Can You Crack It? The Overlooked Dutch Creation That Forged the Contemporary Globe
There are many candidates for the designation as “planet’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to a automated timber mill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated around ten lumberjacks laboring over three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber might be manufactured within seven days.”
Thanks to this speedy automated cutter, that converted logs into boards with virtually no human effort, the Dutch could build ships faster compared to anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, economic and cultural dominance in the continent and the world.
The First Genuine Industrial Machine
The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, represented “mankind’s first authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component transformed its circular movement into up-and-down motion for the saw. A separate mechanism transformed the rotary movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step each stroke.
“Each element seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts in order that they acted in a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every downward motion while advancing on every upward stroke. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of basic components.”
Which leads us to the current challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism that turns rotary motion to vertical motion. You have these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or housing through which a single the rods can slide snugly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so that the parts don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time with the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please propose (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s greatest invention.
