Vintage Original Hand Crank Geared Breast Drill, Eggbeater Style, Ratchet For Sale

This tool is a vintage 1910s – 1940s ratcheting breast drill, famously manufactured by the North Brothers Manufacturing Company under their iconic "Yankee" brand line in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Based on the multi-speed gear configuration, the distinctive sliding selector switch near the spindle, and the heavy-duty framed construction, this is a Yankee No. 555 (or the updated No. 1555 variant featuring a 3-jaw chuck). These were widely considered the absolute pinnacle of manual drilling engineering. The curved plate at the bottom was designed to be leaned against the user's chest (or breast), allowing them to leverage their full body weight to manually bore through thick iron, steel, or heavy ti