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4 JULY 15, 2001
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New hand-held rescue tool
could change emergency
services forever.
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Continued from front page
an accident is called the Sabre-Tool.
The Sabre-Tool is like the Jaws of'
Life, but this tool is more compact,
cheaper and self-contained.
The Tribe has begun manufactur
ing this new technology at the Tribe's
Grand Ronde Industries (GRI) plant
in Tangent near Corvallis.
The only tool out there that can tear
through the steel cage of a car and
just keep going.
The steel-eating Sabre-Tool also
has a computer inside of its body.
"The computer senses how much
pressure the tool needs to cut through
whatever it's cuttirig," said
Rasmussen. "It then sends it back to
the motor controller, the motor speeds
up or slows down, depending on
what it needs.
"What that has done is allowed us
to get two hours on a battery, which
is unheard of in this type of extrica
tion equipment," said Rasmussen. "It
only uses the energy it needs, when
it needs it. That (the computer sys
tem) was the breakthrough that al
lowed us to make things happen."
The body of the system is also fully
enclosed, so there is no spark.
"We are in the process in getting
certification to use it in explosive en
vironments," said Rasmussen.
"Right now if you have a vehicle and
there is gas everywhere, they use a
little hand pump to run the tool, this
tool (the Sabre-Tool) will make that
old system obsolete and allow you to
extricate in hazardous fuel environ-
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ments much quicker."
The other place this tool is spectacu
lar is in enclosed spaces.
"If you have a worker trapped in a
tight space that is closed, our tool pro
duces no gas and no fumes and no
exhaust so we are able to rescue
someone (without asphyxiating
them)," said Rasmussen. "Before you
would have to go in and use some
tool that is inadequate for what you
are doing."
The Sabre-Tool also has another
distinct advantage over the competition-
it runs on batteries.
"The batteries will recharge to 93
percent (capacity) in 15 minutes,"
said Rasmussen. "With two batter
ies, you can cut constantly you
never run out of power. You can also
attach this to your vehicle battery
and run it right off the vehicle."
All the ideas that led to the formu
lation of the Sabre-Tool happened at
their conference room the green
picnic table.
"Up front (Sabre-Tool warehouse)
is our engineer's office," said
Rasmussen. "That is our conference
room. The green table is where ideas
we have came up with are hashed
out, thought and worked over."
Rasmussen and his staff also work
on finding funding for towns that
cannot afford the Sabre-Tool.
"We are working very hard to work
with foundations, work with federal
agencies, anyone that we find that
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Photos by Justin Phillips
You Can Carry It-The portable
hand-held Sabre-Tool is the next step in
emergency rescue equipment because it
can be brought to the scene of an acci
dent in a backpack carried by firefighters
or emergency personnel. The tool cuts
through metal with ease and lessens the
time of extrication of people trapped in
their cars after an accident.
could provide funding for rural fire
departments that don't have the
money to purchase the Sabre-Tool,"
said Rasmussen.
They came up with the idea to go
to the businesses that are key in the
community that need the equipment
and talk to them about helping with
the funding of purchases.
To make the idea of purchasing
tool more attractive to potential spon
sors, Rasmussen said they (potential
sponsors) could have their business
logo engraved on the cylinder of the
Sabre-Tool.
"We can take any logo from any
company, scan it and etch it right on
the face of the tool," said Rasmussen.
Also in the mix, an exclusive hand
held palm computer that will have
an index of every vehicle made to
show where to cut on any vehicle for
best results.
"When you extricate old cars, there
are no air bags," said Rasmussen.
"But in the new ones you have them.
They are very, very dangerous.
What we found is two books on ev
ery make and model of the car. We
have access to a person who was one
of the original programmers from
Palm (Pilot) and he agreed to put ev
erything on the Palm Pilot."
For example, if a fireman is on the
way to a wreck and knows one of the
cars involved is a Honda, all they
have to do is enter the make and
model into the hand-held computer.
"It will show all the different parts
and it has the ability to zoom in on
where all the airbags are," said
Rasmussen.
Gene Hill, Chief Executive Officer
and president of the Spirit Mountain
Development Corporation is very
excited about the Sabre-Tool.
"For us giving back to the commu
nity, this is just fantastic," said Gene
Hill. "This is just spectacular in both
job creations and other areas."
My Turn Spirit Mountain Development Corporation's (SMDC) Chief Financial Officer Brian Grant takes his turn with the Sabre
Tool. SMDC is developing the tool as a commercial enterprise, but will donate some equipment to local emergency services
organizations.