Millers Falls No.2 Eggbeater Drill Type Study
Go back to Main Study Page
Types L0 - L2 main handles

Millers Falls No.2 eggbeater drill Types L0 - L2 handle comparison Type Pre-L main handle & attachment method

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.

The bits that the shorter handle was meant to accommodate were all the same length, but the later twist drill bits were made in what became known as jobbers lengths, meaning that the larger diameter bits were also longer, because they could drill deeper holes.  The short, straight-flute bits had to be repeatedly withdrawn from the holes being drilled because they tended to clog with chips.

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.