A couple of days ago there were questions about who
"invented" the eggbeater drill.

The brace patent book shows some eggbeater and breast
drill patents among the braces, and the earliest of
them is US patent #730, by George Page of Keene, New
Hampshire, for a "Geared Drill Stock". This patent is
dated May 8, 1838.

 The text of the patent seems to indicate that his
improvements  for this style of tool include the
adjustable length crank arm and a friction roller that
runs against the back side of the main gear to keep it
running more evenly. It would seem that this type of
drill preceded his patent.  
The brace patent book gives this patent a rarity of
"A" indicating that only a few have been found (I
don't have the book in front of me, and don't recall
the exact number of observed tools that "A" indicates,
but I think it is less than 6 or so.)

Jim Erdman (in Menomonie, WI)

> >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).

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