Power Tools; a history.

Work like an Egyptian.

A history of power tools really needs to start by defining the term. What is a power tool? We’d no doubt hesitate to call a flint arrowhead or a bow a power tool. Yet they allowed early man to advance. They allowed him to carry out his tasks quicker and with greater efficiency. They performed a purpose (and were, therefore, tools) and they were powered, albeit by a Neanderthal arm.

Let’s assume that, when thinking about power tools, we mean something a little less rudimentary than an axe head. In that case the credit must go to the ancient Egyptians. Their works were constructed using mass labour (in the form of slaves) but construction techniques also advanced dramatically. It is the Egyptians who can be credited with the earliest lathe (around 1300BC). They also invented the earliest electrical cell battery, although it would take a further 3,500 years for the two to be brought together.

Living in the past. Power tools and animals

Any modern definition of power tools has at its core the notion that the power should come from an independent and certainly non-human source.
Oxen were tethered to a yoke. Horses pulled carts of various descriptions and purposes. Yet yokes and carts don’t fit comfortably with the modern definition of a tool.

Real advances in tool technology took a leap with the numerous inventions of Jethro Tull, an agriculturalist working in the early 18th century.
He developed a horse drawn hoe, and made changes to the design of the plough that are still much in evidence today. Of all his inventions, though, it is the seed-drill for which he is most remembered.
Tull became frustrated that his workers seemed incapable of sowing seed to the precise, low densities he specified. He invented a machine that could do the job they couldn’t, revolutionising agriculture and upsetting the workers in one fell swoop.

He was arguably the first to employ real technological thinking to agriculture. Tull was also amongst the first to see its effect on people. His workers were concerned that power tools might threaten the working man rather than help him. It was an issue that started in Tull’s field in Hungerford in 1709 and continues to this day.

Removing the helping hand. Power tools go solo.

Whether the power came from the hand of man or the muscle power of an animal, by the 18th century real power tools – tools that required no animal intervention - were starting to appear on the landscape.

Windmills and waterwheels filled the fields and fens of Britain - and the canvases of Turner and Constable.

As the Industrial Revolution started to transform our towns and cities small water-powered flour mills were no longer the height of technology. Giant factories and mills, powered by huge water wheels and later steam pistons, placed Britain as the leader of the world. The Empire was built on its power tools.
One wheel would belt-drive dozens of machines including amongst them the first flat-bed power tools. In turn those machines would crank out everything from locomotives and the first steel hulled battleships to linen that was the envy of the world.

More power!

The late 19th century saw the invention of the first electrically powered tools. Amongst the first was the drill – first seen in 1889 in Melbourne, Australia.
The 20th century saw the power increase as the size reduced.
Flatbed power tools remained but were largely the preserve of workshops and professional endeavours. Notable amongst these were the De Walt ‘Wonder Worker’, a universal woodworking machine patented in 1924.

The first portable drill actually appeared in 1895 but it took Black & Decker until 1917 to introduce a drill with a patented trigger switch of the sort we would recognise today.
Draper Tools started selling government surplus tools at the markets around Kingston-upon-Thames in 1919 and moved into selling power tools over the following decades.

Power tools grow up - cutting the cord.

As costs reduced it became easier for the occasional handyman and DIYer to leave the hand tools behind and enjoy the advantages afforded by power. There remained, of course, one limiting factor. You could only ever move as far as your power cord allowed. That meant power tools were tethered. An extension cable could take you still further but complete freedom was still decades away.
Corded electrical power tools did, however, gradually gave way to alternative power sources that freed power tools from their sockets.
Compressed air was used in nail guns, for example, whilst companies like DeWalt produced their first cordless, battery powered range of tools in 1992.

The early cordless tools suffered from low battery life and high cost and as such tended to be the preserve of the trade. Firms such as Silverline helped bring the price of cordless power tools down and the market for corded products continues to diminish as the cost of cordless models continues to fall.

Born free.

Jethro Tull needed a horse to pull the tools he needed to perform his job. As little as 20 years ago the notion that you could climb up on your roof with a drill or electric screwdriver and not take with you a lengthy power extension lead was laughable.

Power tools have come so far in such a short space of time. NiCad batteries have given way to Lithium Ion. An individual charge can last twice as long as it did even three years ago.
The early electric screwdrivers suffered from a painful lack of torque. Now they can manage what the human hand can’t.
Ergonomics was barley understood. Now your power tool will arrive replete with an easy grip handle. It may well even be gel-filled to ease the wear and tear on your hands during usage.

Power tools have enjoyed a quiet revolution in just the past few years. If you haven’t looked at the market in some time, perhaps it’s time you did.

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