S.J. WAIT HAND DRILL
They say the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. And that may well be so. But in this case it was a well known old tool auctions service. I had bid on a few drills but won only one bid. So I sent my payment out and presently a package arrived with a spiffy old drill. Well, the next day here's another package from the same auction house but this holds one of the drills I did not win. Well, it was obviously a mistake so I contacted them and made arrangements to mail it back on Monday. But the drill never got back into the box until late Sunday night.
What is unusual about this drill is that it is marked with the manufacturer's name and location:
S.J. WAIT.
MFG CO
WORCESTER, MASS
Mfg Co and Worcester, Mass are in a different font size and style than S.J. Wait and were evidently stamped at a different time. I did a little genealogy research but the only possible candidate that I found was a Samuel Wait who was shown in the 1830 U.S. census. In my opinion the drill is pre 1860. The body is cast as well as the gears. The wood is beech. It has a drill point in the set screw type chuck. The drill is 11 5/8" tall with 4 5/8" of that being the wooden top handle. The main gear is 2.25" and the pinion is 1.25". All in all I wish I had the drill but it was sure nice to have its company for the weekend.
On November 20th, 2002 a very similar drill was sold on an EBAY auction. It was marked "C.M. Mills 9""It appeared to have had the original cast crank handle broken off and a replacement screwed on to the main gear.