subsidiary of newell rubbermaid industry manufacturing founded 1885 in martinsville ohio founder charles irwin headquarters huntersville nc key people charles irwin william petersen products hand tools website www.irwin.com irwin industrial tools is an american manufacturer and distributor of hand tools and power tool accessories . it is a subsidiary of newell rubbermaid . 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 . 1 contents 1 history 2 gallery 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit 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 . 2 in 1924 another blacksmith danish immigrant william petersen of dewitt nebraska invented the first locking pliers 3 and named them vise grips . 4 in 1934 petersen formed the petersen manufacturing company to produce them . 5 in 1957 petersen added an easy release trigger to the design creating the modern locking pliers design . 6 in 1985 the petersen family american tool companies and bought out petersen manufacturing . clarification needed in 1993 american acquired the irwin tool company and in 2002 newell rubbermaid acquired american . in 2003 the company officially changed its name to irwin industrial tool company . 7 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 . 8 in 2010 irwin closed the customer service office in wilmington oh and moved the customer service department to huntersville nc . gallery edit a pair of vise grip locking pliers . a masonry drill bit . a spade bit . see also edit irwin tools night race a nascar race sponsored by the company . references edit irwin industrial tools . about us . retrieved 2008 04 06 . us 361522 us 1489458 frechette leon . 75th anniversary of the vise grip locking pliers . retrieved 2010 02 25 . nebraska state historical society 2003 04 02 . made in nebraska exhibit petersen manufacturing . retrieved 2010 02 25 . us 2838973 irwin industrial tools . history . retrieved 2010 02 25 . workers sorry vise grip plant moving to china . the associated press . 2008 09 03 . retrieved 2010 02 25 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to irwin . irwin industrial tools website v t e newell brands newell company rubbermaid newell rubbermaid sanford l.p. elmer s products jarden corporation writing utensils sharpie paper mate dymo expo elmer s krazy glue liquid paper parker uniball prismacolor x acto waterman consumer solutions bionaire breville uk crock pot foodsaver health o meter holmes mr. coffee oster patton rival sunbeam villaware outdoor solutions coleman jostens k2 marmot pure fishing abu garcia berkley penn shakespeare rawlings adio exofficio madshus marker v lkl tools irwin industrial tools lenox tools commercial products rubbermaid commercial products baby and parenting graco nuk aprica baby jogger home solutions rubbermaid calphalon goody contigo bubba branded consumables first alert jarden home brands diamond pine mountain ball bernardin lehigh crawford mapa loew cornell united states playing card company bicycle bee hoyle kem waddington yankee candle resistat rino tuff weed warrior yorker process solutions jarden zinc products jarden plastic solutions jarden applied materials v t e hand tool manufacturers current dasco pro inc. apex tool group allen armstrong tools crescent diamond gearwrench k d tools lufkin nicholson plumb sata tools wiss xcelite bondhus buck bros. channellock cornwell tools digitool solutions disston saw works ega master eklind emerson ridgid empire level estwing felo few fiskars gerber gardner bender gedore gray tools dynamic 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fleet duracraft canadian tire mastercraft the home depot husky lee valley veritas lowe s kobalt menards masterforce montgomery ward powrkraft sears craftsman retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title irwin industrial tools & oldid 737714518 categories tool manufacturing companies of the united statesnewell rubbermaid brandsmanufacturing companies based in ohiomanufacturing companies established in 1885hidden categories wikipedia articles needing clarification from september 2016commons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this 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