Thread: First electric drill: 1895

The Fein brothers from Stuttgart, Germany, constructed the world's first electric drill in 1895. It didn't have an ideal power to weight ratio and it was direct drive, so more like a Dremel than a geared drill, but it managed 3mm holes in metal. The original (left pic) is in a museum, but at Fein a few replicas were cast and handmade, as reserves and also for static display purposes. The right pic shows one of those, as offered for sale in an internet auction, by a salesman who probably got it from a retired Fein factory employee. The replica has no motor inside and even the switch on top has no function, but nevertheless the whole job must have been very expensive to make (the casting alone and after that the construction, making of the etched brass type plate, ordering from Röhm the original chuck type and the hand spraying and painting to finish it off). It just goes to show that very rare items can be obtained when keeping an eye on things for sale on internet.

Greetings,

Gerhard