Hand drill

This hand drill belonged to Alfred Garret Dunn, a toolmaker and designer employed by the Leytool firm. He eventually became a director at the company.

The inter-war period saw a major growth of light engineering industries in suburban areas of north London. The Leytool firm was originally called the Leytonestone Jig and Tool Company and supplied tools to the aviation sector. The company changed its name to Leytool Limited in around 1965 and continued to trade at the same premises until the 1990s, relatively late in terms of London's deindustrialisation.

This hand drill was patented by the firm and was on the market from the 1940s onwards. Garret Dunn patented a number of Leytool products himself. The drill is an excellent example of the type of precision hand tools produced in London in the post-war period. Suburban manufacturing industries drove London's economy from the 1930s and their decline from the 1960s was a major blow to the capital's economy.