Can You Solve This? The Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Shaped our Contemporary World
There are numerous candidates to claim the title of “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a new book, though, that title belongs to the mechanised timber mill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated around ten lumberjacks working over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber might be produced in less than a week.”
Thanks to their speedy mechanical cutter, that converted logs into planks with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct ships faster compared to any other nation, an advantage that sparked a century of Netherlands maritime, economic and cultural dominance across the continent and the world.
The Original True Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s initial true factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. One component transformed its rotary motion into vertical action for the cutting blade. Another component transformed the spinning movement into a lateral motion advancing the timber toward the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead one precise increment per stroke.
“Each element was simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate them in order that the machine acted in a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing on every downward stroke and advancing with each return stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever use of fundamental parts.”
Which leads us to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism which converts rotary motion to vertical motion. Your available these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a base, so the components do not collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK with the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s most impactful creation.
