Powering the Modern Tool Industry

Meet 2019 NIHF Inductees S. Duncan Black and Alonzo G. Decker! 

We are honored to have S. Duncan Black and Alonzo G. Decker join the National Inventors Hall of Fame^® (NIHF).

The Invention

S. Duncan Black and Alonzo G. Decker invented the portable hand-held electric drill.

Before their invention, drills were only used in industrial manufacturing settings, as they were large, heavy devices that required more than one person to operate.

Because their drill could be operated by anyone, anywhere, it not only enabled the average consumer to purchase drills for home usage, but it also set the stage for the “Do-It-Yourself” movement. In 2018, the global DIY market was valued at 43.7 billion dollars. Nearly all drills we use today are descendants of the drill Black and Decker developed.

The Inventors

Before laying the foundation for the modern power tool industry, Black and Decker risked their careers and livelihood.

Decker had no formal education after the age of 14 and was working at a telegraph company when he met Black. When the telegraph company refused to give Decker a higher wage, he left his job and decided to open his own company, mortgaging his home to secure funding for the business.

Decker persuaded Black to join him, and soon Black had quit his job and sold his car to help fund the new business.

Black & Decker Manufacturing Co., initially manufactured products designed by other companies out of a small machine shop in Baltimore, Maryland.

Deciding they wanted to make their own line of tools, they found initial success when they developed the portable air compressor.

Looking for an innovative idea to help grow the company, they debuted the Portable Hand-Held Electric Drill in 1914, with a unique patent for the drill’s pistol grip and trigger switch.

Intended for industrial uses, Black and Decker’s drill was so effective that production workers at plants during WWII took the drills home and often did not return them. Black & Decker saw an opportunity and formed a development committee to pursue a post-war consumer market for their drill.

With the immediate success of their drill, the company expanded to have factories and offices all around the world, starting a global power tool revolution.

The Impact

Their names are now synonymous with home renovations and the DIY market. In 2010, Black & Decker merged with The Stanley Works to become Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.

Stanley Black & Decker is a sponsor of the 2019 Induction Ceremony and NIHF’s Camp Invention^® program.

Black and Decker will join the ranks of other global innovators in the National Inventors Hall of Fame during the 2019 Induction Ceremony on May 2.