development of (bench) band saws

The bench band saw is an in-between product on the long way from the invention to the functioning ripping saw saw (log band saw). The goal had always been the ripping saw (log band saw).  Bench bandsaws, or bandsaws for short, became more widespread.

The band saw is historically the youngest of the three classic wood sawing machines after the gang saw and the circular saw.  Almost seventy years of development were to pass from the first concept of a „saw without end“ by W. Newberry to the qualification of this new principle of operation.

As early as 1808, Newberry was granted a patent for the band saw. The fact that his invention did not find its way into practice was due to the inadequate metallurgical possibilities for manufacturing the endless saw blade at that time.

 

First band saw machine – invented by Newberry in 1808

 

Steel from which band saw blades are made must have two properties. Thoses stand in a thight relationship to each other that can be varied only slightly, namely elasticity and cutting ability. Finding such a relation and then guaranteeing it at each point of the saw blade during production was initially too much for the manufacturers.

The band saw combines the technical advantages of the saw frame with those of the circular saw. The blade could be thinner and thus leave less sawdust, and it was suitable for complicated cuts.

The first functioning band saws were of small design, these were benchtop band saws. The French company Perin exhibited such a band saw at the 1855 World’s Fair in Paris, which met with astonishment and approval among experts and was considered a new invention.

From 1860 onwards, designers and machine builders in almost all industrialized countries were working with the band saw.

 

Benchtop band saw from 1860 with statically improved machine frame and tiltable safety guard.

 

Around 1865, the technical conditions were as far as that first band saws, as a result of proper alloying and heat treatment of the steel,were able to get the necessary thin and at the same time narrow saw blades, which were flexible and rarely broke.

Source: Historische Bilder und Texte VEB Fachbuchverlag Leipzig „Vom Steinbeil zum Sägegatter“.