Articulated saw

A saw blade comprising:

• an endless array of substantially planar cutting members which are hingedly interconnected and together form a substantially planar, articulated band;
• each substantially planar cutting member in said endless array having a pair of opposed longitudinal margins, a pair of end margins, a plurality of cutting teeth disposed along one longitudinal margin thereof to define a cutting face thereon, and a bearing face disposed along the other of said longitudinal margins;
• said planar cutting members being situated in said array so as to present a circumferential row of cutting teeth about the periphery of said articulated band, said array having a plurality of exterior cutting members and a plurality of middle cutting members;
• said array further having journalled connector means comprising a journal and a journal bearing associated therewith for rotatably connecting adjacent cutting members;
• said exterior cutting members being aligned in end-to-end relationship in two substantially parallel exterior rows;
• said middle cutting members being disposed therebetween and aligned in a middle row in spaced end-to-end relationship;
• said cutting faces of said exterior cutting members being substantially aligned with said cutting faces of said middle cutting members;
• each said exterior cutting member overlapping two adjacent end margins of said middle cutting members and being mounted on consecutive journals extending from either side of the adjacent end margins of said middle cutting members;
• said middle cutting members being deeper than said exterior cutting members to provide middle cutting member bearing faces which project beyond the depth of said exterior cutting members;
• each said deeper middle cutting member adapted for being disposed in a peripheral slot of a saw blade support with said middle cutting member bearing face slidably abutting the bottom of the slot;
• and said exterior cutting members being disposed alongside said middle cutting members, each pair of adjacent, end-to-end aligned exterior cutting members adapted to be rotated about their respective journals to orient their respective cutting faces into and out of a substantially common plane;
• one of the two end margins of each exterior cutting member defining a notch having an abutment surface for restricting rotational movement of the next consecutive exterior cutting member in said array beyond said common plane and the other of the two end margins defining a protuberance for engaging said abutment surface on the next preceding exterior cutting member for restricting rotational movement of the next preceding exterior cutting member in said array beyond said common plane when at least two adjacent exterior cutting members on the same side of the middle cutting members of the saw blade have the respective cutting faces thereof oriented in a common plane.

A saw blade comprising:

• an endless array of substantially planar cutting members which are hingedly interconnected and together form a substantially planar, articulated band;
• each substantially planar cutting member in said endless array having a substantially identical and uniform thickness and having a pair of opposed longitudinal margins, a pair of end margins, a plurality of cutting teeth disposed along one longitudinal margin thereof to define a cutting face thereon, and a bearing face disposed along the other of said longitudinal margins;
• said planar cutting members being situated in said array so as to present a circumferential row of cutting teeth about the periphery of said articulated band, said array having a plurality of exterior cutting members and a plurality of middle cutting members;
• said array further having journalled connector means comprising a journal and a journal bearing associated therewith for rotatably connecting adjacent cutting members;
• said exterior cutting members being aligned in contiguous end-to-end relationship in two substantially parallel exterior rows;
• said middle cutting members being disposed therebetween and aligned in a middle row in spaced end-to-end relationship;
• said cutting faces of said exterior cutting members being substantially aligned with said cutting faces of said middle cutting members;
• each said exterior cutting member overlapping two adjacent end margins of said middle cutting members and being mounted on consecutive journals extending from either side of the adjacent end margins of said middle cutting members;
• said exterior cutting member cutting faces forming two uninterrupted rows of cutting teeth extending along the entire length of each middle cutting member;
• at least two parallel rows of cutting teeth being provided at any location along the length of the saw blade;
• said middle cutting members being deeper than said exterior cutting members to provide middle cutting member bearing faces which project beyond the depth of said exterior cutting members;
• each said deeper middle cutting member adapted for being disposed in a peripheral slot of a saw blade support with said middle cutting member bearing face slidably abutting the bottom of the slot and with said exterior cutting members being disposed alongside said middle cutting members.