To the question, of why were chainsaws invented, a lot of people would rush to say they were invented for tree felling. Nothing can be farther from the truth. They were invented for something entirely different but have come a long way to becoming tools for felling trees.
In what many would consider to be a horror movie close to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the tree-felling tools were designed for cutting up women during childbirth to allow for easy passage of children. It wasn’t as horror-filled as you would imagine, and that was many years ago.
Why were chainsaws invented?
The chainsaw was invented to aid in childbirth. In the time past, there was nothing like C-Section. Because of this, all babies had to be born through the natural way; the vaginal birth.
The problem with vaginal birth is that a lot of things could go wrong. For example, the skull of the baby might end up being larger than the canal of its mother. If this happened, the lives of both mother and baby could be at risk.
Once the head of the baby was unable to pass through the mother, some parts of the pelvic bone of the woman would have to be removed so that the baby could make it out. Most of the time, this left the woman with a lifelong issue to deal with, or it could leave both mother and baby lifeless.
The operation, now referred to as symphysiotomy, was performed on a woman when the child gets stuck. A small knife is used to cut the woman, a procedure that takes so much time and is tormenting for a mother because there is no anesthesia involved.
This became a serious problem for everyone involved; the lives of both the baby and the mother were at risk and it took too much time from doctors. This was what led to the invention of the chainsaw by two doctors named John Aitken and James Jeffrey
How did the first invented chainsaw work?
The initial chainsaw was made very small, almost the size of a butter knife. Designed to work manually, it produced so much noise and was powered by hand. Of course, it also had sharp teeth.
This tool made the process very easy. It made the operation less time-consuming and less bloody. The precision of the cut and the effectiveness meant the lives of both baby and mother could be saved more easily.
Now, what remained hidden in the invention of the chainsaw is that in the earliest times, it became one of the important steps in the development of c-sections as we come to know it today.
Another major thing is that Symphysiotomies have since given way as they are no longer performed.
See Also: True Story of Charles Cullen – Where is the “Killer Nurse” Now?
Who invented the chainsaw?
The chainsaw was not invented by a lumberman. It was invented by two medical doctors, John Aitken, and James Jeffray. These Scottish medical personnel and inventors made a prototype of their tool in the late 18th century. They invented it in 1785 to be precise.
It was made known that it was Jeffray who first came up with the idea of the chain saw independently. He had the prototype, but it was not until 1790 before it tool was first produced. It was later named Aitken Flexible Chainsaw because of his later involvement in the project.
In 1830, another version of the chainsaw was designed by yet another medical doctor and surgeon, Bernhard Heine. His chain was referred to as chain osteotome and it had similarities to the modern chainsaw. That said, it was operated manually.
It would take until 1926 before the electric chainsaw was invented by Andreas Stihl. By this time, however, the idea of using it as a tool for felling trees as already there.
John Muri, an inventor and naturalist became the first person to come up with the idea of adopting the medical tool into the felling of trees.
As against the small equipment that was designed by doctors, Muri’s equipment was a large mechanical tool that needed a crane for operation. Although this did not become very successful because of its means of operation, it opened the doors for others to continue working on the chainsaw.
