Reach For A Stanley (April 2011)
Stanley Yankee Spiral Ratchet Screw Drivers
Don’t Just Drive Screws
In 1946 Stanley purchased North Bros. of Philadelphia, adding the very successful Yankee automatic push drills and screwdrivers to the Stanley line. After the war Stanley discontinued or at least did not reintroduce many of the North Bros.
products. Seven interchangeable bit screwdrivers did make it into the 1953 catalog. The remaining drivers included short and long, or standard and heavy pattern as Stanley noted them, drivers in both a quick return and no return design. These drivers were given the numbers 30A, 130A, 31A and 131A, the 100 series numbers designating the quick return feature. The remaining three drivers were all light patterns and equipped with the quick return feature. The numbers for the light pattern drivers were 135, 133H and 233H, the H indicating the Handyman, a line of tools design for the home handyman.
Three drill bits were included with 133H and 233H the tool. These bits were in sizes 5/64, 7/64 and 9/64 inch. These bits had slightly larger chuck end diameters in order to fit the Handyman drivers. These were the only drill bits offered that would fit directly into the one of the Stanley spiral screwdrivers.
Stanley, likely, realized the value of accessories that converted the push screwdriver into other tools. The first conversion converted the driver to a push drill. A chuck adapter for the standard Stanley No. 41 push drill bits was offered in three sizes to fit the three different driver chucks. The bit adapter works well but when using it with the larger drivers the small drills can be easily bent or broken.
As for driving screws Stanley offered bits in both straight and Phillips types in three sizes. Two sizes of straight or standard bits were offered with 30, 31 and 135 series. Additional size straight and Phillips bit were available as accessories. In addition, a centering bit was offered for all three drivers. This bit has a sleeve that helps hold the screw in alignment. Offered in two sizes for the 30/31 series and in one size for the 133H/233H the centering bits works well and is quite handy. Today, the screwdriver bits are quite common as either new old stock or used tools. The centering bits, on the other hand, were expensive when new and are uncommon today.
One of the handiest tools for the push driver is the countersink bit. These bits were offered with three different size shanks so it is available for all three driver sizes. When driving a bunch of screws that need to be countersunk this baby makes the job a snap and more importantly gives you a whole lot more control than the electric-driven, wood-chewing, plug-in version. Getting one of these is the hard part but once you have one they don’t wear out and if you paint it bright red so it does not get thrown out with the shavings it should serve you for a lifetime.
Stanley left no stone unturned in their attempt to make the spiral drivers the universal tool. Sockets for stove bolts, hex nuts and sheet metal screws were offered and converted the driver to an early versions of the Nut Runner. The sockets were offered in four (stove bolts, etc.) and six point (sheet metal screws, etc.) designs the handy adapters were available for all three different size chucks. Nut sizes ran from ¼ to 5/8 inch but not all sizes were available for all three driver sizes. I have used this adapter to drive a number of sheet metal screws and found it to work OK. But frankly, even if you have to resort to a whining monster, a magnetic screw holding bit is a big improvement. However, using these sockets is not the problem, finding them is. These were offered for a while in the Stanley catalogs and used ones are available but uncommon and often pricey when found.
That covers the adapters for the Stanley Spiral Screw Driver. Certainly the screwdriver and countersink bits work very well and are worth adding to your kit. The drills are OK but require a delicate touch when using the small sizes. The sockets would be fun to have but the frequency of use would not justify the price.
Keep driving screws by hand and listen to no electric whine.