Failure™ Magazine

Give This Saw a Hand

Cutting-edge technology saves fingers (and other indispensable body parts).

Written by Jason Zasky   Filed under Science & Technology

On more than one occasion, Stephen Gass has intentionally—and somewhat nervously—placed one of his fingers in the path of the whirring, razor-sharp teeth of his cabinet saw. With any conventional saw, Gass would have been maimed, yet in each case he needed nothing more than a Band-Aid to cover the resulting “nick.”

All ten of Gass’ fingers are still intact thanks to his own invention—SawStop—a revolutionary safety device that detects contact with flesh, then uses a heavy-duty spring to push an aluminum block into the blade, bringing the saw to a shuddering stop in milliseconds. With the technology now almost a decade old, one might think power tool manufacturers would have implemented it across-the-board, but to date it remains exclusive to SawStop brand saws, in spite of its obvious utility.

A lifelong woodworker and a patent attorney with a doctorate in physics, Gass had the perfect storm of expertise necessary to invent SawStop and bring it to market. As Gass remembers it, he was working in his woodshop one day when he glanced over at his table saw and paused to consider whether it would be technically possible to stop the 3,500 rpm blade before it caused serious injury. Inspired, he immediately got to work, and within a month had developed a working prototype—a simple design which “utilized components you could buy at Radio Shack,” he offers.

Convinced of the invention’s commercial potential, Gass and four fellow patent attorneys from his law firm set out to patent-protect the technology—the most difficult, labor intensive and mission critical part of the endeavor. Without their combined legal expertise and do-it-yourself entrepreneurial spirit it’s doubtful SawStop would have ever reached the marketplace. “Very early on we did the equivalent of a million dollars worth of patent work,” says Gass, referring to himself and quartet of co-founders. “If we had to go out and hire someone, it would have been hugely and prohibitively expensive,” he concludes.

Yet it was imperative for Tualatin, Oregon-based SawStop LLC to develop a “very thorough patent portfolio,” because without it no investor would consider backing the company. “Who wants to give you money only to have the power tool manufacturers put you out of business?” asks Gass rhetorically, before noting that three of his co-founders—as well as his legal secretary—ultimately left the law firm to work for SawStop full time. “One of the original four ended up staying in patent law, but the rest of us have been doing this for the last eight years,” he says proudly.

Page 1 of 3 pages 1 2 3 >