Vintage and modern electric drills rest among bits and wood shavings on a dimly lit workshop bench.

Alonzo G. Decker: Biography of a Black & Decker Co-Founder

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In 1914, operating the switch on a portable electric drill could mean loosening one’s grip on the tool. Alonzo G. Decker and S. Duncan Black filed a patent application for a pistol-style handle with a finger-operated trigger, bringing the power control within reach without requiring the operator to let go.

The design emerged from a Baltimore shop that originally made machinery for other businesses. The company the partners built grew into an industrial power-tool manufacturer, came close to bankruptcy during the Great Depression, and later sold power tools to homeowners. Decker lived to see those changes, although he became president only in the final years of his life.

A Quick Look at the Life of Alonzo G. Decker

Biography Summary

Alonzo Galloway Decker Sr. (1884–1956) was an American tool-and-die maker, inventor, and co-founder of Black & Decker. He started the business with draftsman S. Duncan Black in 1910, shared credit for an influential portable-drill patent, and continued inventing as the company expanded. He succeeded Black as president in 1951.

Profile

Full Name: Alonzo Galloway Decker Sr.

Born: January 16, 1884

Died: March 18, 1956 (age 72)

Nationality: American

Training: Tool-and-die maker; formal schooling ended after seventh grade

Co-Founder: Black & Decker Manufacturing Company, with S. Duncan Black

Known For: Co-inventing a pistol-grip, trigger-switch arrangement for a portable electric drill

Leadership: Company president beginning in 1951; later chairman

Recognition: Posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2019

From Toolmaking to a Baltimore Partnership

Decker’s formal schooling ended after seventh grade. He trained and worked as a tool-and-die maker, developing the manufacturing expertise he later brought to his partnership with Black.

In 1906, Decker met S. Duncan Black while both worked for the Rowland Telegraph Company. Black was a draftsman. Four years later, the two men established their own machine shop in Baltimore, combining distinct technical backgrounds in a new business.

The business, which became the Black & Decker Manufacturing Company, initially made and improved machinery for other inventors rather than selling electric drills. Early work included machines used to produce milk-bottle caps and to dip candy.

The partners also began developing equipment of their own. The National Inventors Hall of Fame identifies a portable air compressor for inflating automobile tires as their first product of original design. The move beyond contract work preceded the portable drill that made the company widely known.

A Better Grip Changes the Drill

Decker and Black’s patent addressed a specific weakness in existing portable electric drills: their switches could require users to relax a supporting grip. The design combined a pistol-style handhold with a conveniently placed finger trigger. It was an improvement to the handling of an existing tool, not the invention of the first electric drill.

Samuel Duncan Black and Alonzo Galloway Decker jointly filed the application for U.S. Patent 1,245,860, Electrically-driven tool, on December 4, 1914. The patent was granted on November 6, 1917. Both partners are named as inventors.

In their joint patent specification, the inventors explained the effect of the new arrangement: “With our invention, there is nothing more to do than merely pull a trigger after the fashion of firing a revolver or gun.”

Black & Decker began manufacturing its half-inch portable electric drill in 1916. The product also used a universal motor that could run on alternating or direct current, while the joint patent documented the handle and switch arrangement.

In 1917, the company opened a manufacturing plant in Towson, Maryland. The move marked how far the original Baltimore machine shop had progressed toward producing a line of its own electric tools.

Industrial Growth and a Continuing Inventor’s Career

By 1920, Black & Decker’s annual sales had exceeded $1 million. Distribution spread across American cities, followed by a Canadian subsidiary in 1922. The company moved its headquarters to Towson in 1924.

Decker’s technical work continued beyond the joint drill patent. In 1925, he applied for a patent in his name alone covering a rotary tool with a pocket to hold its chuck key. Granted as U.S. Patent 1,647,396 in 1927, it addressed a different practical detail of tool use.

Black & Decker also promoted its products beyond the factory. In 1929, it used a modified Travel Air monoplane to demonstrate electric tools in an aircraft-maintenance setting.

The Depression Tests the Business

The Great Depression put Black & Decker under severe financial pressure. Despite its earlier growth, the company made major layoffs and came close to bankruptcy.

Among those laid off around 1930 was Alonzo G. Decker Jr., the co-founder’s son. Even a member of the founding family lost his position.

The company survived with help from outside capital and employees who continued working during periods without pay, according to its retrospective business history. It also kept developing equipment, including a portable circular saw and an electric screwdriver.

