Next year, Tormek will be celebrating 50 years of providing us with the superb sharpening system we call a Tormek. We need to find a way to thank Torgny Jansson, so please respond to this posting with your favorite thoughts or ideas about his wonderful invention.
Yes, that's a good cause for celebration.
Torgny Jansson, however, already filed a patent in 1978 for a jig that we now know as SE-76, but with its own support instead of USB. See "Fig 4"
In total, Johansson holds 13 patents according to Epacenet (https://worldwide.espacenet.com/searchResults?ST=singleline&locale=en_EP&submitted=true&DB=&query=tormek&Submit=Search) See attached list.
In 1982 he applied for a patent for the device as we know it today: "Device for grinding and/or honing"
In a shop of old books I found a manual in Dutch in which the "Supergrind 2000" is presented as the latest machine. This is probably Tormek's oldest handbook on sharpening.
Dutchman,
Thank you for posting this fascinating information. It really documents why Tormek is the leader in innovative wet sharpening.
I have a similar booklet in my collection of Tormek handbooks. I checked with support; mine (English version) is the second edition. I am interested in learning how early Tormek users sharpened before all of the jigs we take for granted today. This is not as impractical as one might think. I have occasionally run into tools which are too large, too small, etc. to fit within the range of our jigs.
Ken
It should also be mentioned that Hakan Persson, the current CEO, also has 10 patents and more will most likely follow.
Håkan Persson is a man of many talents. His specialty, as shown in this online class, is superabrasives. I believe he is responsible for moving Tormek from "the stone age" to diamond wheels. Here is a link:
https://youtu.be/38c95D6z5D8
Ken