Whirlwind Tool Company Announces Forthcoming Patent for Flesh-Sensing Safety Device

BARNSTABLE, Mass., Dec. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Whirlwind Tool Company founder and inventor David Butler has announced another forthcoming patent for a flesh-sensing safety device that can help prevent life-altering operator injuries from table saws and other machine tools (www.whirlwindtool.com).

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121210/PH26390 )

Butler calls this latest device the Black Box, because it can be attached to any of millions of existing machines including most woodworking table saws and band saws. The Black Box device controls the electrical power supplied to the machine and can sense the operator's flesh coming too close or in contact with a blade enclosure. Upon sensing the danger of the operator's proximity to the spinning blade, the Black Box stops the machine in a fraction of a second without causing any damage to the machine which may be immediately restarted by the operator. The emergency stop serves as a warning and learning aid to operators of these dangerous machines. 

Whirlwind Tool business manager Rob Calhoun said, "This amazing device is a trailblazer in the long stagnant woodworking and related machinery industries. We cannot keep up with answering our very encouraging website feedback, nor can we completely define the market. Every week we seem to have a new machine application suggested or proposed to us."

Butler was trained early as a cabinetmaker and industrial woodworker and has built many classic American-period furniture reproductions. He switched vocations to electronics in the military and has enjoyed a lengthy career in computer engineering and related fields from which he has since retired.

"During our 2011 public meeting and presentation to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission we learned that table saw injuries alone account for ten or more amputations a day and 40,000 Emergency Room visits a year. My son-in-law sees table saw injury patients almost every week at a local ER. Those terrible injury numbers come just from table saws and just from the U.S. Imagine how modern technology might improve safety on countless machine tools worldwide.

"Our goal is to immediately assign these patents and associated IP to one or more companies with the required resources to address this emerging machine tool safety market. We have more applications pending with both the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as well as international patents, both filed and accepted with the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

"We believe that near-term assignment for a modest return is the quickest and least complicated means for us to contribute to this exciting technology effort. We are certainly able and willing to consult with an assignee as required after assignment and our website feedback indicates users are begging for this device. We have had website visitors from over 120 countries and cannot keep up with email feedback," Butler said.

Companies with interest in acquiring this patented technology are invited to call Business Development Manager Rob Calhoun for a fully confidential discussion.

Contact:

Rob Calhoun
617-262-8546

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SOURCE Whirlwind Tool Company