Vintage Black and Decker Tools

Now a part of the Stanley family of tool companies that includes Craftsman, Black & Decker was founded in Baltimore in 1910. Its first contribution to the growing power-tool industry came in 1917, when the firm patented a 1/2-inch, portable electric drill with a pistol grip and trigger switch that activated the device. Even though the wars of the currents, fought between proponents of AC and DC, had long been settled, Black & Decker's first drill could run on either current. Today, rechargeable portable drills are routinely associated with home use and light-duty construction work, but in 1917 there wasn't yet a broad consumer market for these drills, however lightweight and portable they may have been. That's why, in 1923, Black & Decker set out to change that when it created a cheaper portable-drill model aimed at would-be do-it-yourselfers. During that same decade and into the 1930s, Black & Decker also sold a power saw, whose pistol grip was shaped more like a handle but which still relied on a trigger switch to power up the machine. After weathering the Great Depression and then re-tooling for the war effort during World War II, in 1946 the company expanded its line of drills to include other power tools for home users. Unique, perhaps, among tool manufacturers, Black & Decker always set its sights beyond its core markets. For example, in 1957, Black & Decker got into the home-gardening business with a novel line of hedge trimmers and edgers. The company was also led by technology. For example, its cordless technologies allowed it to produce a cordless drill in 1961. A cordless hedge trimmer followed a few years later, as did a cordless handheld vacuum cleaner, the DustBuster, in 1979. Black & Decker also set its sights on the stars, designing zero-impact wrenches and hammer drills for NASA.