Thread: Stanley Continental 748

I went to a garage sale yesterday and picked up a few items none of which would be of very much interest except possible the Stanley hand drill. I bought it because, it seemed to opererate very smoothly compared to the egg beater style, I had never seen this type before and most importantly it was not very expensive only being a fraction more than the cost of a cup of coffee.

The only fault seemed to be that the finish has worn off and the timber on the crank handle was missing:

P1080331 (Medium).JPGP1080333 (Medium).JPG

As you can see it is a Stanley Continental No.748

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It also came with two unused bevel gears, not that it seeemed to require new gears and another part I have not yet identified, but I am sure will be very useful.

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As I had never seen one of these drills before, I went looking through catalogues, but initially drew a blank. A little bit of reading mentioned that at some point around the sixties and seventies the model was changed to No.748A. I don't know the significance of the "A" and what if any changes were made.

I finally found a British Stanley catalogue of 1964 that featured the No.748A

Stanley Continental No. 748A. 1964 (Medium).jpg

It seems that this was purely a British made tool as it does not appear in any of the US Stanley catalogues to which I have access. So it looks as though my drill is at least pre-1964. The strange thing is that although there is minimal information on the era of production, there are multiple pix on the net such as this one:

Stanley Continental No. 748 restored.jpg

Also at least one video covering a restoration, which appears quite straight forward as the finish is black and silver paint:

Antique Stanley Continental 748A Breast Drill Restoration - YouTube



Perhaps one of you has more information.

Regards
Paul