time machine

[PFSchaffner]

Sometimes the donations that come in seem to have spent time
in some sort of garage or basement stasis device. Blow the
dust off them and lo, you are back in 1958 (or whatever).

[Northwoods]

Wowsa!  Imagine what would happen if you put the wrong end of that Versamatic in the chuck.

[Bill Houghton]

Are you telling us you work at a thrift store to which people donate tools?  Whatta job!

[bonneyman]

I once had a plastic-bodied version of that Versamatic attachment. IIRC, it was a gear-reduction for a 1/4" drill so one could get more torque out of the drill for tough jobs. I guess if one was too poor to buy a 3/8" or 1/2" drill?

[kwoswalt99]

I once had a plastic-bodied version of that Versamatic attachment. IIRC, it was a gear-reduction for a 1/4" drill so one could get more torque out of the drill for tough jobs. I guess if one was too poor to buy a 3/8" or 1/2" drill?

To drive screws.

[PFSchaffner]

What these have in common, of course, aside from their
uncanny preservation, is that they all belong to a genre for which
I have a sneaking fondness: "attachments to extend the usefulness
of 1/4" single-speed drills." There was a wonderful period, what do you think,
1935-1965? in which it was assumed that all you needed, or could
afford, was one 1/4" drill and a lot of attachments. I have one that
turned the drill into a floor polisher; another into a circular saw;
another into a saber (jig) saw; and of course the ubiquitous 1/4" drill press.
Maybe I should start collecting these things. They're usually cheap.

[PFSchaffner]

Are you telling us you work at a thrift store to which people donate tools?  Whatta job!

Yep, as it it says in my sig. The weekly Ann Arbor Kiwanis sale is something
of a town institution, and gets all kinds of junk in as donations. Most of
the tools have the general appearance (and often the reality) of the leavings
of old tool boxes or the unwanted and broken stuff from estate sales. It's a volunteer
gig -- I do actually work two real jobs too. Supposedly it means that I get to
see and handle interesting things without having the compulsion to buy them. But
that doesn't always work out: usually they're not interesting, to
start with (and after de-rusting and polishing, say, 1,000 Allen wrenches, or
500 nondescript screwdrivers; or dealing wih 100 cordless electric tools with
dead batteries, the charm starts to wear off). And if they *are*
interesting, strangely enough, the compulsion is (sometimes) still there.