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Posted by David Sherman [72.47.9.228] on Monday, February 14, 2011 at 20:50:52 :
In Reply to: The company that has the patent posted by 48pw [72.152.64.140] on Monday, February 14, 2011 at 20:29:16 :
It's definitely a cool invention. I don't see why the royalty should be a percent, when the cost of the device is the same whether you put it on a $99 saw or a $5000 unit. It looks to me like it has to be designed in to the saw and even in production probably has a factory cost of $100 or so. A lot of safety equipment becomes "mandatory" not because the government says so, but because once some manufacturers are using it, those who don't use it end up losing personal injury lawsuits because the plaintiff's lawyers say that the manufacturer wasn't up to current industry standards.
I cut my finger in my dad's table saw when I was barely tall enough to reach the blade, and a friend of mine cut the end of his finger off as an adult. I know they're dangerous. They already come with blade guards and splitters that almost everyone takes off as soon as they get the saw.
As an electronics engineer, my concern with this is that it has to be very sensitive to detect the slight greater conductivity of a dry finger than a damp piece of wood (if the finger even is more conductive). That means that whatever the circuit is, it's going to have a hair trigger. Anything that sensitive is likely to be sensitive to stray electric fields, static, lightning, radio transmitters, nearby motors, etc. How long will users tolerate a contraption that destroys a good saw bland and its expensive self, and maybe even damages the saw, at random times for no clear reason? One expensive false trigger, and most users will disconnect it just like they remove the blade guards. Alternatively, if it's not so sensitive that it gets triggered when it shouldn't, it very will might not get triggered when it should, such as when the person's hands are particularly dry. Who's on the receiving end of the injury suit then? It's a cool invention, but it's not ready for prime time yet.
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