This dentistry tool, known as ‘Erado’ – or ‘I scrape out’ in Latin - was invented by British dentist George Fellows Harrington in 1864 to improve the method of removing tooth decay. It was a drill run by a clockwork mechanism, running for 2 minutes after being wound-up. This meant the drill could continuously rotate, improving the speed of the procedure.
The success of the drill was short-lived. It was noisy and awkward to control and was quickly overtaken by the invention of the foot engine (pedal drill) in 1872.
Text and image courtesy of Science Museum Group