Who invented the saw? Saw: Game of Survival

How often do each of us use construction tools in everyday life?! Probably, during repairs, it’s always common, and just building a birdhouse in the country or repairing a shovel is a common thing. Have any of us ever wondered what the history of these same construction tools is? Who was the first to pick up a hammer or come up with a pneumatic hammer drill? Who first created the screw and screwdriver? But today we will talk to you about such an important and useful invention of mankind as a saw.

According to statistics, almost every modern builder has a tool such as a saw in his arsenal. To be precise, 97.2% of home craftsmen and almost 99.1% of craftsmen who work in production. This fact suggests that the saw has reached the peak of its popularity. Many may think that the flight of this object of construction to the top was simple and its age is no more than fifty years. But the first impression turns out to be wrong. The saw is far from a “young” instrument and was invented by people a long time ago.

The first objects that can be considered the ancestors of modern saws, according to scientists, were produced more than four thousand years ago. They were jagged stones that were used by ancient people to create images on bone or other relatively soft material(some types of stone, wood). Such saws were made by sharpening a piece of stone on the sharp corners of a rock, or they were found ready-made. The very first sculptors who made statues of gods also used these tools.

The ancient Egyptians, and then the Romans, were the first to use ultra-precise and durable saws, which were made of copper and equipped with cut diamonds as teeth. It was precisely these saws that were used by the craftsmen who made sarcophagi for the nobles of Egypt, since the accuracy of the sawing of such a tool made it possible to make very high-quality products. The ancient Romans also used similar saws in the construction of temples and other monumental structures.

Scandinavian craftsmen were the first to learn how to make saws using stone molds. This type of saw production was supposed to compete with the axes already widely used at that time. But the quality of the teeth and their sharpening did not give the desired effect. Coefficient useful action The number of such saws was negligible on an industrial scale, so they were not destined to withstand the fight against axes.

Only centuries later Ancient Greece in the 50s BC saws made by blacksmiths appeared. Forged teeth were much sharper and sharper, which made them the undisputed leader among saws of that time.

The period from the emergence of Christianity to the dawn Kievan Rus associated with the development of basic crafts, which in turn led to the development of the saw. It spread almost throughout the world and even then competed with the axe. The saw was, of course, most widely used in the regions of Siberia, Africa and Asia, where the timber industry flourished. A little later, when America was discovered, the saw spread there too.

Local inventors tried to invent the first improved sawmill, which made the woodcutter’s work easier, in 1322 in Germany. They were able to construct a saw driven by hydraulic mechanisms. This brought about something of a revolution in the methods of deforestation in Germany.

Similar saws were eventually used in England, Scotland, and Portugal. But woodcutters, who lived on earnings from cutting down forests, began to lose their jobs en masse. This led to serious uprisings, during which such “innovations” were destroyed.

In the United States of America, the first steam sawmill in history, which became the ancestor of the now widespread chainsaws, also suffered from similar uprisings. A new stage in the design of band saws was the conversion of a hydraulic to a steam sawmill, which was constructed in the city of Bass (Maine) in 1821.

The first tool of this type was a steel band with many teeth along one edge. They constantly rotated on both vertical pulleys, the direction of the teeth was towards the wood being cut. The first nation to patent this type drank, there were Englishmen. A citizen of this particular country was issued a patent for such a saw in 1808.

In 1834, a certain Etieno managed to obtain a patent for the same type of saw in France. The first American to patent a band saw was B. Baker, who did this only in 1836. Due to certain circumstances, the band saw began to develop only after the 70s of the nineteenth century. An accurate connection between the ends of the band saw that would ensure maximum safety could not be created long years. In those days, some of the best band saws were made in France. Now this country is one of the world leaders in band saws.

In addition to the traditional and band saws, many companies claim leadership in the creation of the chain saw. They refer to the chain saw mechanism, which was invented in the 20s of the twentieth century. However, scientists refute this fact and, in turn, say that the first chain saw was invented by a doctor. In 1830, the German prosthetist Bernard Hein came up with a mechanism that helped with this for optimal cutting of bone. Thus, the osteoscope was invented in medicine and the chain saw in the forestry industry.

