? on YANKEE reversible[?] screwdriver Pat. 1887

[udoittwo]

Hello I'm a newbie here,
I was wondering if this is a forum that might be able to help me with some questions on some old tools I inherited?

My Great Grand father and Grand Father were woodworkers/carpenters in the late 1800s-mid 1900s and I now have some of their tools and tool boxes.
I found this screwdriver that I am calling a "reversible" model.

I found several examples of a similar looking YANKEE tool that are listed buy Model #s. I am guessing this is an earlier model as it has no Model # and has an early pat. date. It looks like it was patented Apr. 16 1885 or 1895 and Nov. 2 1887 or 1897?

It works great and what really surprised me is the condition of the "blade"[?]. Are they interchangable? Would this have any value or is it just an interesting old tool?

I'm going to try to post a picture or 2 if I can.

Thank you for your time and any help,
Karl.

 

[udoittwo]

I hope I got this correct for posting picts?

 

[ChaseDE]

I think they are worth a few maybe $30 on ebay IIRC (don't quote me)

I inherited 2 from my grandfather.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Yankee drills were being made and sold up until not that many years ago, so they've been around for a long, long time (Garrett-Wade still sells a similar tool today, see their website at http://www.garrettwade.com/garrett-wade-yankee-push-drill-gp.html ) They did have interchangeable bits.

I'm pretty sure there have been some discussions here on this site about them. You can try using the search function in the bar at the top of this page, or what usually works better is to use Google to specifically search this site.

You can also look up patent the patent numbers online - I forget the website, but I think if you just enter the patent date into Google that will lead you there. I would imagine there were updates to the design over the years, so there are probably newer patents that apply.

It turns out there's a Wikipedia page for Yankee drivers that may be useful as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_screwdriver

 

[captain14]

A neighbor was in the Air Force and was in aviation maintenance and repair. He said that was a standard issue tool to remove body panels, etc during service I believe.

That would be in the late 50s-early 60s. I’m sure it was a specific model for aviation.

 

[Farmer J.]

Useful, reliable tool. Smooth and quiet and they never get flat batteries.. best to keep your fingers out of the mechanism though!
I have a Stanley 'Yankee' and a 'Spiralux' and several removable bits for each of them, and have been using them since I was a teenager.

 

[woody 73]

An old post of mine, sadly no post replies...Hope it helps you out a little bit:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=363525

 

[woody 73]

Jan/ 02/1897

Wow look what name came up...

http://datamp.org/patents/displayPatent.php?id=7797

 

[Farmer J.]

Good research Woody, interesting to read. I never imagined the design was so old just regarded my screwdrivers as convenient everyday tools.

 

[DadsTools]

Use to use them a lot during the before-time to work on deep recessed screws in the bottom of the air chests in old pipe organs with those soft steel slotted long wood screws.

 

[udoittwo]

Thanks.
That pat. info is interesting. Think I'll keep that site.
Thanks again for the input and info.
Karl.