Johansson's adjustable wrench
Llave inglesa (llave ajustable de Johansson)
- Date
- 1891-1892 · confidence high
- Place
- Enköping, Sweden
- Credited to
- Johan Petter Johansson
- Field
- Tools
What it is
Johansson patented in Sweden a worm-screw adjustable-jaw wrench, more precise and comfortable than the side-nut monkey wrenches that dominated at the time; marketed by Bahco, it became the reference model for adjustable wrenches worldwide.
The worm-screw wrench type had already been invented earlier in Britain (Clyburn's 1842 design); Johansson's contribution was refining it and taking it to worldwide commercial success through Bahco.
What it led to
- The Bahco/Johansson model as the dominant adjustable wrench form of the 20th century
- Displacement of the monkey wrench as the standard tool in the US