Electric Drill

Hello there. My name is the Electric Drill, and I love to whirr and twirl. Before I came along, making a simple hole was very hard work. Imagine you wanted to hang a picture or build a small wooden toy. You would have to use a hand drill. It had a crank that you had to push and turn, over and over again. Your arms would get so tired, and it took a very long time just to make one little opening. People would huff and puff, wishing there was an easier way to get the job done. It was slow, and it made building things feel like a big chore. I knew there had to be a better way, a faster way, a zappy way. A big change was coming, and I was excited to be a part of it.

My story really begins with a spark of an idea, far away in a country called Australia. Two very clever men, Arthur James Arnot and William Blanch Brain, were watching the new magic of electricity. They saw how it could power lights and machines. On November 20th, 1889, they had a brilliant thought. 'What if,' they wondered, 'we used that zappy electricity to make a drill spin all by itself?'. And just like that, the idea for me was born. They built a big, heavy version of me that had to stay in one place, but I could drill holes faster than anyone had ever seen before. I was so proud. A few years later, in 1895, two brothers in Germany named Wilhelm and Carl Fein made me even better. They made me portable, which means I was small enough to be carried around. I could go wherever the work was. Then, in 1917, two more smart inventors, S. Duncan Black and Alonzo G. Decker, gave me the look I have today. They gave me a handle shaped like a pistol so I was easy to hold, and a little trigger to make me go. I felt so cool and ready to help everyone.

Now, I get to have so much fun helping people build a wonderful world. I buzz with excitement every time I get to work. I help builders put together cozy houses where families can live and laugh. I help carpenters create sturdy tables and chairs for you to eat and do your homework on. I even help parents and kids build amazing treehouses high up in the branches. Artists use me to create beautiful sculptures, and people use me for all sorts of projects around their homes. I love being a helper. Every time I whirr to life, I know I'm helping someone turn their wonderful idea into a real thing they can see and touch. It just goes to show you that a little spark of an idea, and a little bit of power, can build a whole new world. What will you build next?