Date this Fleetway Hand Drill?

[Rhyolith]

Fleetway Hand Drill by Rhyolith, on Flickr
Fleetway Hand Drill by Rhyolith, on Flickr

I am interested to know if these fleetway versions are older or newer than the SIF ones made during WW2. The only notable differences are the style of the rear handles and crank wheel.

Suffolk Iron Foundry (SIF) by Rhyolith, on Flickr

SIF and Fleetway did seemed to have been affiliated, possibly even the same company.

FLEETWAY / SIF by nasutushenri, on Flickr

 

[ED65]

1952.

That's my guess and I'm sticking to it Seriously though I have no clue, but my gut tells me that it's unlikely to date from WW2 or before and sometime in the 50s seems about right.

 

[AndyT]

Realistically, you're not going to get a better answer without tracking down actual company records.
The National Archives hold some documents which might tell you more, but you'll need to go to the places where they are held.

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.u ... on+foundry

"Mid 20th century" would be good enough for me!

 

[t8hants]

The main wheel appears to be made out of mazac or something similar, that to me indicates post war construction due to post war shortages and restrictions.

 

[Rhyolith]

Never heard of "mazac", I thought it was aluminium! Mazac is the same as Zamek apparently, which is a zinc alloy. My guess is this is maybe this is alloy of Zinc and Aluminium?

Wikipedia says the British version of Zamek, Mazak was invented around 1930. So it could still be pre-WW2, though I agree its probably post.

 

[DoctorWibble]

What the various tool companies were asked to make during the war is as interesting question. They would have had little if any choice in the matter and gov't enforced war time activities would've had a bearing on what they were able to make afterwards. And of course post war we had jets and the atomic bomb. And prefab housing, factory made doors, mouldings, door frames and metal windows. I can't see anyone launching or re-launching a range of spoke wheeled hand drills into that market. Especially as the competition had already begun ditching them in the 1930's.
On a related question is there any evidence that SIF actually made drills outside of WW11? I vaguely remember I might've seen some dated 1946 but that could've been a hangover. Maybe they went back to lawnmowers and the trade casting business. Given the sheer numbers of SIF war production drills around I wonder also if they were the only manufacturer nominated and licensed to make drills during the war and Record et al were asked to concentrate on other things.
So in short I reckon your Fleetways predate the SIFs and were made pre-war. But that's still only a guess.

 

[Rhyolith]

I picked up a SIF 1946 drill at the car boot this morning! Its generally more similar to the fleetway in style, but still has the iron wheel, will post photos once its cleaned up. I have never seen evidence of SIF drills later than this.

Edit:

It would also appear that Clipper and Fleetway are also the same or at least affiliated:

DSCF4763[1] by Glenn MacLeod, on Flickr

There are some clipper drills around that are defiantly post war looking, so that maybe confirms they did make hand drills later... however non of these have spoked drive gears.