What it is?

[Bruce Page]

I'm assuming this is a neander tool based on the tang, but I really have no idea.

[steven c newman]

Missing it's chain.. You use a loop of chain, this will pull the chain AND the bit you are drilling into a beam. aka...Chain Drill. Sometimes set into a big brace, other times into a Breast Drill...As you spin the drill, there is an automatic advance...run by that chain...

Goodell Pratt Co. / Millers Falls was one maker of these. ( and YES, I do have one, WITH the chain...)

[Geoff Emms]

As well as missing its chain, part of the drive mechanism is missing. I posted a photo of one of mine to show the missing part. As the tang is rotated by brace or drill, the pin contacts the little star wheel and advances the main gear wheel one tooth. This forces the bit forward into the workpiece, very handy if you're up a pole or windmill tower. Yours (and mine) was made by Goodell -Pratt.
Cheers,
Geoff.

[Bruce Page]

Thanks for the info. A friend of mine found it in his fathers tool box.

[steven c newman]

The chains looked a bit..special..
466660

When I can find a bit of time..I need to clean this one up a bit...

[Ron Selzer]

I have a brand new on in the basement somewhere. Bought it 35-40 years ago at local hardware that was cleaning out old stock. no idea how old it really is
Ron

[steven c newman]

Wasn't Goodell Pratt Co. taken over by Millers Falls back in the mid 1930s? Not sure what model number was used for either maker's version.....some had a brace already attached, just stick a bit in and go...

[Geoff Emms]

The chain drill type posted by Bruce and me is listed in the Goodell-Pratt 1905 No 7 catalogue as a No 307 going by the chuck, but, there are eight models in that cat' and none show the chain holder used on Bruce's version. The chain drill shown by Steven is also Goodell-Pratt, in their catalog No 16 from 1926 it is No 326. All the models listed show a chain holder with a fixed anchor, one end, as in Stevens photo. Goodell-Pratt were taken over by Millers Falls Co in 1931 and neither of these chain drills appear in the combined MF/G-P cat' No 42 of 1938, so I would assume were discontinued by then.
If anyone has a model with chain holder with both free ends like that shown by Bruce I would be interested in hearing about it.
Cheers,
Geoff.

[Lee Schierer]

The chains looked a bit..special..
466660

When I can find a bit of time..I need to clean this one up a bit...

The chain is called sash chain and it is available from a couple of sources.

[Geoff Emms]

Thanks Lee, I've wondered if it was still being made.

[Stew Denton]

I used one way back when I worked for the State of Kansas testing water wells. Actually it was best if there were two of us to run the one we used, otherwise the drilling was pretty slow. We used it to drill holes in steel pipe. Normally there was no electricity anywhere near where you were doing the testing, and high power large battery powered drills didn't exist. One guy would run the brace, and it was a large swing brace probably a 14", but that was so long ago I don't remember the details. The other guy would run the manual advance which tightened the chain drawing the bit down into the steel little by little, it put tremendous downforce on the bit. One man could probably run it by himself, but it would have been much slower. A twist steel bit that was designed to be used in a brace was used to bore into steel. A very sharp bit was basically essential.

If I recall, it was the very very rare exception when we had to use it, because most of the pipe was aluminum irrigation pipe, but every once in a great while you ran into a spot where you had to drill into steel pipe. I can only remember one specific time at the moment, but think a 3/8" hole was needed, and the two of us that used the chain drill were both in our young 20s at the time. It worked really pretty well, and it did not take very long to drill the hole through the pipe, and I think the pipe had perhaps 1/4" wall thickness.

When you had completed the testing you tapped the pipe, and used a stainless steel (I think) pipe plug to close the hole.

I do recall that the chain drill we used was basically pretty antiquated even back then. I think that the boss, the regional water superintendent, had bought it himself at a farm auction. I may have only seen 1 or 2 others since that time.

The chain drill definitely falls under the category of a Neander tool.

Regards,

Stew

[Geoff Emms]

Thanks Stew, I love hearing anecdotes from people who've actually used these old tools. An old timer told me an outfit in Perth that supplied windmills, many years ago, would lend you a chain drill if you'd bought a new mill head and needed to drill new holes to fit it to the tower.
Cheers,
Geoff.