The Original Cordless Screwdriver

 Yesterday evening I was trying to re-install the banister for the basement stairs.  The banister is attached firmly to the wall with 2inch wood screws.  When I went to take the banister off I discovered that I didn't have a fully charged battery for my cordless drill and so turned to my Yankee Screwdriver with a red Roberson bit to take the screws out.  When I went to put them back I discovered that even with a fully charged battery my 14 volt drill did not have enough torque to do the job.

   Once again I returned to my ancient Yankee screw driver. This driver is 28inches long when open and 19 when closed, it was made my North Brothers Manufacturing ( since gone) and is a Model 131A.  This tool came from my Grandfather's shop via my father and so I have no idea how old it is or how many screws it has driven.

  I confess that I have not used it as much as I have the 14volt but....I am sure glad that I have it because it would have been tough to drive those screws by hand.  Upon looking around the Internet I see that there are some "Yankee" type screw drivers for sale, they seem to have a place in the electronic assembly world still.


  This recent experience has reminded me of this tools worth and has encouraged me to gather up the other bits so that I can use it more often.  The great thing, its batteries are never flat.