US Patent: 279,781
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| Chain cutter
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Patentee:
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| Frederick L. Magaw (exact or similar names) - Flatlands, NY |
| Manufacturer: |
| Not known to have been produced |
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Patent Dates:
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| Applied: |
Oct. 27, 1882 |
| Granted: |
Jun. 19, 1883 |
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Jeff Joslin
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Description: |
| This is the earliest patent we have seen for a chainsaw chain. See patent 279,780 for the machine that uses this chain. Judging by the description, the saw-teeth-on-a-chain was a new idea, at least in the context of cutting wood. The idea of saw-teeth-teeth-on-a-chain had been described in 1785 by Scottish surgeon John Aitken in his book "Principles of Midwifery, 2d Edition". Aitken's saw consisted of a length of toothed chain with wooden handles on either end. This saw was used during a difficult childbirth to cut the pubic symphysis, the cartilaginous joint between left and right pelvic bones. (Earlier surgeons had used a flexible knife but the symphisis was sometimes ossified, and the force required to force a knife through the bony cartilage risked damage to the bladder and other tissues in the area.) Aitken's idea was not merely hypothetical: such saws, using chains similar in scale to a pocket-watch chain, were commercially available. In the 1830s, Dr. Bernard Hein developed a hand-powered chainsaw device similar in mechanism to a hand drill, the "osteotome". While still hand-powered, this tool presaged the modern wood-cutting chainsaw. |
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