rillers may appear to many as a very simple tool, least to be in the list of inventions. Yes, it was a natural and native invention, a invention of of need but continuously improved by modern man.  It is a fact that the driller is as important a tool as the wheel. It did bring in a major change factor in the life of human race.

This manual driller manufactured by LANCASTER PA – USA, sometime in late 1800s was once a center of attraction in one of the fitting shop floors of Massey & Co., Madras. “The Napier” engineering and Foundry works situated in Cochrane’s Basin road very near the central railway station.
Some of their huge furnaces, until very recently, were landmarks to rail commuters entering the Madras Central Rail Station.

M/S. Massey & Co. held mercantile agencies for oil and gas engines, Rees ‘turbo pumps, The Guindy Belt Co. Ltd, Barnards’ rice-hullers, etc.  Interestingly, a major supplier of beams to Government and the Presidency. The company

   
 
was directed by A.W. Roslier, W.G Gibson and H.E. Harris. The hand drill in spite of its beauty got blown away from its position with the invent of electricity and oil motors.. One Mr. Simmon, an assistant in the company, held this piece in his possession, for sheer passion, until he left the country in the early 1900s. Like many other, this condemned tool, then found importance in the black town, that had by then moved upto Ennore area along the sea.

The tool was spotted and restored in 2000 and listed in The STEVE BORGIA INDIAN HERITAGE MUSEUM and is currently exhibited at INDeco Hotels Mahabalipuram.