So there’s been a patented device / technique on the market since the 2000s that makes table saws significantly safer than they currently are, stopping the blade within milliseconds of contact with human skin. The inventor has been arguing with table saw manufacturers about it since then. Even the manufacturers agree that it will reduce injuries (and 4700 people in the US in 2015 lost a finger or other body part due to a potentially preventable table saw injury).
The problem is, none of the manufacturers want to add it to the cost of a new table saw (“Jobs!”) — and, more importantly, none of them want to pay the inventor royalties on the patent.
Now the question is whether the Consumer Product Safety Commission will make the technology mandatory on new table saws? Or, if they don’t, will table saw manufacturers face a wave of law suits for selling a fixably dangerous product (as they already have started to)?
This seems particularly irksome a matter, given that the patents on the device start to expire in 2021; at most, any royalty agreement would impact 3-4 years of manufacture. That’s kind of a shame, but it seems a small price to pay to protect people’s bodily integrity over time.
I admit that, though I’ve used a table saw for years, I still kind of get the wiggins whenever I use one. That wouldn’t necessarily stop if I had a compliant device (one problem with any such scheme is that older equipment will remain in shops for years, esp. at home), but I’d maybe feel a little better. That’s probably not a great argument for pushing forward a government regulation, but since there’s a compelling safety reason as well, I’m more than okay with it.