When it comes down to it, the chain saw is one of the most crude, dangerous, and effective weapons in our war on trees. (An estimated 36,000 people are treated in emergency rooms every year for chain-saw-related injuries.) And since 1929, when Andreas Stihl patented the first gasoline-powered "tree-felling machine," the basic design hasn’t changed. But most of us don’t need an Ax Men-level chain saw for pruning trees or cleaning up storm debris; and we don’t want to end up looking foolish.
The Worx JawSaw, released in early 2011, and in time for Christmas tree cleanup, claims to have reinvented the chain saw. It’s not the first mass market product to cover the chain with an actual blade cover--that would be Black & Decker’s Alligator--but the JawSaw’s real innovation is, ahem, a “plunging motion” that requires the user to push the handle forward in the direction of the jaws to activate the downward motion of the blade. Retract, and then push again. Repeat. Get it? That "masculine" act of ramming was a conscious, clever part of the design meant to appeal to those who’d otherwise be turned off by a rejiggering of the chainsaw, which is, after all, a quintessential symbol of masculinity.
The design team, led by Paolo Andriolo, is based out of Vicenza, Italy, 40 miles west of Venice. They spent a little more than a year on the product’s development, beginning in February 2009, before finalizing the concept the following April. Andriolo tells Co.Design.
“Our intention was to design a chain saw that offered two levels of advantage. One is safety, because the blade is enclosed in the jaws. The other was to fit more with the homeowner’s everyday uses like pruning or storm cleanup.”
The vaguely piranha-shaped fascia wasn’t part of the process to make the device look tougher than it is, either. Andriolo says.
“It wasn’t intentional to look more zoomorphic. We wanted to balance the perceived safety of the tool but also convey a feeling of power, some aggressiveness.”
He says one reason the Alligator came up short is because the device activates the blade by squeezing the two ends together like pruning shears. Andriolo says.
“The scissor action was a little female. So we made a mechanism that is a more macho action. It’s hard to argue that working a giant pair of scissors, versus the JawSaw’s ramming action, somehow seems much more … male.
This macho attitude is emphasized in nearly every product demonstration. The late-night infomercial opens in slow-motion with two burly musclebound guys carrying their JawSaws like automatic rifles, next to a tough-looking gal in safety glasses. And even the name, JawSaw, dispenses with any clever cuteness. Andriolo says sales are brisk.
One compromise, however, was power: Plug the tiny five-amp motor into a normal 120 volt socket and it’s only about one-fifth as powerful as a normal four horsepower electric chain saw on the market. So, to alleviate some skepticism from the company’s marketing department--apparently the Alligator wasn’t the game changer that Black & Decker thought it would be--Andriolo came up with the plunging mechanism, a more masculine motion to activate the blade.
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COMMENTARY: Paolo Andriolo and his Italian product design team did a great job designing or reinventing the chainsaw as we are accustomed. My first thought is that the Worx JawSaw looks more sinister than macho-looking. The vast majority of buyers are male, so if the sinister look was intentional, it worked to perfection.
I don't watch a lot of television, but managed to see the Worx JawSaw infomercial and that the product had a very interesting design. I have purchased infomercial products before, and have been disappointed with the quality and performance of some of the products, so I checked the reviews for the Worx JawSaw, and sure enough, just like I though there were pluses and negatives.
Negatives: One of the big negatives is that the JawSaw is surprisingly heavy, despite the fact that it is electric and has no gas tank. This is especially true if the extension pole is used. Because of the location of the motor and weight, the JawSaw is unable to make precise cuts to branches really low to the ground. Another shortcoming in the design is the need to pull on the shaft and push on the handle to make the saw move/slice through the opening of the jaw opening. You don't really see this in the infomercial. The JawSaw's tiny five-amp motor into a normal 120 volt socket and it’s only about one-fifth as powerful as a normal four horsepower electric chain saw. The JawSaw is also limited to logs no larger than 4" in diamter due to the size of the Jaw.
Pluses: The JawSaw seems to be well-constructed. Unlike a standard chain saw which has an exposed blade, the JawSaw protects the user from potential harm by recessing the saw inside the jaws. The majority of buyers were very satisfied, and found the JawSaw a joy to use. The JawSaw is available at Sears, Home Depot, Lowes and Amazon.com where it received an overall 4.5 star rating. Not bad.
The Worx JawSaw suggested retail price is $129.99. See more production demonstrations HERE. More information on the JawSaw HERE.
Courtesy of an article dated January 6, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design
oh... it looks like good one!
Posted by: freelance writing jobs | 01/13/2012 at 06:12 AM