Manitoba's first patent: the pipe wrench

October 7, 1874, Manitoba Free Press

This item in the Manitoba Free Press of October 7, 1874 announced that the first U. S. patent had been issued to a Manitoba resident. It was to James Bedman of Winnipeg for a pipe wrench design. A Canadian patent was still pending.

Here's a look back at the life of James Bedman.

Manitoba Liberal, June 8, 1872

Bedman, originally from Hants, England, settled in the state of Minnesota in the autumn of 1858 (source). He was the first blacksmith in the region near present-day Alexandria, Douglas County, MN.

After a few years, Bedman moved to Fort Garry and in 1872 was the co-proprietor of Bedham and Kneen, Engine and Carriage Smiths. The location 'behind the Legislature' would put his shop near Main Street and McDermot Avenue the residence of A.G.B. Bannatyne doubled as the Legislature from 1871 to 1873.

It was during his time there that Bedham's invention was created.

J. Bedman Patent Application, 1874

On September 14, 1874, Bedman applied to the U.S. Patent Office for his pipe wrench. The introduction states:

Be it known that I, James Bedman, of Winnipeg, in the Province of Manitoba, Dominion of Canada have invented a new and valuable improvement in pipe wrenches and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear and exact description of the construction and operation of the same.

Patent 155,485 was granted. on September 29, 1874.

February 9, 1875, Manitoba Free Press

Did James Bedman become rich and famous from his invention? Sadly, no.

Bedman filed his papers in-person at the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C.. Returning home, he stopped in to visit family in Newark, New Jersey when he was "taken down with a bilious attack from the effects of which he died" (source). That was sometime in late December 1874 or January 1875, (though it took a few weeks for a notice to appear here).

Bedman was 42 and left a wife and son who still resided in Minnesota. It is unclear if they always lived there or if he was in the process or relocating back to the U.S..

I can find no record of who the 'Mr. Hyman' referred to in the Free Press article was.

A prominent businessman named W. F. Hyman had a clothing shop just a block from Bedman and Kneen who might have been a financial backer. The other Hyman around at the time was a steamboat captain. Perhaps there was a connection between the two due to the engine repair business, similar to Stillson below?

On the subject of pipe wrenches ... the man credited with being the 'father' of the modern pipe wrench is Daniel Stillson. A one-time steamboat fireman from Somerville, Massachusetts, Stillson was working for the Walworth Manufacturing Company of Boston when he came up with a prototype for a new wrench to be used in the pipe industry.

Stillson submitted his application for a patent in July 1876, (two years after the Bedman), and on December 5 received patent number 184,993.

Of course, numerous patents for new and improved wrenches have been granted over the years. I am not an engineer or a 'tool guy', so I am not sure how the Bedman's wrench stacks up to the industsry standard one created by Stillson.

Stillson earned an estimated $100,000 in his lifetime from his invention. The 'Stillson wrench' and variations of it are still used today.

This July 2011 post was updated in April 2023 to correct biographical information and the date the patent was granted to Bedman.