In 1999, Stephen Gass, a patent attorney with a Ph.D. in physics, developed a concept for a table saw that would instantly stop when it came in contact with human skin.
He hired an engineering firm to create a production saw prototype, then took his saw to an industry trade show in Atlanta.
Crowds formed outside his tiny booth every 30 minutes to watch hot dogs barely get scratched as the saw blade stopped when it touched them.
However, while manufacturers noticed the SawStop, they wouldn't license or produce it, on the grounds that the new technology would mean not only huge investments in retooling their existing production lines, but also the necessity of assuming liability risks for consumers and professionals who get hurt while using their tools.
In 2003, Gass' company petitioned the Consumer Product Safety Commission to require table saws to incorporate new performance and safety standards like those found in the SawStop. After a contentious three-year process, the commission granted Gass' petition in June. Gass' incursion in the tool market has forced the big saw manufacturers to develop new safety technology, although they are likely to turn to technologies other than the SawStop itself.
It's hard to miss the yellow box on my home page that outlines the three stages of truth -- ridicule, opposition and acceptance -- all common reactions to the health news my staff and I have shared with you over the years on this Web site.
Those very same stages brilliantly sum up the seven-year journey taken so far by Stephen Gass, the inventor of the SawStop skin-sensing table saw I told you about last month.
As I mentioned then, I became very interested in this technology because one of the contractors working on my office remodeling project injured his fingers on a table saw. Once I learned about the SawStop, I decided to purchase one for him.
The SawStop has a current running through the blade, and as soon as it contacts human flesh, it throws a brake on the saw blade and stops it -- 90 percent faster than it takes to deploy an airbag. Now, that's fast!
You can watch the amazing video on their site to see this in action.
Table saws are responsible for more than 60,000 injuries, 3,000 amputations, and $2 billion in injury-related costs each year. In fact, someone loses a finger every 9 seconds from using a table-top saw.
These injuries would virtually disappear overnight if everyone were using this tool. But most large corporations are unlikely to start incorporating this technology routinely unless they are forced to, either by government regulation or consumer demand. As you have seen time and time again in the drug industry, corporations are concerned about their own profit, not your safety.
If you're still skeptical about the performance of the SawStop table saw, watch the accompanying seven-second video at the link above that shows how quickly and safely the saw blade stops with miniscule damage done to the skin of a hot dog. Just amazing!
If you use, or know of anyone who uses, a table-top saw, I urge you to take a look at it. And I hope this remarkable technology saves hundreds of people from needlessly losing their fingers.