Alligator Wrench
date: label: Date made
content: early part of the 20th cen.
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: This "alligator" wrench (so-called because of its shape, like an "alligator's mouth") was used to turn iron and steel pipes and rods which could not be turned with a regular wrench. A pipefitter often used such a tool in fitting or removing air- and water-piping from a locomotive.
label: Description
content: This tool is part of a collection of hand tools used in the inspection and repair of steam locomotives in Salisbury, North Carolina from the early- to the mid-20th century, roughly 1900-1955. Light repairs on steam locomotives were usually done in roundhouses at the many small locomotive terminals throughout a railroad's system; heavy repairs were done in a large, centralized repair shop serving the whole system (often referred to as the "Back Shop").
topic: label: Subject
content: Railroads
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Transportation, Railroad
label: See more items in
content: Work
label: See more items in
content: America on the Move
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content: Transportation
label: Exhibition
content: America On The Move
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2002.0075.04
label: accession number
content: 2002.0075
label: catalog number
content: 2002.0075.04
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Wrench
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 24 in x 5 1/2 in x 1 1/2 in; 60.96 cm x 13.97 cm x 3.81 cm