2023-11-17 11:02:37
Why were chainsaws invented? What a stupid question, you are probably thinking: to cut down trees, of course. Well, don’t be so sure of yourself: this accessory has more complicated origins than that… and which are enough to make you shudder.
The invention of the modern chainsaw
The tool as we know it, powered by gasoline and intended for cutting trees, was patented in 1925 by a German named Andreas Stihl. A few years later, one of his compatriots launched the Dolmar brand: the chainsaw became a consumer item among others. What Andreas Stilh did not invent, however, was rotating blades on a chain for greater efficiency, a concept that predates… the French Revolution.
Medical origins
The “flexible saw” was created between 1783 and 1785 by two Scottish doctors, John Aitken and James Jeffray. Their observation is simple: many deliveries end in tragedy because the baby’s head… does not pass. Seeking to cut the perineum to widen the passage, they invented a suitable mechanism – then manual and not motorized. This is the birth of a surgical procedure still used today (although less and less): episiotomy.
Dark Ages
This may not shock you: what could be more normal in an operating room than cutting up human flesh? Where things get tricky is that in 1785, modern anesthesia did not exist. Until the middle of the 19th century, interventions took place on fully awake patients. Suffice to say that at the time of the “flexible saw”, surgery was not so far from the horrors of the film Chainsaw Massacre…
#chainsaws #invented