• Look in any home today and you can find cordless electric tools. In the kitchen, cordless electric mixers and knives make the chef's job easier. Cordless craft and hobby tools, drills, saws, and grinders hang ready in your work shop. Outside, cordless mowers and string trimmers keep your lawn neat.
  
  Cordless electric tools are everywhere because they offer many advantages over traditional corded power tools. Light weight, portability, and long battery life make cordless electric tools a good buy for any job.
  
  

Cordless Tool History

• The first cordless electric tools were developed during the early days of the space race. Black & Decker and Martin Marietta developed cordless zero-impact wrenches and rotary hammer drills for the Gemini and Apollo astronauts to use in zero gravity. These inventions led to the Black & Decker Corporation's induction into the Space Technology Hall of Fame in 1989.
  
  The technology developed for NASA led to devices that were commercially marketed. The Dust Buster, lightweight cordless medical and dental instruments, and cordless power tools hit the stores in the 1980's.
  
  

Battery Technology

• The heart of cordless electric tools is the rechargeable battery pack. The early batteries were nickel cadmium power cells. These battery packs can only work for about 20 minutes on an hour's charge and place strain on your wrist because they are heavy. They are also expensive due to the high cost of nickel and cadmium.
  
  The majority of cordless electric tool manufacturers now use lithium ion battery packs because they are lighter, cost less and are more reliable than the earlier battery packs. New developments in nanotechnology are making battery packs for cordless electric tools better, cheaper, and longer lasting.
  
  

Cordless Electric Everywhere

• Just a few years ago, "cordless electric tool" usually meant a drill or your electric razor. Now you can literally do just about any job with a cordless electric tool. Use a cordless mixer or knife in the kitchen, or clean the carpet with a powerful cordless vacuum cleaner.
  
  If you like doing crafts, try using a cordless rotary tool. These all-purpose tools can saw, drill, grind and sand just about any material. Every job from cutting tile to removing old paint is being done with cordless electric tools.
  
  Going cordless can help preserve the environment. Cordless weed trimmers, gutter cleaners, and reel mowers do not emit any pollutants into the air. Multiply that times the millions of people working in their yards across the globe, and the impact on pollution and climate change is significant.