Wrench

Hello there. You can call me the Adjustable Wrench, but my friends just call me Wrench. I’m made of strong, shiny steel, cool to the touch, with a long handle for a good grip. My most important part is my head. It has a jaw that can open wide or close up tight, all with the turn of a little spinning screw on my side. My job is simple but very important: I hold onto nuts and bolts so you can turn them. I can loosen a stubborn bolt that’s stuck tight or tighten a new one so it holds everything together perfectly. Before I came along, things were much more difficult. Imagine your dad or a mechanic trying to fix a car. They would need a huge, heavy toolbox filled with my cousins. Each cousin was a different size, made for just one specific nut. If they didn’t have the exact right size, they were out of luck. It was a clunky, jangling mess, and finding the right tool took forever. It was a big problem waiting for a simple solution.

My story really begins with my ancestors, the solid, non-adjustable wrenches. They were a big family, with a different cousin for every size of bolt imaginable. They worked hard, but they weren't very flexible. This was a real headache for a clever man named Karl Petter Johansson who lived in Sweden. He was a founder of a company that made all sorts of machines, and he was always fixing things. Every time he went to work on a piece of equipment, he had to lug around a heavy bag filled with dozens of my cousins. He grew tired of searching for the right size and felt the frustration of carrying so much weight. He knew there had to be a better way. One day, while looking at his pile of tools, he had a brilliant idea. What if one tool could change its size to fit many different nuts and bolts? He imagined a wrench with a jaw that could slide back and forth. His mind raced as he thought of a way to control it. That’s when he came up with the idea for my little worm screw. By turning that small wheel with your thumb, you could move my jaw to the perfect size. It was an 'aha!' moment that would change toolboxes forever. He worked carefully to make his idea a reality, and on May 11th, 1892, he received a patent, which is like a special certificate for an invention. I was officially born.

Once I was invented, everything changed. I was like a superhero for toolboxes. Instead of needing twenty different tools, a plumber or a mechanic only needed me. I could travel in a pocket or a small bag, ready for any job, big or small. I helped build the very first automobiles, tightening the bolts that held their engines together. I reached into tight spaces in the skeletons of skyscrapers, securing the steel beams that touched the clouds. I was there under kitchen sinks to fix leaky pipes and in garages to help put together brand-new bicycles for kids. I made it possible for everyday people to fix things around their own homes without needing a giant, expensive set of tools. Looking back, I am so proud. I am proof that sometimes the most helpful ideas are the simple ones. A little thought from a clever person who was tired of a problem created me, a tool that has helped people build, create, and repair their world for over a hundred years. And I’m still going strong, ready for the next bolt that needs turning.