But it was not possible to implement the invention of the German doctor, since the saws turned out to be very heavy and inconvenient. Only a century later did humanity manage to take a step forward. A significant contribution to sawmill construction was made by two people, whose creations are now known to many builders who value quality tools.

Andreas Stihl, a German mechanic, patented the first electric chain saw in 1926, and in 1929 the first chainsaw under the Shtihl brand. Now this German manufacturer has several dozen different patents in the field of mechanical engineering, a considerable market share among similar products, as well as recognition from buyers who value the brand for its accuracy and reliability.

In turn, in post-war period in 1947, Joseph Buford improved the chain saw chain, optimizing its operation and increasing the efficiency of the tool. While observing a bark beetle larva during a break from work, Joseph Cox noticed the ease with which the small tree beetle larva gnaws its way through the wood of a strong stump, moving in any direction it wishes, regardless of the direction of the grain. By repeating the C-shaped jaws of the larva from steel, the lumberjack made a new chain. He and his wife then formed the Oregon Company to manufacture the chains and bars that are used in most chainsaws today. It is believed that the details of this particular company speak of the effectiveness and relative simplicity of the tool.

From all of the above we can conclude that, like any invention, the saw has had its day. thorny path, tested for strength by time and improved through human efforts.

SAW - a manual or machine-made multi-blade tool for cutting (cutting) various materials -ria-lov.

The cutting part of the saw is usually in the form of wedge-shaped incisors (teeth), one-on-one vu-yut saws (for example, for cutting stone, glass) with a cutting part from ab-ra-ziv-no-go ma-te-ria-la (for example, al- lubricating disk) or presenting a steel rope (rope saw).

According to the char-rak-te-ru of the ra-bo-che-movements, saws are used: knife-knives, or knife-knives, - a long knot- some steel-plate-but-top-has-return-but-step-up movements; round (disc, circular) - in the form of a disc with an outer cutting edge, rotating on the axis -lu; flax-precise - in the form of an endless (closed) flexible tape, on-the-well between two rotating-schi- mi-xya shki-va-mi; chain - whose working part is a chain (made of wire with a special cut instead of teeth or from a ball-nir- but-unified-re-zhu-sh-ing links), locking into a ring and moving along the guide-shi-sha- Not. Circular saws would be solid, made from carbon-le-ro-di-stay in-st-ru-mental steel, and with inserts -we have teeth, you are full of steel or hard alloys. Knife and flax saws usually have teeth that are not exactly right.

According to the tension of the saws, the saws are not the same and the ones that are the same. For example, different types of saws (except for metal saws), dis-co -new and conventional two-handed saws (not-about-ho-di-may-stiffness or stability-of-the-lot-on-when-working-to-ti- due to its thickness or the use of two handles); to the na-cha-nu-tym - ray-to-wie (thin steel-plate-lot-but-to-cha-well-between two der-zha-te-la-mi ) and flax saws. They drank a lot more, but thinner, that's why they drank more narrowly.

In za-vi-si-mo-sti from na-zna-che-niya you-de-la-have two main classes of saws - according to de-re-vu and metal. The saw teeth for metal have the appearance of a rectangular triangular (with an acute angle at the top) with a front she cuts the edge. De-re-vu saws also have triangular-shaped teeth, but their configuration and cutting edges depend from the right-hand direction of the pi-le-niya: across the river or along the wall of the tree-ve-si-ny. In saws for metal, the size of the teeth usually does not exceed 1-1.5 mm in height with a width (based on -va-nuyu) 1.2-2 mm; for saws according to de-re-vu, the height of the teeth is 1-18 mm, the width at the base is 1.5-12 mm. The efficiency of sawing is essentially dependent on the size of the saw teeth and the condition of their cutting edges. ki (za-dot-ki) and once-water-ki.

