General "Did you Know?"s

[Lazlo Falconi]

The original use for the tool we now know as the chainsaw was a medical tool used in childbirth to widen a woman's pelvis if the baby's head was too big. Invented in the 1700s and originally hand powered, no one thought to use to cut trees until the 1920s.

Yes, just let that sink in. Chainsaw to the birth canal and pelvis. And no anesthetics existed at the time either. You felt it all....

Well... While they certainly could have been used to cut a woman's pelvis, they were actually invented as a way to remove diseased bone without damaging the nerves. And although they weren't used to cut trees until the 1920s, I'd be willing to bet that it has less to do with nobody thinking about it and more with the fact that there were no portable engines until then powerful enough to cut a tree.