books.google.com/books?id=90EEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA42#v=onepage&q&f=false

One can not help wondering why, if it was invented in 'ancient London', it was not called a Monkey Spanner' tho...

So far, the earliest patent using the actual words 'monkey wrench' seems to be Coes , 93,521 of 1869. No definition of the term is given, so presumably none was needed ....

Most of these stories do not cite sources, but I found one that does, , in 1969, the Magazine "Materials Evaluation" repeated it, citing: "From the panel on a package of Nabisco Shredded Wheat "

[johnsironsanctuary]

Thanks Rusty! My family history was always a little hazy. A tie to London, the blacksmith trade and fine whiskey. Who could ask for more.