Hand-held Circular Saws
The term circular saw is most commonly used to refer to a hand-held electric circular saw designed for cutting wood, which may be used less optimally for cutting other materials with the exchange of specific blades. Circular saws can be either left or right-handed, depending on the side of the blade where the motor sits and which hand the operator uses when holding a saw.
Blades for timber are almost universally tungsten carbide tipped (TCT). High speed steel (HSS) blades are also available. The saw base can be adjusted for depth of cut. Adjusting the depth of cut helps minimize kickback. The saw base can also be adjusted to tilt up to 50 degrees in relation to the blade.
The saw can be designed for the blade to mount directly to the motor's driveshaft (known colloquially as a sidewinder), or be driven indirectly by a perpendicularly-mounted motor via worm gears, garnering considerably higher torque (Worm-drive saws).
The worm-drive portable circular saw was invented in 1923 by Edmond Michel. In 1924 Michel formed a partnership with Joseph Sullivan, and together they started the Michel Electric Handsaw Company, with the sole purpose of manufacturing and marketing the saw invented by Michel. The company later renamed itself Skilsaw Inc., which today is a subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH. Portable circular saws are often still called Skilsaws or Skil saws. Its successor is still sold by Skil as the model 77. To get around the Skil patents, Art Emmons of Porter-Cable invented the direct-drive sidewinder saw in 1928. Recently smaller cordless circular saws with rechargeable batteries have become popular.
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