Goodell Bros. Push Drill, pat'd Nov. 17, 1891

[Michael Ray Smith]

I bought this a few months ago at an antique store (paying too much, as usual in antique stores), most out of curiosity and for the niche it represents in the history of American toolmakers. Goodell Bros. was started by a couple of Millers Falls employees, Albert and Henry Goodell, around 1890. It operated under that name though most of the 1890's when the company was bought by its treasurer, William Pratt, who changed the name to Goodell-Pratt. Goodell-Pratt was bought by Millers Falls in 1931.

When I bought this one, I wasn't sure it was going to work at all. You could push it in and then eat lunch while it slowly re-extended. When I took it apart, it was filled with black greasy gunk. Like the few other push drills I've taken apart, the push rod inside the spring is wooden. Unlike the others I've seen, the upper part of the drill is lined with a smooth wooden cylinder that accepts the lower spiral mechanism. Others I've seen have a brass, spiral-grooved cylinder. It seems to me that using a wooden cylinder is just asking for trouble, and I suspect the black gunk that I found was a mixture of old oil and wood particles worn from the cylinder. The pictures show it after it was cleaned up, and it works okay now. . . but I don't plan to actually use it.

Since I picked this one up, I've notice several on eBay, so I assume they're fairly common. Has anyone else ever taken one apart?

Mike

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[Mel Fulks]

Lignum vitae to eliminate need for oil,got oiled anyway?

[Gary Herrmann]

I took apart a GP 185 that had a wooden plunger. That one did not have a wooden receiving cylinder though. I imagine yours predates mine. I assume it takes the drill points will + shaped shanks?

So you're happy with the performance? I could check to see if I have any parts laying around from my pushdrill adventures.


Gary, pushdrill-aholic

[Michael Ray Smith]

Lignum vitae to eliminate need for oil,got oiled anyway?

Yep. (Now a parenthetical to get the minimum 10 characters required for a post.)

[Michael Ray Smith]

I imagine yours predates mine. I assume it takes the drill points will + shaped shanks?

So you're happy with the performance?

Yes, it takes points with the + shaped shanks. See pic -- Note that the brass color in this photo isn't real; just a bad picture. It still has most of the plating.

Happy with the performance? I dunno. Let's just say it works. I haven't actually tried to do anything with it and don't intend to. I think it belongs in a collection, not in the rack above my workbench.


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