Several people are claimed as its inventor. Edwin Beard Budding (1796–1846), an engineer from Stroud, England, is one. On 22 September 1885 Enoch Harris received US patent 326868 for his spanner that permitted both the jaw width and the angle of the handles to be adjusted and locked. Some countries refer to it as a "Swedish key" after Swedish inventor Johan Petter Johansson. In 1891 he got a patent for an improved adjustable spanner which is still used today. Johansson improved the 1842 invention of another English engineer Richard Clyburn. 