On 8/15/2015 7:13 PM, J. Clarke wrote:
In article , lcb11211
@swbelldotnet says...

On 8/15/2015 2:30 PM, John McCoy wrote:
Ed Pawlowski wrote in
:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabitha_Babbitt
Circular saw was invented by a woman and used water power. 1813.

A common claim, but not true. The Royal Navy had circular saws
in the Portsmouth dockyards in the 1790s and contemporary texts
don't describe them as a new invention. The Portsmouth dockyard
had numerous tools powered by steam engine and belting by 1802,
some of which have been preserved.

The actual inventor of the circular saw seems to be lost to time.

John

There seems to be some confusion here. The woman invented the circular
blade design. I'm clueless who invented the circular saw.

So if she did not invent the circular saw then what was the purpose of
the circular blade design?

The need was for a more efficient and durable design. The dual stroke
of the straight blades only cut in one direction. The return stroke was
a wasted motion as far as cutting was concerned. The circular blade
never has to reverse direction to continue the cycle.

I'm sure you could envision how spinning the circular blade would not be
a stretch of the imagination.

No all of this is with the assumption that we both agree that a circular
saw spins a circular blade.