Invented for the Operating Room
Before it became known for cutting timber, the chainsaw was born in the medical field. In the 1780s, Scottish doctors John Aitken and James Jeffray designed a flexible, fine-toothed chain saw with wooden handles. It was intended for symphysiotomy and excising diseased bone.
A Chain Like a Watch
Jeffray described imagining a saw with joints like a watch chain shortly after a 1782 paper by H. Park. By 1790, he had one made. Used in anatomical dissections and occasionally by surgeons, the tool allowed bone to be cut with smaller incisions, preserving surrounding tissue.
Documented and Demonstrated
Jeffray’s 1806 publication compiled work by Park, French surgeon P. F. Moreau, and his own notes. The technique of bone excision, especially at joints, gained traction after the advent of anesthesia, though symphysiotomy fell out of favor due to complications.
A New Form Takes Over
In 1894, the flexible surgical chainsaw was replaced by the Gigli saw—a twisted wire that cut bone faster, more cleanly, and at lower cost. But in 1830, a step toward the modern chainsaw came when Bernhard Heine introduced the osteotome, a hand-cranked device for cutting bone.
Long before it was used in logging, the chainsaw began as a surgical tool.
In the 1780s, Scottish doctors John Aitken and James Jeffray developed a fine-toothed chain between two handles to assist in cutting bone during complex procedures like symphysiotomy. pic.twitter.com/gIYMsEIGj8
— Detective Tiger's Stories (@TigerDetective) April 24, 2025