William Petersen

(1880-1962) lived at Minden, Kearney County, and DeWitt, Saline County. Inventor, businessman, known for inventing vise grip pliers in 1921, and adding a locking lever devise to the wrench in 1924, when he founded his family-owned business that eventually created 33 different products with the vise-grip trademark; it was restructured in 1985 by his grandson as a subsidiary of American Tool, a holding company that became the largest privately-held manufacturer of hand tools in the world, with more than 4,600 employees at 23 plants in six states and 11 foreign countries, which in 2002 anticipated further expansion upon purchase by Newell Rubbermaid. Consult Nebraska on the March, October 1950, pp. 4-5 and May 1959, pp. 2-3 and Peter L. Petersen, The Danes in America (Lerner Publication, 1987) 81-82 and Beatrice Daily Sun, January 18, 1997, pp. A-1, A-2 and March 5, 2002, p. A-3.

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