Old drill chuck

[Tony Ennis]

I was poking around in the bits that came with my Craftsman lathe and found a drill chuck connected by a threaded rod to a Morse #2 taper. The chuck has no key. Instead, as one screws the chuck onto the rod, the end of the rod pushes the jaws closed.

How old is this thing? I am betting it is original to the lathe, circa 1937.

It holds the drills effectively, but lemme tell you, there's a reason Mr Jacobs invented his chuck-and-key system.

The good news is that it was fun to play with, and I can non-destructively re-purpose the threaded-rod-and-taper.

[Carld]

I don't know how old that is but I have a chuck like that with a handle on the back. It goes up to 1/4" and I have used it for a large pin vise and yes, the holding power is minimal but useful.

[SilveradoHauler]

Egg beater drill chuck.

[gaston]

Don't know what they are called, but I think its like the chuck I have for my mill. you put the bits in and take then out with the chuck turning! if I recall you put the bit in the open chuck while the mills running then push up on the chuck to close it on the tool. pull down to loosen the tool.
I use it when drilling in the mill. center drill in,pull down center drill out, hole size drill in push up drill hole ...repeat.
You don't have to stop the mill to change the setup. Kinda sacry with a 1/2" bit or a sharp mill!!

[Toolguy]

Gaston-

That is a Wahlstrom automatic drill chuck. They are similar in construction, but Tony's chuck doesn't have the automatic feature. You open the chuck by pulling down on the knurled top part and close it by holding the smooth bottom part from turning. They are great chucks, I use them a lot.

[Gary Paine]

I was poking around in the bits that came with my Craftsman lathe and found a drill chuck connected by a threaded rod to a Morse #2 taper. The chuck has no key. Instead, as one screws the chuck onto the rod, the end of the rod pushes the jaws closed.

How old is this thing? I am betting it is original to the lathe, circa 1937.
...

I have a couple around also, Tony, but not with the #2 morse taper shaft integral with the thread. That 3 jaw keyless chuck design was integral with the North Bros. Yankee No. 50 recriprocating (pump) drill in 1900 and was used by Goodell Pratt on their No. 101 reciprocating drill in 1920, so the chuck design was certainly around long enough to have been originally bought with the lathe.

[bruto]

When I had a little Craftsman 6 inch (the AA one) lathe, one of those chucks was a part of the original kit. As others have said, it's basically a variant of the standard eggbeater chuck, which was also used on small electric drills back in the day. Nothing rare about it, but they work all right for light stuff.

[justanengineer]

I have several of those on handles which get used to hold small drill bits when hand sharpening. Being lightly "bit" by grinders and sanders gets old after awhile.

Considering the availability and low pricing of good quality chucks at the local flea market, yard sale etc, I wouldnt bother using these on a machine. Dont believe what you see online, you dont have to pay $50+ for a high quality chuck.