the first power tool

I suspect you are right about the first power tools being those used in sawmills. However I suspect that the reciprocating saw was used before the circular saw. A reciprocation saw could be connected to a water wheel and operated with a cam. The circular saw would need a complicated set of gears to make spin

Before the Circular saw was used probably the most common type of saw was what was called a Pit saw. It was a cross cut saw, and was used on a on a platform pit arrangement. One person on the platform that other person in the pit and the log between them.

On this line of thought another power tool may have been the water powered hammer mill.

Why would it need gears? Just turn the shaft with a belt.

I'm finding it difficult, so far, to pin down the first tool driven by other than hand, but here's something relevant to what we commonly call power tools:

In 1895, 16 years after Thomas Edison invented the incandescent electric lamp, the German engineering company C&E Fein combined the power of an electric motor with a manual drill to develop the world's very first power tool. (It was about 19 years later that Mr. Black and Mr. Decker teamed up to improve on this invention by making it lighter, more powerful and capable of being operated by a single DIYer)

(maybe that's why they are so expensive... A company that old, if it didn't properly fund its pension debt could have quite a bill coming due

Well, that's pretty limiting definition in terms of historical precedence but water was certainly around quite early as a power source.

...

The Chinese and Romans had waterwheel-powered trip mills for as early as

The Roman Hierapolis sawmill cut stone block dating back to 3rc century AD incorporated a crank and connecting rod for reciprocating motion; the first known instance although undoubtedly somebody had the idea even earlier it's the first documented location of an operational facility. As for specific woodworking I don't know what was the first we have record of but I'm sure it's quite old.

dpb wrote in news:mqngg7$ili$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

I think the trick here is going to be defining what's a tool more than what's power, but certainly you're right that water powered mills for grinding grains have been around for a very long time.

As another contender, I'll offer the spring-pole lathe, altho that's arguably animal (human) powered.

John

Yes, a "woman" invented the circular saw blade to solve the ills of the straight blade saw.

Interesting, but that's a very narrow definition of "power tool". Steam locomotives are tools and the first of those went into service around

I don't know when the first powered tool went into service, but the Romans had a sawmill running around 300 AD.

She's associated with the circular saw, not the first power tool.

Per the article there is a question of whether a woman invented the saw or told every one she did. Per the article it have been invented else where, but first publicized Tabitha ;-)

I don't know why you put "woman" in quotes. Are you suggesting she was a man in drag or something? However whether she invented it is debatable--there are earlier references to circular saws, including some that mention them in passing on patent applications, suggesting that they were either well established at the time of the application or not deemed sufficiently interesting to be worth patenting on their own.

While the saw could be fixed on the water wheel Depending on the ratio between the diameter of the water wheel and the saw diameter, it would turn relatively slow. The gears would be used to increase the speed of the saw blade.

Ed Pawlowski wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

A common claim, but not true. The Royal Navy had circular saws in the Portsmouth dockyards in the 1790s and contemporary texts don't describe them as a new invention. The Portsmouth dockyard had numerous tools powered by steam engine and belting by 1802, some of which have been preserved.

The actual inventor of the circular saw seems to be lost to time.

John

I thought pit saws were used for ripping, as in this drawing:

What part of "belt drive" are you having trouble with?

Both circular saw and the reciprocating saw (Pit saw) were rip saws.

I forget which water mill it is in Indiana, (We visited most) but that reciprocating saw was used for ripping logs in to useable planks.

I do not know when the circular saw was first used for cross grain cutting. ie in a construction type of environment.

She invented the "blade design". But regardless what does location have to do with whether it was a man or woman that came up with the idea? ;~)