Can You Crack It? The Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Shaped the Modern Globe
One can find numerous contenders for the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a new book, however, that honor belongs to the automated timber mill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, building a simple merchant vessel required around ten sawyers working for three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of processed timber might be manufactured in less than a week.”
Thanks to their speedy automated saw, which turned logs into boards with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build vessels faster compared to any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, economic and artistic dominance in the continent and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s initial authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part transformed the circular movement to vertical action to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed the rotary motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the wood forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate these parts in order that they operated in a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting with each descending stroke while moving with each return motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of basic components.”
Which leads us up to the current challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism which converts rotary motion to vertical action. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing through which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a base, so that the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK time featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s most impactful creation.
