Editing Circular saw (section)

==History==
There is evidence for the prehistorical use of circular saws by people of [[Indus Valley Civilization]] during the Bronze Age. The same was excavated from the archeological site of [[Lothal]], [[Gujarat]].<ref>Raj Pruthi (2004). Prehistory and Harappan Civilization. APH Publishing. p. 185. {{ISBN|978-81-7648-581-4}}.</ref><ref>Rebecca Kraft Rector (15 July 2016). The Early River Valley Civilizations. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. p. 45. {{ISBN|978-1-4994-6328-6}}.</ref>

The modern-day circular saw was invented around the end of the 18th century as a [[rip-saw]] to convert logs into [[lumber]] in sawmills and various claims have been made as to who invented it. Before the design was invented, logs were sawn by hand using a [[pit saw]] or using powered saws in a sawmill using an ''up-and-down'' saw with a [[reciprocating motion]]. The rotary nature of the circular saw requires more power to operate but cuts faster because the teeth are in constant motion. The sound of the circular saw is different from the sound of an up-and-down saw and earned it the nickname ''buzz-saw''.

Sawmills first used smaller diameter circular saws to resaw dimension lumber such as [[lath]] and [[wall stud]]s and for [[Lumber edger|edging]] boards. As the technology advanced large diameter saw blades began to be used for the [[head saw]]s and to cut [[Clapboard#Radially-sawn|clapboards]].

Claims to the invention of the circular saw include:
* A common claim is for a little-known sailmaker named [[Samuel Miller (saw)|Samuel Miller]] of [[Southampton]], England who obtained a patent in 1777 for a saw windmill.<ref>English Patent Specification no. 1152 (1777)</ref><ref name="auto">[https://archive.today/20120709041116/http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bltools.htm Inventors website]</ref> However, the specification for this only mentions the form of the saw incidentally, indicating that it was probably not his invention.{{Original research inline|date=June 2020}}
* Gervinus of Germany is often credited with inventing the circular saw in 1780.<ref>{{cite book|first=Sonya |last=Haskins |url=https://archive.org/details/homeschoolersboo0000hask/page/191 |title=The Homeschooler's Book of Lists |date=2007 |page=191|publisher=Bethany House |isbn=9780764204432 }}</ref>
* [[Walter Taylor (Southampton)|Walter Taylor]] of Southampton had the [[Block (sailing)|blockmaking]] contract for [[HMNB Portsmouth|Portsmouth Dockyard]].  In about 1762, he built a [[saw mill]] where he roughed out the blocks.  This was replaced by another mill in 1781. Descriptions of his machinery there in the 1790s show that he had circular saws. Taylor [[patent]]ed two other improvements to blockmaking but not the circular saw.<ref>Carolyn C. Cooper, "The Portsmouth System of Manufacture" ''Technology and Culture'' 25(2) (1984), 182–195</ref><ref>C. Singer ''et al.'', ''History of Technology'' IV (1958), 437</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ball |first=Norman |title=Circular Saws and the History of Technology |journal=[[Bulletin of the Association for Preservation Technology]] |volume=7 |issue=3 |date=1975 |pages=79–89 |doi=10.2307/1493506 |jstor=1493506}}</ref>  This suggests either that he did not invent it or that he published his invention without patenting it (which would mean it was no longer patentable).
* Another claim is that it originated in the Netherlands in the sixteenth or seventeenth century.<ref>Ball, 'Circular Saws' quoting M. Powis Bale, ''Woodworking Machinery. Its Rise, Progress and Construction''.</ref>
* The use of a large circular saw in a saw mill is said to have been invented in 1813 by [[Tabitha Babbitt]], a [[Shakers|Shaker]] inventor, after she noted the inefficiency of the traditional [[saw pit]]s used by the sawyers in her community and sought an improvement.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Curtis |first=John O. |title=The Introduction of the Circular Saw in the Early 19th Century |journal=Bulletin of the Association for Preservation Technology |volume=5 |issue=2 |date=1973 |pages=162–189 |doi=10.2307/1493401 |jstor=1493401}}</ref><ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/woodnews/archive/wood_news_vol_eleven.html|title=Wood News Online - No. 11, April 2006|website=www.highlandwoodworking.com}}</ref> This claim is now mostly discredited.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3DI_xYBqKbwC&q=Circular+Saw+Inventor&pg=PA184|title=Inspired Innovations: A Celebration of Shaker Ingenuity|first=M. Stephen|last=Miller|date=20 October 2018|publisher=UPNE|isbn=9781584658504|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ronin-group.org/shop_circular_saw_history.html|title=RG - Workshop : History of the Circular Saw|website=ronin-group.org|access-date=2015-09-21|archive-date=2019-01-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190111222555/http://ronin-group.org/shop_circular_saw_history.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* The Barringer, Manners and Wallis factory in Rock Valley, [[Mansfield]], Nottinghamshire also claims to be the site of the invention.{{Citation needed|date=June 2020}}