Where did the term "Grease Monkey" come from?

[Longjohn ★]

 

[Reverend_Maynard]

I know this is a joke thread, but I'm guessing the term came from small children working in mills and having the job of climbing all over the machines greasing the various wear surfaces.  Probably a very fun, safe job for a 10 year old to be doing.

 

[maddmaxx ★]

11 minutes ago, Reverend_Maynard said:

I know this is a joke thread, but I'm guessing the term came from small children working in mills and having the job of climbing all over the machines greasing the various wear surfaces.  Probably a very fun, safe job for a 10 year old to be doing.

 

It hasn't changed all that much.  In modern mills, the new guy gets to climb inside an operating mill and change out the radiation source that measures steel thickness.

They do let you wear a radiation badge though.

They don't usually tell you what it read.

I'm glad they laid me off.

[jsharr ★]

13 minutes ago, Reverend_Maynard said:

I know this is a joke thread, but I'm guessing the term came from small children working in mills and having the job of climbing all over the machines greasing the various wear surfaces.  Probably a very fun, safe job for a 10 year old to be doing.

 

 

Just now, maddmaxx said:

It hasn't changed all that much.  In modern mills, the new guy gets to climb inside an operating mill and change out the radiation source that measures steel thickness.

They do let you wear a radiation badge though.

They don't usually tell you what it read.

I'm glad they laid me off.

So did they have to carry one wrench to adjust a wide variety of fasteners when doing the greasing?  Is that why an adjustable wrench is called a monkey wrench?

[Reverend_Maynard]

7 minutes ago, jsharr said:

 

So did they have to carry one wrench to adjust a wide variety of fasteners when doing the greasing?  Is that why an adjustable wrench is called a monkey wrench?

Not according to wiki...

Quote

"Monkey" is not its name at all, Charles Moncky, the inventor of it, sold his patent for $5000, and invested the money in a house in Williamsburg, Kings County, where he now lives. ... He could not have invented or named the "monkey wrench" because he was born after the term, "monkey wrench", first appeared in print

ETA: That'll teach me to just read google's blurb without going to the article.  Apparently the above is urban myth.  The wiki says they were invented for repairing coaches.  It says the term monkey comes from...

Quote

The World English Dictionary gives a nautical definition for monkey, as a modifier "denoting a small light structure or piece of equipment contrived to suit an immediate purpose: a monkey foresail ; a monkey bridge."^[1]

Because it's adjustable, it's always the monkey you need, I guess.