See also “Stone-not-carved machine.”

Historical reference. Pi-le-nie stone-nya on-lu-chi-lo shi-ro-ras-pro-strana-not already in neo-oli-those. For or-ganic materials, small stone saws were used, having teeth, but foreign gda (what is before-ka-za-but tra-so-lo-gich. ana-li-za-mi) and without them. The appearance of bronze saws is connected with the wide-spread country. For Egypt, from the Ancient Tsar-st-va, for-fi-si-ro-va-ny ty-go-vye (with teeth, ob-ra-shchen- we to the handle) saws up to 40 cm long, with a curved wooden handle on a handle, located along the axis of the lot on the.

The use of a saw requires a high level of processing of wood, bones and other materials (boards, thin to the cheeks and plates, figured from de-lia). The use of saws is also known as an instrument of sophisticated executions (2 Kings 12:31). On the territory of Russia, saws are known from the late Bronze Age. The spread of the same allows for more different types of saws, including large sizes (including two-handed ones).

It is known for certain that the history of the existence circular saw dates back more than two hundred years. Therefore, exact data on who exactly created this tool has not been preserved. However, there are three versions about the creator of this extremely useful device. One version attributes this fact for a woman, the other two for men.

Of course, the first units were very different from the current household circular saw. They were huge, awkward and impractical, but they performed their functions perfectly. After all, the main purpose of the tool has not changed, just the ways of achieving the result have changed somewhat, and the level of convenience has increased. Interesting fact, that when they were first created, saws did not use electricity to start and operate. As a rule, they were driven by water or wind, or using a pedal drive. Having huge dimensions, only 150 years later circular saws were used for domestic purposes.

Now let’s describe in more detail the likely creators of this tool.

1. Back in 1813, in Massachusetts, USA, there lived a woman named Taffyta Babbitt. She worked on a foot-powered loom. And then one fine day, while walking down the street, she saw a man cutting a log into planks with a handsaw. The idea that came into the woman’s head at that moment struck her. She came up with the idea of ​​attaching a tin disk with teeth to her spinning wheel, and thus, using a special handle for the disk, pressing the pedal of the machine, sawing small logs. No sooner said than done, and the newly created woodworking machine began to be used in logging, receiving the name “circular saw.”
2. In 1777, a certain Samuel Miller invented an analogue of a household circular saw. There is no description of how the idea came to his mind, but there is official patent No. 1152. It says that the previously mentioned gentleman invented a machine for quickly sawing all types of wood, stone and metal plates. This machine was powered by a clever system of shafts powered by the energy of a windmill.
3. According to the third version, the invention of the circular saw is attributed to Walter Taylor, who collected materials for shipbuilding. According to the documents found, the workers of his enterprise since 1790 have been working on machines with circular saws, which were used for rough processing of wood.

All these developments have one thing in common - the huge size of the tool. And only in 1929, a certain inventor Emmons proposed new idea portable saw. His device used a screw drive and an electric motor housed in a portable housing. The design and operating principle were very similar to those of a modern household circular saw.

