Loring Coes (April 22, 1812 – July 13, 1906) was an American inventor, industrialist and Republican politician who invented the screw type wrench, commonly known as the monkey wrench and who served as a member of the Worcester, Massachusetts City Council and Board of Aldermen, and as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives[1][2] in 1864–1865.

[2] On January 14, 1835, Loring married Harriet Neal Read of Attleboro, Massachusetts.

[2] The Coes brothers were unable to continue in businesses so they moved to Springfield, Massachusetts to work as pattern makers in the foundry of Laurin Trask.

[2] The Coes brothers sold their pattern for spinning machines that they had rescued from the fire that destroyed their plant, and used the money to pay for the patent on the Screw Wrench that Loring Coes was granted on April 16, 1841.

[2] After they were granted the patent, the brothers' company L. & A. G. Coes went back into operation and they began to manufacture their new wrench.