The Rapper

[Rhyolith]

Got another interesting drill here.

I am pretty sure its made by a British company called "Rawl" who I think invented the Rawl Plug and were responsible for masonry drilling products. This is an early example of a hand powered hammer hill, guessing it its 1950-60s.

The Rapper by Rhyolith, on Flickr
The Rapper by Rhyolith, on Flickr

Turning the handle rotates the bit holder and causes that metal cub to ping back and forth, hitting the back of the bit holder spindle like a hammer. Tightening or loosening that wing nut increases or decreases the hammering force respectively, evidently increasing the hammering force comes at a price of it being harder to crank.

I have no bits that fit the holder (think they need to be specific to this drill), so have not been able to test it.

 

[AndyT]

Well, that's a stylish little thing! Nice script lettering on a bit of bent standard steel strip - not too many concessions to user comfort either.

This is the relevant page from the 1935 Buck and Hickman catalogue

which confirms that there were extra bits in five sizes for 8d each - but if you turn back to the previous page, for the man unwilling to splash out over a pound for such a top-end tool, the bits there do indeed seem to be different - at least, they are all different prices.

I wish my dad had had a Rapper - I remember vividly how slow and tedious the old Rawlplug tool and holder was - tap, twist, tap, twist, tap too much and get it jammed, tap harder... snap the end...

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The inventor was called Rawlings, iirc.

 

[Rhyolith]

I wish my dad had had a Rapper - I remember vividly how slow and tedious the old Rawlplug tool and holder was - tap, twist, tap, twist, tap too much and get it jammed, tap harder... snap the end...

This is a job I think I would prefer an electric tool

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Mmm ... those jump drills were just brilliant when most of your work was in granite.

 

[bugbear]

Mmm ... those jump drills were just brilliant when most of your work was in granite.

Speaking as a family historian/genealogist who wanders around cemeteries seeing sandstone, marble, and limestone grave markers from 1850 (and sometimes later) already falling apart, I have a great deal of respect for the durability of granite.

BugBear

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Mmm ... those jump drills were just brilliant when most of your work was in granite.

My next-door neighbour to my last house was a foreman electrician, who recalled once with a shudder his experiences of installation work in buildings constructed from Accrington Blue engineering brick. After the first attempt on a brick, and a trip to purchase a replacement masonry bit, you drilled the mortar, apparently - and that was with a modern SDS drill.

Mind you, they do tend to make granite blocks in bigger lumps than bricks, mostly - so I see your point!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I remember seeing a crowd of young inexperienced civil engineers try to get broken a thirty foot boulder of blue elvan in a river bed, all the older boys (early '70s) were ex miners who advised from the beginning to leave it where it was and build on top of it. After a week and God knows how much expense an civil engineer of retiring age came, took one look at and told them to build on top. We get that stuff just when we're fed up with breaking granite.

 

[harryd]

I have a hand-driven hammer drill which shares 'The Rapper's' patent number, 276598 (1926). It looks completely different. It's stamped 'QUEAD', and I have no clues about that, and '6/24'.