oldest saw?

[spacemule]

So, who made the original chainsaw in the portable, one-man operational sense? Dolmar, Stihl, and a few others all claim the title. What gives?

Better yet, what's the oldest known complete example of such a saw?

 

[Lakeside53]

I'll kick it off with Stihl's early years story:

Stihl says Andreas Stihl made the first portable saw in 1926. It was called a Bucking saw, was electric and weighed 140 lb. He developed a gas version called the "tree felling machine" in 1929. The 1929 saw was "one operator" with a helper handle on the bar end.

1934: Automatic chain lubrication and centrifugal clutch.
1950 Model BL: first ONE MAN gas driven chain saw.
1954 Model BLK: first "lightweight" saw.
1959 model Contra: first GEAR-LESS chainsaw.

O.k, who is next with their saw brand history?

 

[spacemule]

I'll kick it off with Stihl's early years story:

Stihl says Andreas Stihl made the first portable saw in 1926. It was called a Bucking saw, was electric and weighed 140 lb.

I'd like to see a picture of that saw. Did they use standard 120 volt/60 hz then?

 

[TimberMcPherson]

Doubt it would have been 120, I think most of the world use 220volt and higher.

 

[Lawn Masters]

I believe it was a 220V 3 phase electric motor. If anyone would like I can ask a few people on the collector forum and see what comes of it.

 

[PWB]

This part of the world was on 25 Hz (?)back then, maybe it was 50 Hz, not 60 as far as I know. Who knows what they were using in Europe??

 

[Lakeside53]

Stihl saw pics

Stihl bucking saw

NOTE the POWER cord!

Stihl tree feeling saw

Stihl BL

 

[spacemule]

I bet those might be worth something, eh? That electric is not nearly as boxy looking as I had pictured--sure doesn't look like 140 lbs. It must have cast iron in it? I can't quite make out the cutters on the chain, but it appears to have a bunch.

 

[Cut4fun]

1st gas chainsaw

Company founder, Emil Lerp, demonstrated his first gas saw on the wooded slopes of Mount Dolmar in Thuringia- in 1927. If I find out more I will post it. Dont know much about chainsaw histories, but willing to look it up and learn. You were meaning gas chainsaws spacemule? I didnt want to waste my time on electric ones. History is newest to oldest at bottom.
http://www.dolmarusa.com/100.php

 

[spacemule]

Holy crap!! It looks like an inbred motorcycle!! Kinda neat actually.

 

[spacemule]

It looks as if Dolmar is claiming the CP was the first one-man saw, circa 1952. I never realized the chainsaw is so young.

 

[166]

I'll kick it off with Stihl's early years story:

Stihl says Andreas Stihl made the first portable saw in 1926. It was called a Bucking saw, was electric and weighed 140 lb. He developed a gas version called the "tree felling machine" in 1929. The 1929 saw was "one operator" with a helper handle on the bar end.

1934: Automatic chain lubrication and centrifugal clutch.
1950 Model BL: first ONE MAN gas driven chain saw.
1954 Model BLK: first "lightweight" saw.
1959 model Contra: first GEAR-LESS chainsaw.

O.k, who is next with their saw brand history?

Dolmar says they had the first one-man gasoline powered saw in 1952 Model CP.

But Dolmar and Stihl have been arguring over who was first for almost 80 years!

Check out some of the Dolmar history in the attachment below.

Steve


Edit: Looks like spacemule beat me on the CP

 

[spacemule]

That's a neat pdf. I'd like to have it in paper form. It shows the type cf in 1958 was only 22 lbs. Heck, that's on par with the big saws of today. Do you think that, when they came out with a 22 lb. saw, the folks said "Oh that's a sissy saw. Look, it don't weigh a 1/4 what a 'real' saw weighs. It's a piece of crap!" :biggrinbounce2:

 

[Cut4fun]

1905

Heres some good reading on a 1905 oldest and first chainsaw it says.
http://www.vannattabros.com/saw43.html

 

[Cut4fun]

1830

Found this pretty neat readings on chainsaws from 1830. Thanks spacemule for something to do besides go mow in this heat.
The 1830 osteotome was the first chainsaw.

The earliest reference I could find on chainsaws comes from the Canadian Medical Association Journal in an article written by Wolf Seufert, MD, DSc: "Orthopedics became a specialty with the help of a new instrument, the osteotome, invented around 1830 by the German Bernard Heine. This illustration from a contemporary inventory of surgical tools shows clearly that this clever master of prosthetics had in fact invented the chain saw. The links of the chain carried small cutting teeth with the edges set at an angle; the chain was moved around a guiding blade by turning the handle of the sprocket wheel."Several major manufacturers of chain saws claim to have invented the first chain saw and all their claims point to the 1920s. However, the 1830 osteotome would pre-date them all.One claim states that a California inventor named Muir was the first person to put a chain on a blade to use for logging purposes, technically inventing the first logging chainsaw. Muir's invention weighed hundreds of pounds and required a crane. This invention was neither a commercial or practical success.Other examples of early automatic logging saws were: the 1861 Hamilton saw that was hand-cranked by one or two men and looked like a spinning wheel; and the American riding saw of the 1880s that resembled a rowing machine that cutters could sit on.

 

[Cut4fun]

1st mass produced

The origin is debated, but two important contributors to the chainsaw as we know it are Joseph Buford Cox and Andreas Stihl; the latter patented and developed a chainsaw in 1926 and a gasoline-powered chainsaw in 1929, and founded a company to mass-produce them.

In 1927, Emil Lerp, the founder of Dolmar, developed the world´s first gasoline-powered chainsaw and mass-produced them.

 

[spacemule]

Looks like the chainsaw has been around a lot longer than Stihl and Dolmar claim. Perhaps they are specifically talking about the first mass-marketed saws?

 

[Cut4fun]

Well back from mowing. Glad to have learned something today. I would have never wondered about this subject if you hadnt brought it up space. Neat stuff and yep it looks like it happened long before the big dawgs jumped in.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Do you think that, when they came out with a 22 lb. saw, the folks said "Oh that's a sissy saw. Look, it don't weigh a 1/4 what a 'real' saw weighs. It's a piece of crap!" :biggrinbounce2:

But did they use it to mill cedar into fence boards?



OH NO! DON'T GO THERE!!!

 

[spacemule]

So, were Dolmar and Stihl the only saw manufacturers until the 50's?