Articulated saw

A saw blade comprising:

• an endless array of substantially planar cutting members which are disposed substantially end to end to form a substantially planar, articulated band;
• each substantially planar cutting member in said endless array having a pair of opposed top and bottom longitudinal margins, a pair of end margins, and a plurality of cutting teeth disposed along said top margin to define a cutting face thereon;
• 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 of cutting members being adapted to define at least a cutting segment of said band wherein said cutting faces of a plurality of said cutting members define and lie along a cutting surface;
• each cutting member including a pair of spaced-apart sidewalls open along the cutting member bottom longitudinal margin opposite the cutting teeth and connected together inwardly of said bottom longitudinal margin of the cutting member;
• said saw blade further comprising planar link members in spaced end-to-end relationship, each said link member having a pair of end margins and a pair of opposed top and bottom longitudinal margins;
• each said link member being disposed with one of its end margins received between said spaced-apart sidewalls at one end of one of said cutting members and with the other end margin received between said spaced-apart sidewalls at one end of another of said cutting members;
• said saw blade further comprising means for pivotally connecting each end margin of each link member to the receiving sidewalls of an adjacent cutting member;
• each said link member having its bottom longitudinal margin extending below the bottom longitudinal margins of the two cutting members pivotally connected to said link member when the two connected cutting members are oriented to lie in a generally straight line, said link member bottom longitudinal margin defining a bearing face for being disposed in a peripheral slot of a saw blade support and slidably bearing against the bottom of the slot;
• each said link member having an upwardly facing abutment surface projecting upwardly at said top longitudinal margin of said link member between two spaced-apart notches defined in said link member;
• each said cutting member having a downwardly facing engaging surface at each said end margin of said cutting member for engaging the abutment surface of a connected link member;
• and
• the relationship between said abutment surface of one link member and the engaging surfaces of two cutting members pivotally connected to said one link member being one of engagement when the two connected cutting members are oriented to lie in a generally straight line, said engagement thereby preventing rotation of the cutting faces of the two connected cutting members toward each other from said straight line orientation but permitting rotation of the cutting faces away from each other.