Wood is still a popular material for craftsmen. They are used to make kitchen items, furniture, doors Zhitomir http://komfort-zt.com.ua and so on. For many centuries, Russian people cut down forests, not sawed them, and the boards were not sawn, but chipped. They were called tes. The first sawyers appeared in Rus', they began to be called tertichniki (from the word “to rub”), and this happened in early XVIII century... The saw was known to the world a long time ago...
Her images were found on Assyrian bas-reliefs. In the last century, in Nineveh, archaeologists dug up a piece of a saw with a hole for a handle. This saw had a wide blade, which spoke of good metal and the ability of the craftsmen to forge such narrow strips. Now the pins are not forged, they are stamped. Previously, teeth were cut with scissors. Or they were also made as a “mosquito” - a lever with a punch. The work went like this: the saw pulls one tooth - the punch is triggered and falls. He bit like a mosquito. In ancient times, the saw was burned by immersing it in hot sand. And then the sand seemed to be sawed away. And they received good training and beautiful colour metal There are mentions of the saw in myths. The ancients believed that the son of Daedalus' sister Perdix invented the compass and saw, arousing the envy of his compatriots to such an extent that he was thrown from the Acropolis. However, the gods managed to turn the innocent inventor into a bird on the fly.
The very first sawmills powered by water date back to the fourth century. They were allegedly started by savvy people in Germany. In Norway, for example, sawmills appeared in the 16th century. England acquired saw mills to strengthen its industrial power even later. But the first steam saw was launched by an Englishman, at the very beginning of the last century. By the way, the circular saw, or “circular saw” as it is called, was invented two hundred years ago.
When did the saw “Russify”, coming to the aid of the axe? Peter’s decree “On training woodcutters to saw wood” is well known. The saw not only saved work time, but also wood. Indeed, the forest is being cut down - the chips are flying. And this is a considerable expense; up to 25 percent of wood goes to waste. And there was also a decree from Peter about the preparation of boards. The need for building materials then increased: ships and cities were built. In 1748 there was a royal clarification: “All landowners and other industrialists should try to prepare hand saws in advance.” -And here is the official complaint of 1756: “Not only sawing water and windmills, but also hand saws have not yet been established anywhere.” As we can see, the ax assistant was slowly introduced into everyday life.
Saws were bought from Europeans, but they began to be made in Russia itself. They distributed it to the peasants voluntarily and forcibly. They took two rubles for them at once, and then demanded another penny per person while using them. The audit was carried out by special teams. The Senate encouraged the construction of sawmills. At the end of the eighteenth century in the Vyatka province (in the forest region действовало более сорока лесопилок. На Урале железоделательные заводы тоже готовили для себя доски !} mechanically. Well, in the 19th century, saws began to move using steam power. By the middle of the last century, mining plants were forced to treat forests more economically.
Zgatoustovsky and Botkinsky factories started producing Pil. Locomotive wood-based vehicles were also in use, but they were not so widespread. Lumberjacks were still given axes, not saws. It was the same at the beginning of this century - The glory of the ax has not yet faded! It is indispensable in construction. With its help, a Russian could make almost any thing out of wood. This is partly why it was apparently so difficult for the “unnecessary” saw to be introduced. Moreover, as the old masters believed, it spoils the wood, cuts the fibers and as a result the life of the wooden object is short. Boards split along the grain, used for roofing, lasted many times longer than sawn boards...

It is believed that the first saw appeared even before the beginning of chronicled history. The first objects that can be considered the ancestors of modern saws were produced more than four thousand years ago. These were jagged stones used to create images on bone or other relatively soft material (certain types of stone, wood). The ancient Egyptians, and then the Romans, created bronze saws for sawing stones, and their teeth were diamonds and other gems. The teeth of Egyptian saws were inclined towards the handle, which made it possible to make cuts “with traction”. Such saws are still used in the East.

The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that powerful gods were the first to make saws from the jaws and spines of large fish.

IN Bronze Age saws began to be made of bronze, and in iron saws - of iron, and they were equipped with a relatively convenient handle of the “fox tail” type. Scandinavian craftsmen were the first to learn how to make iron saws, casting them in stone molds. But the quality of the teeth and their sharpening did not allow such saws to compete with axes. Only centuries later in Ancient Greece in the 50s BC. forged saws appeared. The teeth made by the blacksmiths were much sharper and sharper, which made them the undisputed leader among saws of that time.

However, the saws spread slowly, since the two-handed saws used on the plot had to be used by three people: two sawed, and the third, an assistant, looked and used a pole to push the tree ready to fall in the right direction. Meanwhile, one lumberjack armed with an ax could fell the same tree in the same time. True, sawmills have more than once tried to impose the role of an assistant on the tool itself, often finding simple and ingenious solutions. For example, they made one-handed saws made from a bent trunk of a thin birch tree, to the ends of which a saw blade was attached.

