Irwin Industrial Tools

American tool manufacturer and distributor

Irwin Industrial Tools is an American manufacturer and distributor of hand tools and power tool accessories. It is owned by Stanley Black & Decker. It is best known for producing Vise Grip locking pliers. Additionally, it produces clamps, drill bits, taps and dies, screw extractors, bolt extractors, saw blades, pipe wrenches, screwdrivers, snips, and other construction tools.

Irwin was founded in 1885 in Martinsville, Ohio as the Irwin Auger Bit Company by Charles Irwin, a pharmacist. Irwin had bought the rights to a solid center auger bit from a local blacksmith. In 1924, another blacksmith, Danish immigrant William Petersen of DeWitt, Nebraska, invented the first locking pliers and named them Vise Grips. In 1934, Petersen formed the Petersen Manufacturing Company to produce them. In 1957, Petersen added an easy release trigger to the design, creating the modern locking pliers design. In 1985, American Tool Companies bought out Petersen Manufacturing. In 1993, American acquired The Irwin Tool Company, and in 2002, Newell Rubbermaid acquired American. In 2003, American officially changed its name to Irwin Industrial Tool Company. In 2008, Irwin announced the closing of its DeWitt, Nebraska plant, ending 80 years of American production for Vise Grips, citing a necessity to move production to China "to keep the Vise Grip name competitive." In 2010, Irwin closed the customer service office in Wilmington, OH and moved the customer service department to Huntersville, NC. In October 2016 Stanley Black & Decker Inc agreed to buy Newell Brands Inc.’s tools business for $1.95 billion. The acquisition was completed in March 2017.