Resting on your laurels

Three different kinds of pliers, all marked with the same 1894 patent by William Bernard of New Haven, CT.  In his letters of patent, he claimed that making pliers out of stamped metal made them lighter and easier to use. Anyway, he clearly got a lot of mileage out of this one idea.

In 1890, William Bernard also patented the first parallel-action pliers.  He sold his idea to the William Schollhorn Co which had been founded in 1870. These pliers revolutionized the pliers industry, leading to specialized pliers for such activities as adjusting typewriter keys.  About eighty years later,  Schollhorn was gobbled up by the Sargent Manufacturing Company, then the Rostra Tool Company bought them in 1987.  The Rostra Tool Company remains the largest independent crimp tool manufacturer in the United States.