Yankee Push Drill and Yankee Screwdriver

[@Ginrummy33]

My grandfather worked in the furniture factories of North Carolina in the 40s and 50s, before Phillips screws were around. So he was using his yankee screwdriver on slotted (straight) screws all day, which you can imagine didn't work so well. He said he thought of inventing a cross-section screw but never actually did it, maybe it would have been the Herman screw now instead! :)

[@EmergencyChannel]

Not to burst your bubble, but Philip screws were around and very common before the 1950's and 60's. They were patented in the early 30's and 85% of screw manufacturers had a license to produce Philip's pattern by 1940. GM was using Philip screws in their cars in the mid 1930's.

[@randyheinbaugh8238]

I still use mine

[@Tensquaremetreworkshop]

Why two tools that do essentially the same job?

[@Ahjile]

Ah, because they don't do the same thing at all. The drill screws down, then pulls up and reverses to eject the waste out, clearing it to drill further on the next push. The driver halts its twist on the pull stroke, allowing every push to further advance the screw without any pullback. There are further important differences. The driver has a hex chuck for standard driving bits, while the drill has a chuck that accepts round bits. Also, the driver has a thicker internal twist bar (seen extended in this video), it is stronger, has more torque, and operates slower. The drill is designed more for speed in drilling, which is ideal.

[@Tensquaremetreworkshop]

@@Ahjile Partly right. The drills are not normal round shank- they are Yankee compatable shafts. Hex ended drills are widely available, of course, as are driver bits; but you cannot use either these or normal drills. And metric do not appear to be available (or number or letter...) Rotation- this can be chosen by the selector. Of course, twist drills do not need to reverse- technically they are spiral upcut, so they clear chips as they go. The driver seems to need rotation tightening of the bit- inferior to the normal axial lock of hex drivers. The spiral may be more robust- but the number of turns per press seems very similar. I still hold that a single tool can do both jobs. I have a Yankee with a chuck adapter (for standard drills), and it works fine. Hex adapters are also available.

[@plips71755]

Cool old time tool, but he needs to hold these tools straight up and down not at an angle.

[@scotty5340]

That is not a yankee screwdriver, this is a yankee screwdriver 🔨