Saturday, July 1, 2017

Vanished Tool Makers: Witherby, England



Above, a Model 7351 push drill bearing this firm's name.  Below, a Model 7233 Archimedes screw drivers that someone is selling online:


I would imagine that they are the same company that made Witherby branded pliers I featured in a previous post.  If so, the company was located in Sheffield.  I can find absolutely no information on line about them.

The bit in my Witherby push drill was broken, so I tossed it into the scrap metal bin in the shop, expecting that standard Yankee bits would fit.  Wrong.  I had to dig around in the bin to find it.  Turns out the Witherby bits measure only 0.168" OD compared to the Yankee 0.213 to 0.218".  They also have a different locking pattern. Below, Witherby bit on the left:


Maybe this was a patent issue.  More likely, just plain British obstinacy.  So, on top of making a new end for the push drill, I'm also going to have to make up some bits if I ever want to actually use it.

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