I was at an antiques show yesterday and one of the booths had stuff in piles on tables, most of it junk. There were a lot of old clamps and pipe wrenches but what caught my eye was a drill. I saw it was pretty old, so I figured 40s. It looked cool so I purchased it for $15. The specs aren't great, only 1.75 amps and 400RPM and the cord is completely rotted. This thing is huge and heavy. Only forward, no reverse on this drill.
Once I got home, I started looking into it and realized it was probably not from the 40s as the ones from the 40s did not have Art Deco styling. I found one "Special 1/2" Drill" on eBay that had a much higher serial number than mine but was a different, evidently newer model. I then kept on searching about old Black & Decker drills and found this ad:
This one was different than the one I found on eBay but closer in appearance to it than mine. This one advertises that it has a trigger guard while mine did not but the newer one did. That ad was from 1927. My educated guess is that this drill is from before 1927.
Black & Decker created the first portable electric drill back in 1916. I have contacted them hoping for more information but I doubt I will get this sort of help through their email service.
This drill is missing the top handle and needs a new cord and wiring. I hope to be able to test if the motor is still good but I am going to service it before I attempt that. I may ask the representative if those parts are available
