On Oct 9, 1:35*pm, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote:
On 10/9/2011 5:45 AM, Mike Marlow wrote:
Stuart Wheaton wrote:

My understanding is that the principal in Sawstop is actually a patent
lawyer.

Yes, he is as well as two of his partners in the venture. *And that means...
what?

Well actually it means that Gass and his investors had the knowledge of
how to successfully bring a good idea to market despite the competitions
avoidance to participate.
It is unbelievable how many good ideas get bought and **** canned to keep
it becoming available.

This was Stanley Tools MO for decades. Engulf and devour. They'd buy
competing companies, keep some products or throw the entire company
away as it was the easiest way to bury the competition, particularly
with companies that had patents and good products.

Leonard Bailey invented and patented one of the earliest (that we know
about) plane adjusting mechanism, Stanley bought him and his patents,
he ended the relationship and went out on his own again in competition
with Stanley, patent disputes, yada-yada, he lost, sold his company,
started up again, patent disputes, yada-yada, and Stanley bought his
company again and just stopped producing Bailey's planes.

This mindset lives on at B&D/Stanley.

R