On Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:36:54 -0500, "Mike Marlow"
wrote:

Dave wrote:
On Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:01:58 -0500, "
It couldn't be any sort of electronic proximity sensing, or really
any active technology, or it would infringe on SawStop's patent.
That patent is pretty damned air-tight.

Maybe not, but the drive to save money is pretty universal. I imagine
most saw builders are working on the safety issue as we speak. I agree
it's difficult to find a competing technology or we'd have seen it by
now. Doesn't matter, I believe it's just a matter of time.

I can imagine some type of beam of light that recognizes tissue and
disengages the saw when that beam is broken. Something will appear, I
have no doubt.

All of the table saw manufacturers are indeed working on an competing
solution. I don't recall where I saw it but you could probably find
documentation of that fact with a google search. I don't know if it is the
legal issues of patent infringement, or what is hold them up, but they are
not sitting back and doing nothing. It remains to be seen whether or not
Gass' patent (with all of its restrictions) will stand up under court
scrutiny.
It is my beleif that the patent protection given products like this
is too wide and comprehensive. Whether the courts will come to the
same conclusion is another question - and how long it will take them,
still another. By the time it is all said and done, it might be
cheaper to pay the guys fot their licence, fai business practices be
damned. - and end up NOT having an even better product on the market.