Hermann Steiner was a Swiss inventor and businessman.

In 1944, Steiner opened his carpenters shop in Liestal

Liestal

Liestal is the capital of the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland, south of Basel.It is an industrial town with a cobbled-street Old Town.-History:...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. He invented a system in 1956 that he called the Lamello Joining System which is now known as the biscuit joiner

Biscuit joiner

A biscuit joiner or sometimes plate joiner is a woodworking tool used to join two pieces of wood together. A biscuit joiner uses a small tungsten carbide tipped, circular saw blade to cut a crescent shaped hole in the opposite edges of two pieces of wood or wood composite panels...

 or plate joiner. He also produced the first portable plate joiner in the late 1960s. In 1969, his family operation was incorporated

Incorporation (business)

Incorporation is the forming of a new corporation . The corporation may be a business, a non-profit organisation, sports club, or a government of a new city or town...

under the name Lamello AG. http://www.swissinvis.com/english/company_e/wilkom_e.htm