Can You Solve This? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Shaped our Modern World
There are many candidates to claim the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor should go to the mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a modest trading ship required around ten sawyers working for three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, the same amount of cut lumber might be manufactured within a week.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical cutter, that converted logs to planks with almost no human effort, the Dutch could construct vessels faster than any other nation, which unleashed a century of Netherlands maritime, economic as well as artistic supremacy in Europe and the world.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “humanity’s initial authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part transformed the circular motion into vertical motion to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed the spinning motion into a sideway’s motion advancing the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the log ahead one precise increment each cycle.
“Every component seemed simple by itself. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to combine them in order that they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each downward stroke while advancing with each upward stroke. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent use of basic parts.”
Which brings us to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reinvent a key the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism that turns circular movement to up-and-down motion. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a base, so that the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates as the world’s greatest invention.
