I don't remember if I was reading something, or possibly watching a documentary, about the lives of those working in early factories of the industrial revolution, especially children, and the jobs they had to do. Passing mention was made that some of the more agile boys were enlisted to climb into the overhead maze of line shafting, pulleys, and belts to do assorted lubrication and minor maintenance adjustments. The common slang term for this job was, not surprisingly, "Monkey". I've searched the internet for more proof of that job title but can't find anything now. Maybe someone with interest in the early factories can verify it? Anyhow, It got me thinking that maybe the term "monkey wrench" came about simply because an easily adjustable wrench, that doubles as a hammer, in a size easily handled, was the one tool that these "Monkeys" would invariably find perfect for dealing with square headed set screws on pulleys and the other simple hardware they might encounter. Maybe the name came after the wrench was already well established.
There is another old term--- "throwing a monkey wrench into the gears" or "monkey wrenching" that has come to mean accidental, or intentional, sabotage of the industrial process. I did find this term originally came from the Dutch windmills and the wooden shoes, or sabots, that could fall off and end up in the gears. So I thought, as industrialization became more widespread, who was more likely to drop a tool into the gears below than a "monkey" climbing around above said gears. If the commonly dropped tool that stopped the grist mill or factory gears was a hammer or pliers maybe we would have "monkey hammers" or "monkey pliers", but NO, we have "monkey WRENCHES". If someone can verify that those people sent into the overhead works were indeed called "Monkeys" I think it makes a good case for the wrench being named after those who preferred it, possibly over any other tool, for the job. Many tools are named after those who find the design best suited for the job, like a "cobblers hammer" or "tinners hammer". If "Monkeys" exclusively preferred a certain style of combination wrench / hammer then might the tool not become known as a "monkey wrench"? I'd like to hear from anyone with thoughts on the idea.
John Dunn
