Sarah "Tabitha" Babbitt (born December 9, 1779,

Hardwick, Massachusetts Hardwick is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States, about west of the city of Worcester. It had a population of 2,667 at the 2020 census. It includes the villages of Hardwick, Gilbertville, Wheelwright and Old Furnace. Hist ...

; died 12 August 1853 in

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

) was a Shaker credited to be a

tool maker Tool and die makers are highly skilled crafters working in the manufacturing industries. Variations on the name include tool maker, toolmaker, die maker, diemaker, mold maker, moldmaker or tool jig and die-maker depending on which area of concent ...

and inventor. Inventions attributed to her by the Shakers include the

circular saw A circular saw is a power-saw using a toothed or abrasive disc or blade to cut different materials using a rotary motion spinning around an arbor. A hole saw and ring saw also use a rotary motion but are different from a circular saw. ''Cir ...

, the spinning wheel head, and false teeth. She became a member of the Harvard Shaker community in 1793.

Personal life

Babbitt was born in

, the daughter of Seth and Elizabeth Babbitt.M. Stephen Miller.
Inspired Innovations: A Celebration of Shaker Ingenuity
'. UPNE; 1 January 2010. . p. 181, 184. On August 12, 1793, she became a member of the

Shakers The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a Millenarianism, millenarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian sect founded in England and then organized in the Unit ...

at the Harvard Shaker community in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. In December 1853, Babbitt died in

Harvard, Massachusetts Harvard is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is located 25 miles west-northwest of Boston, in eastern Massachusetts. A farming community settled in 1658 and incorporated in 1732, it has been home to several ...

Career

Toolmaker and inventor

Babbitt is credited with inventing the first circular saw for use in a

saw mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ( dimens ...

in 1813. According to the Shakers, Babbitt was watching men use the difficult two-man

whipsaw A whipsaw or pitsaw was originally a type of saw used in a saw pit, and consisted of a narrow blade held rigid by a frame and called a frame saw or sash saw (see illustrations). This evolved into a straight, stiff blade without a frame, up to 1 ...

when she noticed that half of their motion was wasted. She proposed creating a round blade to increase efficiency. The circular saw was connected to a water-powered machine to reduce the effort to cut lumber.Christian Becksvoort.
The Shaker Legacy: Perspectives on an Enduring Furniture Style
'. Taunton Press; 2000. . p. 12. The first circular saw she allegedly made is in Albany,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

.Clara Endicott Sears.
Gleanings from Old Shaker Journals
'. Houghton Mifflin; 1916. p. 275. In the summer of 1948, a version of Babbitt's saw, built to her specifications, was on display at a Shaker exhibit at Fenimore House in Cooperstown, N. Y., as a loan from the

New York State Museum The New York State Museum is a research-backed institution in Albany, New York, United States. It is located on Madison Avenue, attached to the south side of the Empire State Plaza, facing onto the plaza and towards the New York State Capitol. ...

. Because Babbitt did not patent her circular saw and the reference to her invention exists only in Shaker lore, there is controversy over whether she was the true first inventor of the saw. According to some accounts, two French men patented the circular saw in the United States after reading about Babbitt's saw in Shaker papers. M. Stephen Miller argues that Babbitt was not the first inventor of the circular saw, based upon the date that she joined the sect. He contends that the circular saw was invented at Mount Lebanon Shaker Village by Amos Bishop or Benjamin Bruce in 1793 — or not by a Shaker at all. Babbitt is also credited with inventing a process for the manufacture of false teeth and an improved spinning wheel head.Stanley, Autumn, ''Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History of Invention'' (Metuchen, NJ and London: Scarecrow Press, 1993), 259, 472, 500. She also allegedly invented cut nails, although the Shakers also credit the invention to the non-Shaker,

Eli Whitney Eli Whitney Jr. (December 8, 1765January 8, 1825) was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South. Although Whitney hi ...

. As a Shaker, Babbitt never

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

ed any of her inventions.

Legacy

The inventor Sam Asano in 2015 cited Babbitt, along with

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

, to argue why the

National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a U.S. patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also opera ...

inclusion criteria are flawed. The Inventors Hall requires proof of patent and because neither Babbitt nor Franklin filed patents, they are not included in the list. = See also = *

Isaac Babbitt Isaac Babbitt (July 26, 1799 in Taunton, Massachusetts – May 26, 1862 in Somerville, Massachusetts) was an American inventor. In 1839, he invented a bearing made of a low-friction tin-based metal alloy, Babbitt metal, that is used extensively ...

, inventor of

Babbitt metal Babbitt metal or bearing metal is any of several alloys used for the bearing surface in a plain bearing. The original Babbitt alloy was invented in 1839 by Isaac Babbitt in Taunton, Massachusetts, United States. He disclosed one of his alloy recip ...

alloy for bearings *

Shaker furniture __NOTOC__ Shaker furniture is a distinctive style of furniture developed by the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, commonly known as Shakers, a religious sect that had guiding principles of simplicity, utility and honesty. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Babbitt, Tabitha 19th-century American inventors 1784 births 1853 deaths Women inventors People from Harvard, Massachusetts Shaker members People from Hardwick, Massachusetts Inventors from Massachusetts