Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1896 — Invention of Circular Saws. [ARTICLE]

Invention of Circular Saws.

The circular saw lias come into such general use that it is accepted as one of the indispensable mechanical instruments and few ever give any thought to the inventor. In tracing the history of saVt’s back to the origin, _C. A. Dunham finds that the circular saw was invented in America about the year 1770 by a combmaker of the name of Hartshorn. He found the old-fashioned method of using a common handsaw to saw out the horn between the teeth of the comb rather slow. He therefore took a copper penny, known locally as a “Bungtown copper,” filed it down somewhat thinner, drilled a hole through its center, squared the hole and cut the teeth In its outer edge. He then placed It upon a mapdrel and put It In lathe. On that he sawed out his com lx*, , The new saw worked so wdlthiit hp cut up his handsaw and converted that also Into circular saws for making combs. He lived and died in Mansfield, Conn., “where the wooden nutmegs come from.” He was also the inventor of the screw and lip auger. He never took out any patents, claiming that If he had done anything that was of benefit to his fellow men they were welcome to it.—lnventor.