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Portable Drill, 1902

Peter S

Diamond
Joined
May 6, 2002
Location
Auckland, New Zealand
I came across this portable drilling machine in a set of 5 volumes titled Electrical Installations by Rankin Kennedy, 1902.

There are 3 speeds to choose from, see the 3 spindles on the face of the gearbox.

Fein claim to have manufactured the first portable electric drill in 1895, but it was on a much smaller scale (see photo).




Portable drill, 1902 01.jpg Portable drill, 1902 02.jpg Fein power drill 1895.jpg
 
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Peter,

Thanks for starting this thread.

JD 2016 DM electric tools1.jpg

The Deutsches Museum have a good display of early portable electric drills. I just took a quick snapshot, but the machines are described and illustrated online. 1895 C&E Fein machine here:-

Deutsches Museum: Electric Hand Drill SZ 3

Descriptions of the other machines can be found from that link.

They also have a less-portable type, whose portrait I'll post later.

The earliest example of a portable-ish electric drill that I've come across was patented by F. G. Rowan of Glasgow, and was used in shipyards. It could be attached magnetically to vertical plates. Featured in The Engineer, 3 June 1887.
 
Not as old but here is a Sprague from 1904 and a Cincinnati Electrical Tool Co. of 1903.

Rob
 

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here is my somewhat later drill collection, prob 1930s to '60s

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I don't have any pictures of my early electric hand drills.
Here is one I have. The pictures are not of mine.
It is a dual motor TEMCO, The Temco Electric Motor Co.

Rob
 

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ok, that is the goofiest drill I've ever seen. the dodo bird of power tools, holy crap..:confused:

Before the Dewalt battery drills were allowed in the Amish Communities, I saw a very similar set up using a Honda 5 hp engine and flex shaft.
 
I've got a few of the old aluminum case drills (need to get some pictures). All single speed with no variable and no reverse. The two smallest are fun little 1/4" max size ones for household stuff, but they both have on/off toggle switches, no trigger, so they're a little harry to use. If the bit catches and it gets away from you, you'll have some Loony Toon action on your hands.

One I actually use pretty frequently for popping holes is an old "Thor" (The one pictured isn't mine). I always thought it looked like it came out of an old Metropolis type sci-fi film.
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Some great early examples.

I seem to recall an early(ish) American example of a Black and Decker that looked like similar vintage to Cyanidkids examples in the Baltimore museum of industry.

Similar vintage still in use serves to elevate the knee on my mill.

I forget the age (but I'm going to guess not earlier than the 1930's).
 
Here is a post I made a while ago. I still have the beast. Since then I acquired a 1/4" Milwaukee with a D handle. Sorry, no pictures of it.

This Old Drill Motor??

Oh interesting! The Black and Decker patent referenced in that post, filed in 1914, is basically identical to the B&D I’ve got in the bottom center of the collection in my post.
I had guessed ‘30s but, wow, 1914-17! It’s fascinating that the trigger switch, which requires one pull to turn it on, and another full cycle of the trigger to turn it off, is considered a “safety feature”. if it gets caught its still going and going.. kind of terrifying. I would only use it with some safety disconnect rigged that would pull the power plug if it got caught, but no, actually I won’t use it. I’ll start a thread on that drill later maybe, with more pics if there is interest?
 








 
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