Jigsaw (Tool)

A jigsaw is a reciprocating saw that cuts irregular curves, such as stenciled designs, in wood, metal or other materials. Jigsaws first appeared in the nineteenth century as treadle-operated tools with a thin blade held under tension between the ends of an oscillating frame, a design now usually called a scroll saw. The modern portable jigsaw, with a rigid blade fixed at one end that cuts on the up-stroke, was introduced in 1947 by the Swiss firm Scintilla AG, later acquired by Bosch. A jigsaw power tool consists of an electric motor driving a reciprocating blade, and models with a beveling sole plate can cut angled miter joints up to about forty-five degrees from the normal vertical stroke. Portable jigsaws were historically corded, but battery-powered models have increasingly displaced them. The tool's ability to cut irregular shapes out of a sheet of material gave its name to the jigsaw puzzle, whose interlocking tiles are cut the same way.