Patent ID: 7328752

Claim:
An electrically powered hand drill/driver, comprising: a rotatable work element adapted to receive a bit; a motor adapted to drive the rotation of the work element during powered operation of the drill/driver; a body having a housing containing at least the motor and a handle adapted to be gripped by a user while operating the drill/driver; a power source adapted to deliver power to the motor; at least one user input; wherein the at least one user input includes an actuator adapted to be depressed by a user to select powered operation of the drill/driver; and a controller electrically connected to the power source and the motor and configured to regulate rotation of the work element by controlling delivery of power to the motor from the power source, wherein the controller is adapted to cause rotation of the work element responsive to depression of the actuator, wherein the controller is further adapted to regulate the applied torque to the work element responsive to user-applied pressure to the body of the drill/driver, and wherein the controller is further adapted, at least in a first operating mode, to interrupt the rotation of the work element responsive to detection of a torque that exceeds a predetermined torque threshold.