It all started in 1921 when inventor Edmond Michel was standing in a sugar cane field in Louisiana, America. He observed how the workers where using machetes to hack their way through the thick, tough sugar cane by hand. It was a heavy, backbreaking task. Witnessing this, Michel believed there must be an easier way. That thought later led to the foundation of the Skil Corporation.
1921
In his workshop in New Orleans, Edmond Michel developed a mechanized machete. But to make the idea work, saw that the blade somehow had to rotate. He soon started to improve on his first idea, and in 1923 he had developed the world’s first electric hand saw. A New Orleans newspaper covered his invention in a short feature article.
Joseph W. Sullivan, a farmland developer, read the article while he was traveling from Minneapolis to Florida. He thought it looked like a great idea, and went straight to New Orleans to track down Edmond Michel.
1924
After further improvements of the electric handsaw, ‘The Michel Electric Handsaw Company’ was started in 1924 by Edmond Michel and Joseph W. Sullivan. They called their revolutionary saw the ‘Skilsaw’.
1926
Edmond Michel wanted to carry on with what he liked doing most: inventing things. So he left the company in 1926. That same year the name ‘The Michel Electric Handsaw Company’ was changed to ‘SKILSAW Incorporated’. And by the end of the year, 2,000 circular saws had already been produced.
1928
In this year diecast aluminium was used for the first time in the production of electrical tools. SKIL was a pioneer in using aluminium, which made the tools lighter and sturdier. A number of safety improvements were also made at the same time. The first portable electrical circular saw, the ‘Model E’, was developed in 1928.