oct-2017

264 265 GREASE MONKEY AT A GLANCE GREASE MONKEY WHAT: The nation’s largest independent franchiser of automotive care centers WHERE: Headquarters in Greenwood Village, Colorado WEBSITES: www.grease monkeyintl.com STILL HUSTLING T he term“grease monkey” is said to have orig- inated in Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution. Prior to the widespread use of electric motors small enough to be connect- ed to each piece of machinery on a factory floor, power was distributed from a centralized steam engine to the individual work stations through the use of line shafts and their many component parts -gears, belts, axles, pulleys, and bearings.The line shaft ran along the building’s ceiling and all of its elements had to be con- tinually lubricated.The small boys whose job it was to crawl amid the tight spaces in the ceilings to do this dirty job seemed to resemble a bunch of grease-cov- ered monkeys to the workers toiling below them. Years later, the term began being applied to me- chanics, and more specifically to car mechanics,who GREASE