>The Millers Falls company claimed to have 'invented' the eggbeater
>drill-- a boast that I suspect is grossly inflated. M-F production
>started in the mid to latter 1870's.
>Does anyone know of anything earlier? I know that breast drill had been
>around for at least a decade by this time.

Ken Roberts' "Some 19th Century English Woodworking Tools" states on page
332 that a James Chesterman was granted Letters Patent No. 12,843
on November 13, 1849 for an eggbeater (photo'd on page 337).

Paul Pedersen     
Montreal (Quebec)