Can You Solve It? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Forged the Modern World
There are numerous contenders 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 belongs to the mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a simple merchant vessel required approximately ten sawyers laboring for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber could be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Owing to this speedy automated saw, that turned logs to planks using almost no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to construct ships more quickly compared to anyone else, which unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, economic as well as cultural dominance in the continent and the globe.
The First True Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, argues Dávila, represented “humanity’s first true industrial apparatus.” A windmill turned a wheel. A single part converted its circular motion to up-and-down motion to power the cutting blade. Another component changed the rotary movement into a sideway’s movement feeding the log to the blade. A ratchet system moved the log forward one precise increment each stroke.
“Every component seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine them in order that they acted within a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing on every descending stroke while advancing on every return stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental components.”
Which leads us up to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reimagine one of the basic ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine which converts circular motion to up-and-down action. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve into which a single the rods can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the parts do not fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK time with the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates as the world’s most impactful creation.