In 1936, Black & Decker gained a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Its shares had traded publicly before then, but the NYSE listing came after the company’s Depression-era crisis.

From Wartime Manufacturing to Tools for the Home

During World War II, Black & Decker manufactured components including fuses and shells. Even while serving wartime needs, the company began considering a different market for its tools after the war.

Formed in 1942, the company’s Post-War Planning Committee examined the possibility of selling less expensive power tools to homeowners and do-it-yourself users. Decker remained part of the company’s leadership during this period.

In 1946, Black & Decker introduced its Home Utility line, offering comparatively inexpensive quarter-inch and half-inch drills and accessories to household buyers. A business built around industrial tools now offered products designed for home use.

By 1951, the company had produced its millionth quarter-inch Home Utility drill. The milestone demonstrated the scale of the household-tool line just five years after its introduction.

After Black’s Death, Decker Becomes President

S. Duncan Black served as company president from the founding until his death on April 15, 1951. Decker, his partner for more than four decades, then took over the presidency. He had been a founder since 1910 but had not previously held that office.

Decker also became chairman in 1954. He died on March 18, 1956, at age 72. Robert D. Black, brother of the original co-founder, succeeded him as president.

The Invention and Company That Outlived Him

After being laid off during the Depression, Alonzo G. Decker Jr. (1908–2002) later returned to Black & Decker, becoming president in 1960 and chief executive in 1964. The company’s 1961 cordless drill and its 1971 Apollo lunar-drilling equipment came after the elder Decker’s death. Those developments belong to the next generation of Black & Decker’s history, not to his personal record as an inventor.

In 2010, Black & Decker combined with The Stanley Works to form Stanley Black & Decker. In 2019, the National Inventors Hall of Fame posthumously inducted Decker Sr. and S. Duncan Black for their contribution to the portable electric drill.

That honor recognized the achievement at the heart of Decker’s story: a shared invention that made a familiar tool easier to control, developed by two men whose Baltimore machine shop became a lasting manufacturing business.

Timeline

These milestones trace Decker’s life and the company developments most closely connected to his career.

Timeline.

January 16, 1884

Alonzo Galloway Decker Sr. is born.

1906

Decker meets S. Duncan Black while they are working for the Rowland Telegraph Company.

1910

The two men establish their Baltimore machine shop, the beginning of Black & Decker.

December 4, 1914

Black and Decker file their joint application for the portable-tool grip and trigger-switch design.

1916–1917

The company begins manufacturing a half-inch portable electric drill in 1916 and opens a plant in Towson in 1917. The partners’ patent is granted on November 6, 1917.

By 1920

Annual company sales exceed $1 million.

1925–1927

Decker files and then receives an individual patent covering a rotary-tool key-pocket improvement.

1929–early 1930s

The company promotes tools using an aircraft in 1929, then faces Depression-era financial distress and layoffs, including the dismissal of Decker’s son around 1930.

1936

Black & Decker is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

1942

A company committee plans for a postwar market that includes homeowners.

1946

The Home Utility line brings lower-priced drills and accessories to domestic buyers.

1951

The company produces its millionth quarter-inch Home Utility drill. After S. Duncan Black dies, Decker becomes president.

1954

Decker becomes company chairman.

March 18, 1956

Decker dies at age 72; Robert D. Black succeeds him as president.

2019

Decker and S. Duncan Black are inducted posthumously into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

FAQs

Did Alonzo G. Decker invent the first electric drill?

No. Portable electric drills were already in use. Alonzo G. Decker and S. Duncan Black co-developed a pistol-grip and finger-trigger arrangement that made it easier to control a hand-held drill without releasing the handle. Their patent application was filed in 1914 and granted in 1917.

Was Black & Decker founded in 1909 or 1910?

Black & Decker dates its founding to 1910, as do the National Inventors Hall of Fame and several historical accounts. A local historical marker instead gives 1909.

When did Alonzo G. Decker become president of Black & Decker?

Alonzo G. Decker Sr. became president in 1951, following the death of his co-founder S. Duncan Black. Black had been president from the company’s founding in 1910.

Did Alonzo G. Decker Jr. invent the pistol-grip drill?

No. Alonzo G. Decker Sr. and S. Duncan Black jointly patented the grip-and-trigger arrangement. Decker Jr. was the elder inventor’s son, who became company president in 1960. Black & Decker’s cordless drill followed in 1961, after Decker Sr. had died.

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