Tabitha Babbitt

December 9, 1779 to December 10, 1853
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Babbitt’s, a tool maker and inventor, was a member of the Harvard Shaker community. Inventions attributed to her include the circular saw.

Tabitha Babbitt (December 9, 1779 to December 10, 1853) would have been known as Sister Tabitha in her time, as she was a lifelong member of Harvard’s Shaker community. In her lifetime, Babbitt would go on to invent the circular saw, a precursor to the modern-day electric buzz saw. Babbitt’s invention would go on to revolutionize the woodworking and carpentry industries. Like other Shaker inventors, Babbitt never patented her invention for profit and instead openly shared it with the broader non-Shaker world.

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