McCulloch chainsaw history: dated facts from three United States patents and six Norwegian museum catalogue records

It sets patent records and museum catalogue records side by side, and nothing here ranks one maker against another. The Norwegian texts are in Norwegian: the wording here is our own summary of them.

Dated facts

McCulloch chainsaw facts in date order, with the page that dates each one
Date	What the source says
1961 to 1963	A Norwegian forestry museum catalogues a McCulloch 380 made in Los Angeles in those years, a one-man saw with a bar and chain fitted. The record gives a two-stroke engine with reverse scavenging and a cylinder volume of 86.9 cubic centimetres. It gives a weight of 12 kg, which the record reads as the weight with an 18 inch bar, chain and full tanks, and 9.2 kg with empty tanks and no bar or chain. The fuel tank holds 1.3 litres and the oil tank 0.4 litres. The cylinder lies flat with the muffler on its right side, the petrol tank sits at the front and the oil tank on top. The oil tank cap is missing. Source: DigitaltMuseum record SJF.13966.
1965 to 1967	A second record catalogues a McCulloch Mac 2-10, a one-man saw with a bar but no chain. It has a primer pump to feed petrol to the engine before starting, and a double chain oiling system, automatic and manual. The record gives a two-stroke engine of 58 cubic centimetres and a weight of 6 kg with a 16 inch bar, chain and full tanks. The petrol tank holds 0.55 litres and the oil tank 0.3 litres. The front handle is aluminium with rubber padding, and the rear handle has a pistol grip with the throttle under the index finger. Source: DigitaltMuseum record SJF.13969.
1967 to 1975	A third record catalogues a McCulloch 660. It says the saw was built only for crosscutting, and that it has a bark support, an open bar and a metal spike at the front of the bar meant to keep the bar from touching the ground while cutting. The body is listed as crankcase, starter housing, oil tank, petrol tank and carburettor. Source: DigitaltMuseum record SJF.12434.
October 20, 1967 to December 23, 1969	The United States patent office printed two McCulloch patents, both filed October 20, 1967 and granted December 23, 1969. Patent 3,485,327, "Inertia actuated safety brake", names Austin Gudmundsen of Los Angeles as inventor and McCulloch Corporation as assignee. Its abstract says the violent movement of the saw in kickback makes an inertia element ride along a cam surface into the chain, and names a wedge, a brake band and a ratchet pawl as other versions. Patent 3,485,326, "Magnetic stopping device", names Ellsworth D. Wilkin and the same assignee, and has 10 claims. Its abstract describes an acceleration responsive magnetic element that is jammed between a cam surface and a moving part to stop the part. Sources: US patent 3,485,327 and US patent 3,485,326.
August 5, 1968 to November 24, 1970	Patent 3,542,095, "Chain saw with vibration isolation system", was filed on August 5, 1968 and granted on November 24, 1970. It names Robert Eugene Frederickson of South Gate and Walter Joseph Hammond of Lakewood, California, as inventors and McCulloch Corporation as assignee, and has 6 claims. Its abstract describes a first assembly with the engine, guide bar and drive system, and a second assembly with the fuel tank and carburettor, with vibration isolating means between them and a handle network around the first assembly. Source: US patent 3,542,095.
1969 to 1970	A fourth record catalogues a yellow McCulloch CP 70 made in Los Angeles in those years. It has a bar and a scoop tooth chain, a black starter cord handle, a choke and a muffler, and instructions printed on the top cover. Source: DigitaltMuseum record SJF.10655.
1975 to 1977	A fifth record catalogues a McCulloch Super Pro 40 (SP 40), a one-man saw. It says a 1975 price list calls this model a "farmer's saw" and a semi-professional saw. The saw has a chain brake. The front and rear handles are screwed together as one unit and fixed to the engine body through rubber elements that damp vibration. The rear handle has a pistol grip with a throttle lock and a right-hand guard. The record holds scanned copies of a chain brake leaflet and a leaflet for the model. Source: DigitaltMuseum record SJF.13970.
Not dated	A sixth record catalogues a McCulloch Mac 15 for forestry work. It calls the make Canadian, though the maker field names McCulloch Corporation of Los Angeles. The frame is cast light metal, the paint is gold, and the bar length is adjustable: when it reached the museum the working length was 36 centimetres. The fuel tank is labelled in English and French, with one part for petrol and one for oil. The man who gave the saw to the museum found it while clearing an outbuilding, started it, and the record says the engine ran well. The record gives no year. Source: DigitaltMuseum record SJF.12527.

What the records have in common and where they differ

The museum records move from the 1961 saw, with a flat cylinder and no mention of a brake, to the 1975 Super Pro 40, which the record says has a chain brake and rubber vibration mounts. The 1967 patents show the maker filing for a kickback brake and the 1968 patent for a vibration isolation system, in the years between the 380 and the Super Pro 40. The patents do not say which saw model, if any, carried each design, and the museum records do not say which patent a feature came from.

How regulators describe kickback and brakes is on the page about chainsaw kickback and chain brakes. The same McCulloch patents appear in the dated list on the chainsaw history timeline, and the kinds of saw are set out in saw types compared.

To correct or remove an entry, write to the address at the foot of this page.

McCulloch chainsaw history: dated facts from three United States patents and six Norwegian museum catalogue records

Dated facts

What the records have in common and where they differ

Sources