Tool in Focus: The Drill

Where some tools have specific functions, the drill has many. Here’s why you’ll never regret investing in a good cordless drill.

In this Article:

History of the drill

Different types of drill

Multi-use drills

Drill design

A drill is a tool used for making holes. It is fitted with a drill bit, and can be hand operated, although these days cordless battery-powered drills are the most common.

Drills play a key role on any construction site. A cordless drill has multiple functions beyond drilling holes. It can be used for stirring paint, removing rust, twisting wires, sanding curved surfaces and driving screws and bolts.

History of the drill

To trace the origins of the drill, we need to venture back more than 10,000 years ago – a ‘bow and cord’ drill was used to make fires and even perform dentistry. Core drills, developed in Egypt, and pump drills, created during Roman times, all appeared during the years, but of course, it’s the electric drill we all know and love.

Electric drill

It’s easy to understand why the electric drill was invented – if you’ve ever tried a manual one, you’ll know it’s hard yakka – but did you know the electric drill was invented the best part of 150 years ago right here in Australia?

Melbourne-based Arthur James Arnot was appointed the city’s first ever electrical engineer, and developed much of Melbourne’s original street lighting, and he, and another Melburnian, William Blanch Brain, patented the first ever electric drill, in 1889.

It wasn’t portable, however – it could only be used for stationary work, primarily in mines – and the technology evolved, as things tend to do.

Portable drills

The next landmark in the electrical drill evolution was in Stuttgart, Germany, where Wilhelm and Carl Fein created the first portable electric drill – however, it wasn’t as portable as we know it today: it certainly needed two hands to operate!

In the early 1900s, S Duncan Black and Alonzo Decker developed something more in keeping with what we are familiar with today, with the trigger switch being patented in 1917, and the cordless drill was eventually introduced in the 1960s – powered by a 4.8volt battery.

“The first ever portable electric drill wasn’t as portable as we know it today - two hands were needed to operate it.”

Let’s look at some other popular appearances of drills.

Drill sergeant

The military person who yells right in the faces of their charges (at least that’s how it’s portrayed in movies) drill sergeants are mainly a feature of the British Army and the United States Army, as well as some Australian Police Forces. Referred to as ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am’, the drill sergeant essentially trains new recruits, who typically learn the hard way!

Drill music

Originating in the early 2010s in the US city of Chicago, drill is a style of ‘trap music’, ‘defined by its dark violent and nihilistic lyrical content’. In short, it reflects ‘real life’ as opposed to squeaky clean hip-hop. Focused on anger and violence with zero sign of happiness, drill music became associated with crime in Chicago. A subgenre of UK drill emerged in Brixton, London — and the music has cropped up in Sydney, New York, Toronto, Dublin, Amsterdam and Jacksonville, too.

Drillbit Taylor

A 2008 US coming of age comedy was the last written by John Hughes (of National Lampoon, Uncle Buck and Home Alone fame) before he died a year later. The movie features Owen Wilson and Seth Rogan, and its storyline revolves around three high school pupils who decide to hire an adult bodyguard to protect them from two bullies who endlessly harass and abuse them before developing a friendly relationship with him. It bombed at the box office, and has a 26 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“The first ever portable electric drill wasn’t as portable as we know it today: two hands were needed to operate it”

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