frames, each capable of holding up to 36 saws, and staffed by as few as two attendants.

The bandsaw was another important development. William Newberry patented an endless band-saw in Britain in 1808, but early bandsaws remained impractical because of the difficulty of making a durable flexible blade. Later improvements in blade welding, metallurgy, blade guides, and tensioning by the Paris firm Périn & Cie made the bandsaw commercially practical by the 1860s. Bandsaws became important in sawmilling because