The breakthrough came during the war. In 1921, Danish immigrant William Petersen invented the locking plier, which could be clamped firmly into place, freeing the user’s hand. The company had survived the Depression, but didn't take off until it landed a government contract in the wartime “Arsenal of Democracy” mobilization.

The pressure was so intense, deadlines so tight, that workers used any shortcut they could to build ships fast. And so untold thousands of Vise-Grip pliers, after being used to hold two pieces of steel together, were simply welded into place. We’ll never know how many of the pliers went to war, welded into the hulls of ships and fuselages of airplanes.

Petersen founded the company in DeWitt, Nebraska, where the factory remained for decades. In a village of 600 residents, the Petersen factory was the primary employer, civic pride rolling out with every truckload of pliers bound for the world. Workers never unionized; the Petersens, who owned the company until 2002, treated them like family. Generations of workers were hired on a handshake, helped with mortgages, given candy and bonuses at the holidays.

But after the company was sold and passed through a series of acquisitions, in 2008 Newell Rubbermaid closed the DeWitt factory and moved production to China. Most people who used a Vise-Grip never knew where DeWitt was, but every pair carried a little piece of that town into the world. When the factory closed, DeWitt lost the thing that had connected it to everyone else.

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Special thanks to Riley Robinson for suggesting Vise-Grip Pliers.

Links:

• DeWitt, Nebraska town history

  
  

• Vise-Grip History - Wessels Living History Farm

This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.

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