The earliest Yankee screwdrivers to gain popularity were made by the small family business North Brothers Manufacturing Company starting around North Bros continued to refine the design over the years. For more on the history of Yankee screwdrivers, check out this excellent post by the Valley Woodworker. Yankee screwdriver bits have a half-cutout at the base of the bit which fits into a slot in the chuck.
A small notch further up keeps the bit from falling out. This gives it far more torque and control than standard hex bits. Today, these bits are somewhat hard to get your hands on. If you have an antique Yankee screwdriver, you can get new bits here , or opt for an adapter like this one that lets you use any modern hex bit. Did you find a model to add to your toolbox? Let everyone know in the comments below! Learn new creative skills with an exclusive 1-week 1-month free trial of Skillshare Premium!
Read also: 12 essential woodworking tools for beginners Check out the full list below, or just nab one of the quick picks linked below. I started out with one of these interesting tools, given to me by my father from his toolbox, and now I have eight of them.
While Stanley coined the name, the Yankee screwdriver was invented by someone else, most likely Zachary T. Two years after its patent in , the company was purchased by the North Brothers Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia.
Several of my spiral ratcheting screwdrivers were made by this company which was later bought by The Stanley Works, manufacturers of Stanley tools. Using a Yankee screwdriver is easy, but using it correctly does take a little practice. Improper settings, pressure or speed can cause the bit to pop out of the screw and cause damage to the wood, or injury to the user. You mention that the 3X series never had springs in the handle and that the 13X series had a large screw in the handle to insert the spring.
I have a 30A model that has a large screw in the handle. If there was never a spring, what is the purpose of the screw? The cylinder case is brass and the lock-collar is broken, missing a piece. Under the lock-collar there is a wire, do you know more about the lock-collar and this wire underneath? I would like to try to repair this gorgeous tool but am not sure how to approach the broken lock-collar. I also cannot remove the bit.
Does this relate to the broken lock-collar? On my more recent Handyman H, I have no problem removing the bit. Any advice will be appreciated. HI Kate Perhaps I was a bit confusing, blame my French accent while typing :- The A models simply refer to the redesign look of the tools improved. If they have it, they are 13X series Hope this clears it up? HI Basil Refer to the picture of the patents above to see how the bit is locked inside the chuck. I happens to have a No with a solidly stuck bit, it has so far resisted every attempts I made to free it up.
But there is always C4 :- If the bit is stuck and it is otherwise working, I would just leave it alone Bob. Basil check out this video, its not Yankee, but a British copy. Same mechanism. Hi can you call me on ive got a few Yankees but my father inlaw has a great Yankee screwdriver. But I never got the model number off him.
I need a big yankee screwdriver but need best version spring loaded and best pump action with great return spring whats best model and version please not sure best one to get. Yes I could call you but where in the world are you located? That phone numbers look European to me? We have a few hours differences, would not want me to call in the middle of the time. Hi, Stumbled into this blog doing some detective work, best info I've run into so far.
Trying to place my No. My best guess is early to mid 's, any thoughts on this? I believe ,not sure, my father had it in his toolbox before he got married in and it came into my possession when clearing out our mother's house in I had to play odds and evens with my brother for it, ha!
Still works great and the replacement bits from Garrett Wade fit perfectly. North Bros was purchased by Stanley in , soon after, their tools were stamped a division of Stanley. I don't remember off hand when they stopped, but by the late 50s? Your guess is close enough. It is very difficult to pin down an exact date, unless the tools has a Serial Numbers, which they don't.
We are then left with approximations in a given time period based on some clues EG When model was introduced-discontinued, features, Pat dates etc. The baffling thing is the black end cap. All of the pictures I found for the No.
Thanks for your reply. Thank you for the wonderful article. I have a passion for North Brothers. To date I have close to 20, some rare, some common. I came across a Yankee Tool Set No. Everything is there, but the No. I have an older No. Did they make different lengths of the No. I also have 4 different sizes of bits. A set labeled Yankee Handyman No. Yes, the length of the Yankee spiral screwdrivers varies a bit thru the years. Not by much but enough to cause issues like you found.
Later models made in England, Germany then Japan went metric and introduced yet more small dimensions changes. The article is copyrighted. I have a NIB R.
Spiral Raychet screw driver model 30A. It has never been used, is in its original wrapping paper and the packet of bits is included. Will you give me an idea as to its value?
Thank you for the post! I just finished reading it up and am very excited to IQ test questions the following series. I cannot really be thankful enough for all that you do! What a Gem as well! The catalog 'How Yankee and Yankee Handyman Tools Make Good Mechanics Better' shows a picture on page 8 that clearly seems to have a screw on top of the handle, like mine.
I just finished reading it up and am very excited to House sort the following series. This article helps me a lot. Thanks for sharing valuable information. As I was looking for such information, I have found an article useful like this; you can check it out here.
ChoreStop I hope you get more information. This post is informative, and, we are launching an app and you can get it from here Family Blog. Tuesday, January 26, The Yankee Spiral screwdrivers family, the original cordless screwdrivers.
Recently, Gerhard at the Je ne sais quoi woodworking blog , asked my help for dating various specimen of this iconic tool. I thought it would make a good post explaining how I go about establishing some sort of timelines for any tools. Unless your tool happens to have a serial nos on it, we can rarely pin point an exact date, but we can certainly dated them within a given time period based on the features, patent Nos, boxes or other paraphernalia that originally came with them.
Most paper products, leaflets and boxes did not survived, were often toss out, hence why tools are much more valuable when found complete in their packaging with manuals etc. And doing some research on line, I noticed some confusion with regards to the spring returns models and the A and B series. So lets hopefully set the record straight. Although mostly associated with Stanley, the name Yankee was registered to the North Brothers Manufacturing Co of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , commonly known as North Bros for short.
That is because Stanley acquired the company in and kept production of many of their tools for a long period of time. Some will says that the quality degraded somewhat when Stanley took over, but we are getting ahead of ourselves. Furbish who received a patent on April 16 and had his invention produced by the Forest City Screwdriver Co. That company screwdrivers first appeared in announcements and advertising in Zachary was not the first one, there is another form of spiral screwdriver that came earlier from Christopher H.
Olson of the Decatur Coffin Co. But his was inside out, the spiral was inside the surface of the casing where as North Bros design has the spiral on the rotating shaft. I found patents on screwdrivers alone, of which are for spiral screwdrivers. Click image to expand as usual. The beginning of production of the Howard screwdriver seems to have been in the early 's. Most of the first models patented are rare and hard to find.
Although North Brothers was not the very first to patent the spiral type mechanism, they were not far behind in terms of years. Most models were designed and patented post , and companies other than North Brothers joined in around Above top is a Millers Falls No. Middle is Millers Falls No. All are spiral drivers, the two lower also ratchet.
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