The Power of Why

The Story of SawStop

Ever since he was a small boy, patent attorney Steve Gass loved to take complicated things apart and put them back together. An attorney-turned-inventor, Gass remains curious about how things work. Today he’s passionate about his invention SawStop, a power tool that protects people from sawing off their fingers. SawStop matters to Gass because when he was four years old, he cut off part of his thumb while playing with his father’s tools.

SawStop’s sensor detects obstructions and can tell the difference “between wood and human flesh.” When it detects an obstacle, SawStop shuts down the saw blade, which is rotating at 100 miles per hour or faster. Initially, Gass used hot dogs to test SawStop. Each trial experiment worked flawlessly, with the sensor alerting the blade when it detected a hot dog. In 2000, Gass tested SawStop with his own fingers before introducing it to the marketplace.

Innovation and Curiosity

Gass has always been naturally curious. Asking a single question started him down his path of inventing and marketing SawStop. He asked, “Hey, I wonder if there’s a way to stop the blade fast enough to prevent injury?” His...