Arthur Segal Inventor of the Carbide Tipped Saw Blade Died

Arthur R. Segal, age 101, passed away at 9:50 a.m. Saturday (January 12, 2013) in Memorial Hospital & Health Care Center in Jasper.

He was born June 30, 1911 at Kansas City, Missouri to Henry and Ada (Bennett) Segal. He married Mildred “Millie” Hebrank October 25, 1935 in the Evangelical Church in Highland, Illinois. She preceded him in death March 14, 2011.

After high school, Arthur served his apprenticeship training at the United States Radiator Corporation and then as an engineering draftsman at the Laclede Steel Company at Alton, IL. He saved most of his earning so that he could attend college.

In 1942, Arthur started his own company, North American Products Corporation, designing and manufacturing the first mechanically held, solid carbide blades for the high-speed machining of metals. At the time, the development of the new cutting tool metal known as Tungsten Carbide, was at the leading edge of industrial technology and was of high importance for the nation’s war effort. Arthur worked closely with Phillip McKenna, who had been an associate at Kearney and Trecker, and who later founded the Kennametal Corporation.

After the war, Arthur began experimenting with the design and manufacturing of tools for machining materials other than metals. This resulted in the development of the first Tungsten Carbide circular saw blade, a product which would rapidly replace the use of solid steel blades due to their long production life and increased accuracy. Mr. Segal developed the first carbide tipped saw blades for cutting wood, hard plastics and plastic laminates and he held patents on many of the basic carbide tipped tool designs now commonly used in industrial production.

While the company initially grew on the basis of its innovative tooling designs, North American Products began opening carbide tool sharpening and sales divisions in many stated and eventually, in foreign countries. The company’s first tool sharpening division was located in Jasper, IN in 1957, and the company moved its headquarters and manufacturing facilities to Jasper in 1959.

Along with growing and operating the business, Arthur wrote technical articles for various industrial and scientific publications. He also presented papers and seminars at numerous universities regarding the design, machining and manufacturing of Tungsten Carbide cutting tools.

He served as a director of the Wood Machinery Manufacturing Associations (WMMA), and also as a director for the associations industrial Fair Board. He directed the association’s noise control research program in coordination with Wylie Research Laboratories in Huntsville, AL. Arthur also represented the association in regard to product liability legislation in Washington D.C. In 1966, he was a U.S. representative to the United Nations Technical Industrial Production Conference in Vienna, Austria.

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