And when your battery drill goes dead hand power works just dandy, a fact not lost on the military who might find itself out in the middle of nowhere without an outlet anywhere in sight.
Long long after people were walking around claiming this sort of thing was obsolete, and very few companies were left making them, Hudson Forge was still making them for the government to fulfill contracts.
The bits were (I have heard) based on Irwin's, they braces they made (at least 2 typos) I don't know, but, yours doesn't match either one that I have a photo of.
But..look closely, they tended to use crappy stamping......
(The design is mostly modern with that chuck shape, and the sharp 90 under the handle...)