He Took On the Whole Power-Tool Industry

Indeed, the major power-tool manufacturers have professed to be somewhat less than impressed with SawStop. "The device has not been field-tested for results, durability, and reliability," said a representative from Delta Porter Cable. "It's an experimental system, not yet field-proven." According to Dan Lanier, the Defense Research Industry attorney, all of the manufacturers approached by Gass independently tested and evaluated the technology. And each one, Lanier said in an e-mail, encountered "significant problems." "The primary problem," he said, "was an unacceptably high rate of false trips of the braking device when cutting wet, green, or pressure-treated lumber." The industry, Lanier added, is also wary of the fact that even when the device works, the user still walks away with an injury. "Manufacturers discovered that, depending on the accident scenario and the type of blade used, a user even with a properly functioning SawStop-equipped table saw still could sustain a very severe injury," Lanier said. "Mr. Gass's hot dog demonstration simply is not representative of the way in which many table-saw accidents occur." Given those issues, manufacturers also felt that the 8% royalty sought by Gass was "exorbitant and unreasonable," Lanier said. (Representatives from Ryobi, S-B Power Tool, WHM Tool Group, and Emerson did not return repeated calls seeking comment.)

Gass counters that the industry tests were conducted on unrefined prototypes -- models essentially built to demonstrate that the concept worked -- and that many of the problems Lanier cites have since been addressed. On current models, most wood needs to dry for only an hour or two before being cut, he says. As for the fact that SawStop can result in an injury even when it works, Gass asks the following question: Isn't it better to walk away with a cut, even a deep one, than to lose a finger or a hand? "I think they were looking for reasons not to implement it," he says.

Gass sees the objections as a smoke screen for the industry's real concern: the increased risk of product-liability litigation. In most cases, when people sue power-tool manufacturers because they've lost a finger or hand in an accident, they're unsuccessful -- because it's tough to prove that the manufacturer did anything wrong. Add SawStop to the mix, however, and the picture changes. Suddenly, the industry is promising an injury-proof saw. What if someone got hurt? "The manufacturer would be at a deeper risk and more vulnerable because it had made a promise of what the technology could do," says Jim O'Reilley, a product-liability expert at the University of Cincinnati. "Companies are going to be reluctant to expose themselves to that higher risk."

Indeed, precisely who would assume that risk turned out to be a major sticking point in SawStop's licensing negotiations. The manufacturers believed Gass should indemnify them against any lawsuit if SawStop malfunctioned. Gass, however, says that he could not possibly make such a guarantee since he would not actually be manufacturing the saws. And there is another facet to the liability issue. If SawStop did come to market and was proved effective in preventing accidents, it might be easier for plaintiffs to win lawsuits against manufacturers of traditional saws, because juries might be more likely to return a verdict against a manufacturer that chose not to implement SawStop. That's the main reason, Gass believes, that the big tool makers are refusing to deal with him. They want his product to go away.

After the deal with Ryobi fell apart in mid-2002, Gass, Fanning, and Fulmer faced a tough choice: Abandon the company and return to practicing law or build the saws themselves. None of the men had ever run a company, but they all understood that it's one thing to be an inventor and another to be an entrepreneur. They would be responsible for designing, manufacturing, marketing, and sales along with the day-to-day operations of a business. It was a tough prospect -- but not a tough decision. All three agreed that if they didn't act, their technology would never see the light of day. "It seemed like the right thing to do," says Fanning. "There aren't very many opportunities to make money and do something good."

With wives and kids to support, Gass and his partners have found that the decision has not always been easy to stand by. Gass fondly recalls the six-figure salary he earned as a patent lawyer. At one point, he was so close to returning to his legal career that he got quotes for renewing the legal-malpractice insurance policy he dropped when he devoted himself to SawStop. "I never doubted my invention or wanted to give up, but I've wondered if we would be able to keep going," he says. "It's been touch-and-go several times with money, and we always manage to pull through at the last minute."

SawStop now operates with eight people out of a two-story barn Gass built himself. Filled with electronics, high-tech machinery, and every tool imaginable, the first floor is a handyman's paradise. In the corner is a large stack of woodworking timber left untouched since Gass launched his venture. Gass logs 12- to 14-hour days running the business upstairs. Desks, computers, and filing cabinets fill the second-floor office space. A map of the United States hangs above the conference table. It's dotted with colored pushpins, each one representing a city where someone has purchased a SawStop table saw.

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