17 Awesome All-American Inventions for DIYers

BLACK & DECKER: FIRST PORTABLE ELECTRIC DRILL

In 1910, Duncan Black and Alonzo Decker opened a small machine shop in Baltimore. They began building machinery?automated candy dippers, machines that made bottle caps and parts for other manufacturers.While sitting at Al Decker’s kitchen table, the two men thought about a lighter and easier-to-use industrial drill.

(A Colt automatic pistol lay on the table?Colt was a customer.) Legend has it, they both looked at the gun and had a ‘eureka’ moment. In 1917, they received a patent for the first 1/2-in. portable electric drill, equipped with a trigger and pistol grip, remarkably similar to the Colt.

Factory workers loved the tool and often brought one home to use on their own houses. Black & Decker saw an opportunity and in 1946 introduced the world’s first portable drill for consumers.