In the 19th century, “American saws” were widely used, which were a combination of a hacksaw and a two-handed saw. You can cut down small trees with this tool alone. Much more complex was the saw, equipped with supporting supports, spring-loaded rollers and screws that regulate the pressure of the blade to the barrel. Apparently, because of this very complexity, it was not popular with loggers.

For many years, and not without success, bow saws were used to fell trees. Their thin blades made of alloy steel had a peculiarity - the thickness of the back was greater than the cutting part with a complex tooth profile. In the late 20s - early 30s of the twentieth century. The Swedish company Sandviken produced spring-loaded Kompis saws, which worked as follows. First, a bar was rested against the tree trunk, and a return spring was attached to it. Its other end was connected to a one-handed hacksaw, which was pulled in one direction by the lumberjack, and in the other by a spring.

In the middle of the 19th century, intensive development of technology took place, which was reflected in logging technology, where the first logging mechanisms appeared. Thus, in a device invented by the American engineer Hamilton in 1861, two workers used handles to rotate a flywheel with a toothed rim, thereby setting the saw blade into reciprocating motion. Around the same years, the Russian inventor D.I. Zhuravsky was the first to propose a saw in which the role of the cutting organ was performed by a disk with teeth. It rotated by hand drive, through a bevel gear, and was mounted on a frame that moved along two grooves in the horizontal direction.

Naturally, the creators of such mechanisms tried to use, first of all, standard components and parts that had already been tested in technology. At that time, the most common engine was the steam engine. It was this that the English engineer Ransome included in his mobile unit (1860). From her power plant steam flowed through long hoses to the cylinders of several working machines, to the rods of which the saws themselves were attached. Such units could be found here and there at the beginning of the twentieth century.

But steam was replaced by electricity. And already in the first years of the twentieth century in Germany they invented a method of felling trees with its help. The barrel was covered with steel wire at the bottom. Then the electric motor was turned on, the wire began to rotate quickly, like a conveyor belt. Heated by current and also by friction, it charred the wood and easily sawed through the trunk. In this case, the danger of a forest fire was eliminated, since the wire was not heated red-hot.

The advent of electric motors opened up the opportunity to create a variety of options for electric saws. The simplest of them is a mechanism developed in 1936 by Arkhangelsk mechanic N.F. Kharlamov. An electric motor was mounted on the frame; a conical friction roller was installed on its elongated shaft, which came into contact with the saw blade and caused the latter to rotate. Kharlamov's saw, the disadvantage of which was that it was heavy, was usually operated by a mechanic with an assistant. Later they tried to lighten this unit by cutting out middle part saw blade - the resulting working ring was held from the inside by spacer rollers connected to the friction transmission and the engine.

The desire to combine the advantages of a bow saw with the capabilities of an electrified drive contributed to the emergence of quite interesting designs. Even before the war, an unusual device was tested in Arkhangelsk. Two long cables came out of a small portable container in which the motor, gearbox and chain drive were located. They were connected to the ends of the bow cloth. There was an alternating tension of each cable and movement of the saw blade back and forth.

A new stage of development was the appearance of band saws. It is a round steel strip with many teeth along one edge. It is tensioned on two vertical pulleys, and the teeth are directed towards the wood being cut. The first patent for this type of saw was issued in England in 1808. In 1834, a certain Etieno received a patent for the same type of saw in France. The first American to patent a band saw was B. Baker, who did this only in 1836. However, for many years it was not possible to achieve an accurate connection of the ends of the band saw, which is why their widespread use began only after the 70s of the 19th century. In those days, some of the best band saws were made in France.

And yet, neither the disk nor the band blade, even the ring-shaped one, has become the basis of modern portable power saws. It was a cutting chain, first proposed back in 1858 by the American Brown. His contemporaries did not appreciate the invention. The first production samples of such saws appeared only several decades later. They were cumbersome and it was impossible to operate them alone. An example of this is the Sector chain saw, developed in the 20-30s of the twentieth century by the Swedish engineer Westfelt. On it, the cutting chain, stretched along a triangular contour through sprockets (one drive), was driven into rotation by a gasoline engine through a bevel gear and a long shaft.

