Hi Jim

On 13/07/2011 9:59 AM, James Thompson wrote:
> I wasn't aware that drills were reversible back then

I wrote:

"Pressing down would drive the tap, and raising the device would reverse 
the tap's direction."

To elaborate: the drill press always turned in one direction, and with 
downward pressure, caused the tap to turn in the same direction, cutting 
the thread. Raising the "chuck", caused it to turn the tap in reverse - 
unscrewing it from the thread it had just cut.

Neato device, but it required some care to operate it, and it did not 
need to be held by hand.

PeterH in Perth

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