Originally, the chainsaw wasn't used to cut wood but...to facilitate childbirth
While it's easy to imagine how uncomfortable or even painful childbirth can be (in some cases), it's hard to imagine what it was like in the 18th century.
To “alleviate” the pain of women giving birth in those days, two Scottish doctors, John Aitken and James Jeffray, devised in 1780 what was to become the forerunner of the chainsaw - a cable saw.
In the 18th century, to minimize the risk of infection associated with Caesarean sections, women underwent a symphysiotomy, a procedure to widen the passage by severing the fibers connecting the pubic bones to the front of the pelvis, according to RTBF. Performed with a knife, this procedure was extremely painful and time-consuming. Hence the idea from Scotland to design a new cutting tool.
The wire saw consisted of a toothed chain and a handle at each end. It wasn't until 1830 that it was improved by the German orthopedist Bernhard Heine, who succeeded in making the chain turn endlessly, thus facilitating the operation. And it was at the beginning of the 20th century in San Francisco that this tool, now known as the chainsaw, became popular with lumberjacks.
(MH with AsD - Source : RTBF - Illustration : Unsplash)