Is this a specific kind of hand drill?

Question

I have been collecting tools from my grandfather's old workshop. One of the items appears to be a hand drill. What is odd about this is that if you look up hand drill they either function similar to a manual egg beater or a brace-and-bit hand-drill. Closest I found was the icon for hand drills on eBay.

This would operate with one hand which is superior to the aforementioned hand drills but for pure drilling I would think the others perform more efficiently. What is this really for and could I use this in modern wood-working?

Update

After reading some of the responses and comments I looked back at the tool with more information. I noticed the top unscrews and it contained 3 small "pins". The picture is enlarged. The objects are about 1 inch long.

The jaws are perfectly sized for for these pins. It appears I had guessed, wrong potentially, that this was a drill.

Answer 1

That's a push drill, sometimes referred to as a "Yankee drill". It has the advantage of working in some places where you can't fit a crank or brace-and-bit.

Answer 2

This is a push drill as @keshlam said. They're particularly useful for drilling small diameter holes quickly, easily and accurately.

It can be a bit tricky to drill a small hole steadily while you're holding a big heavy electric drill, or wobbling around with an "egg beater" style hand drill, which is where push drills come in. You can also use them one-handed which can be useful for when you need to hold something still while drilling (or for example hold multiple pieces in position for drilling through them all simultaneously).

Answer 3

Here is a link to some great 50's footage at the Fender guitar factory of one in use. It's only a few seconds but I think it shows its usefulness in a production situation. I suppose rechargeable battery powered drills have replaced it.Yankee drill at Fender factory late 50's

Answer 4

I own a Yankee drill and one of these. The handle of the Yankee drill is hollow metal to hold a half dozen different diameter drill bits.

My version of this tool came with a removable screwdriver blade. I imagine there are a variety of blades available. If you view the video @mike fleck referenced you will notice that the worker put small screws into the the neck of the guitar, then used this tool to tighten them by pressing up and down a couple of times.

So, my experience and the video of one in use tells me that this is a screwdriver.

Answer 5

They are great if you need to make small holes, such as pilot holes. Very quick. I have used mine when I have a bit checked in my cordless drill for driving screws, and need to make pilot holes. Rather than switching bits in the drill every time, I use the Yankee drill to make the pilot holes, then use the cordless drill to drive screws.

Answer 6

It's a push screwdriver, not a drill, on the Mike Fleck's answer there's a video. I've used it, it's handy for large quantity of medium size screws(smaller tend to jump out, larger are easier to screw by rotary movement)...

Of course if you don't have electric analogue by hand...