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Vintage Bell System-B Ratcheting Hand Drill W/Snell Mfg. 10/16" Bit - $60 (Castle Rock)
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The Bell System hand brace drill was not a specific, unique tool but rather a line of heavy-duty, high-quality hand drills manufactured to the specifications of the Bell Telephone System for its linemen. These 2-jaw drills, often made by companies like Stanley and North Bros, were prized for their durability and reliability in harsh conditions, featuring sealed chucks and robust construction to withstand rugged use on telephone poles. The "Bell System" mark signified adherence to these high standards, making these tools, like the Stanley 2101, highly sought after by woodworking enthusiasts. Made in the U.S.A. Bell Systems Information Source: garagejournal.com
In the early 1790s, Thomas Snell, a son of Polycarpus Snell, moved from Bridgewater to Ware, Massachusetts. There he bought a 135-acre farm and set up a blacksmith shop on Flat Brook, a tributary of the Ware River. One of the earlier auger makers, he has been called the inventor of the twist auger and the bight auger. It is unlikely he invented either. The twist auger was almost certainly the double-twist auger already well-known in Pennsylvania. The meaning of the term "bight auger" has been lost to time, though it could refer to putting a lead screw on the tip of an auger, an idea pioneered by Henry Rauch of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.(1) What we do know of Thomas Snell's augers is that they “were made of iron with just enough steel welded to the end to make the cutting part. They were called steel-cut augers.
In 1862 Emory L. Bates, a businessman from the nearby village of Fiskdale, partnered with New York hardware firm Clark, Wilson & Company to purchase Snell Brothers from John Draper. The new owners renamed the operation the Snell Manufacturing Company. Bates had been in the shoe manufacturing business for seventeen years, first with the Judson Smith who had been a principal in Smith, Snell & Company, and then from 1850 to 1858 with J. D. Sessions as part of Sessions, Bates & Company. Snell Mfg. Information Source: oldtoolheaven.com