Can You Solve This? The Forgotten Netherlands Creation Which Forged the Contemporary World
There are many candidates to claim the designation as “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, though, that honor belongs to the mechanised timber mill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, building a modest merchant vessel required around ten lumberjacks laboring for three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of cut lumber could be manufactured within a week.”
Thanks to this rapid mechanical cutter, which turned timber into boards using virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders could construct ships more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Dutch naval, financial and artistic dominance in Europe and the globe.
The Original Genuine Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues Dávila, was “humanity’s initial authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part transformed its rotary motion into up-and-down action to power the cutting blade. Another component changed the rotary motion into a lateral motion feeding the log to the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step each stroke.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate these parts so they acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting with each downward stroke while advancing with each return stroke. It was a remarkably clever use of fundamental components.”
A fact that brings us up to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine one of the basic concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine which converts rotary motion to up-and-down motion. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so the parts do not fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (less celebrated) candidates as the world’s greatest invention.
