History
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, the Petersen family formed American Tool Companies and bought out Petersen Manufacturing. 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.
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.
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