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J. Clarke[_4_]

In article ,
says...

On 8/14/2015 8:28 PM, Electric Comet wrote:
i was doing some drilling with the drill press today and appreciated the fact
that i just applied downward force to drill a big hole with a forstner bit and the
motor did the rest

compared to an attempt with a brace and bit recently i am very aware that
a drill press is good

but it got me thinking about the succession of power tools in a historical
perspective

i figure the saw was the first one to get some power behind it with those
big lumber mills saws

but what was next
i think power drills must have been the next one

power in this sense is not animal powered

I suspect you are right about the first power tools being those used in
sawmills. However I suspect that the reciprocating saw was used before
the circular saw. A reciprocation saw could be connected to a water
wheel and operated with a cam. The circular saw would need a complicated
set of gears to make spin

Why would it need gears? Just turn the shaft with a belt.

Before the Circular saw was used probably the most common type of saw
was what was called a Pit saw. It was a cross cut saw, and was used on
a on a platform pit arrangement. One person on the platform that other
person in the pit and the log between them.

On this line of thought another power tool may have been the water
powered hammer mill.