A significant contribution to sawmill construction was made by two people, whose creations are now known to many builders who value quality tools. These are Andreas Stihl and Joseph Buford Cox. Andreas Stihl, a German mechanic, patented the first electric chain saw in 1926, and in 1929 the first chainsaw under the Shtihl brand. Now this German manufacturer has several dozen different patents in the field of mechanical engineering, a considerable market share among similar products, as well as recognition from buyers who value the brand for its accuracy and reliability.

In these same years, extremely difficult conditions logging labor and its low productivity pushed forward engineering thought in the USSR. At the end of 1927, by order of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR, the Northern Experimental Station for mechanization and rationalization of logging was established. In order to study foreign technology, in 1927, motor saws “Sector”, “Rapid” and others that appeared abroad were brought to the USSR for testing. This, in fact, is where the history of motor saws in the USSR began. Time has shown that electric saws are good for bucking, but are of little use for felling. In 1931, the Mashinotrest Devices Bureau designed and manufactured the first prototypes of the Pioneer gas-powered saw, and the Main Military Engineering Directorate of the Red Army organized the production of MP-300 gasoline-powered saws and the Bolshevik series of electric saws. Following this, the Academic Council of TsNIIME approved for implementation a project of lightweight gasoline-powered saws under the brands TsNIIME-1 with a rotary sawing apparatus and TsNIIME-2 of an all-rotary design, as well as further modifications - TsNIIME-3 and TsNIIME-4.

The period of the 30-40s is characterized by the exceptional intensity of experimental work on the creation of portable mechanical chain saws, and the result of this work was the creation, shortly after the Great Patriotic War new model of electric saw TsNIIME - VAKOPP. Being almost half the weight of its predecessors, the VAKOPP saw has been widely used in the forestry industry since 1946. At the same time, mobile power stations PES-12-50 of normal current frequency (50 Hz) with a capacity of 12 kW are supplied to the forest.

However, along with a significant decrease total weight The VAKOPP electric saw had an insufficient working length of the bar (500 mm) and low engine power - 1.3 kW.

A real technical revolution in the mechanization of forest felling was made by the TsNIIME-K5 saw. It used an electric motor with increased current frequency (200 Hz). Instead of 3,000 rpm, the electric motor shaft developed 12,000 rpm, which made it possible to reduce the weight of the engine by more than half without reducing its power (1.3 kW).

Further scientific organizations and individual inventors, using electric motors of increased current frequency, created a number of designs of lightweight electric saws. At the same time it began mass production electric saws model PEP-3.

During the post-war period, in 1947, lumberjack Joseph Buford Cox improved the chainsaw chain, optimizing its performance and increasing the efficiency of the tool. Observing a bark beetle larva during a break from work, he noticed the ease with which it gnaws its way through the wood of a strong stump, moving in any direction regardless of the direction of the fibers. By repeating the C-shaped jaws of the larva from steel, the lumberjack made a new chain. He and his wife then formed the Oregon Company to manufacture the chains and bars that are used in most chainsaws today. It is believed that the details of this particular company speak of the effectiveness and relative simplicity of the tool.

In 1949, in our country, mass production of gas-powered saws began, which turned out to be much more efficient in cutting areas and more convenient to operate than electric saws. For decades, the “Friendship” chainsaw reigned on the plots, so named by its creators in honor of the 300th anniversary of the reunification of Ukraine with Russia.

A new muffler, a single-bar removable starter were introduced into its design, the ignition system was improved, and many components and parts of the saw were strengthened. In the Druzhba-60 modification, the power on the saw chain engine reached 3.5 hp. “Friendship” was subsequently replaced by more advanced saws “Ural” and “Taiga”.