This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions are available. (July 2009)

Cummings Machine Works was a Boston, Massachusetts based business which was awarded a United States Defense Department contract to manufacture fixture (tool)s in March 1941. The contact amounted to $17,893.^[1] The company was among the firms which contributed to the building of the Boston Opera House. It was completed in 1909.^[2]

Cummings Machine Works has been credited with the development of the Sally Saw. Employees of the company conceived of a method whereby a logger could cut down a tree with a horizontal cut, then shut down the saw. Next he would turn the blade a quarter turn (90 degrees). He could restart the saw to make the necessary vertical cuts. The process was cumbersome yet a lot easier and quicker than an axe or a two-man crosscut saw.^[3]

[edit] References

1. ^ $5,954,308 More Defense Contracts Are Announced, Wall Street Journal, March 12, 1941, pg. 6.
2. ^ Monograph of the Boston Opera House, Internet Archive webpage.
3. ^ Smokstak (Antique Gas Engine Bulletin Board) webpage, internet posting.