Millers Falls No.2 Eggbeater
Drill Type Study
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Types L0 - L2 main handles
In the left-hand image, the handle
on the left is the
rosewood main handle of the Type
L2; on the right, it's the Type
L0's handle, which is substantially shorter. This change was
made because the newfangled twist drill bits were too long to fit the
shorter version. In the image of the Type Pre-L
handle at right, there are no longer any decorative lines incised in
the two parts. This handle's locking pin withdraws easily, so I
have shown the internal construction wherein the main frame has an
intergral threaded extension. |
However, present-day eggbeater-drill users probably realize that twist drill bits tend to "catch" in wood, because the more aggressive cutting angle afforded by the twist makes the bits advance too quickly, and so the old straight-flute bits command a premium when they can be found. Note also that the Type L0 is
probably
one of the earliest versions of the Type L series, just
like the earliest No.1 and No.3 eggbeater drills also made by Millers
Falls, because it has decorative lining on both portions of the
handle. As seen in the mug shot, the
Type L0's main gear has an undecorated rim, another feature in
commmon with the Type
1 No.1 and Type
1 No.3 Millers Falls eggbeater drills. The unlined main
handle at right is shown a little larger than the lined one, but they
are closely the same length. All of the nickel-plated brass ferrules have remained intact in these three examples, in contrast to those on the later Type H series, because they were not cold-worked. The deep-drawn ferrules on the Type H and later drills were vulnerable to stress corrosion cracking (a.k.a. season cracking) in their cold-worked state. Eventually, Millers Falls learned the correct practice of stress-relief annealing to protect those brass ferrules. |