Can You Crack This? That Overlooked Dutch Invention Which Forged our Contemporary World
There are many candidates for the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a new book, though, that honor should go to a mechanised timber mill conceived by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before automated cutting, building a simple trading ship necessitated around ten lumberjacks working for three months,” notes the author. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of processed timber might be manufactured in less than a week.”
Owing to their speedy automated saw, which converted timber to planks with virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders could construct vessels faster than any other nation, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial and artistic supremacy across Europe and the globe.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s initial true industrial machine.” A windmill turned a gear. A single part converted the rotary motion into vertical motion for the saw. Another component transformed that same spinning motion into a lateral movement feeding the timber toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the log ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Each element seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine them so the machine acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting with each descending motion and moving on every return motion. This constituted a remarkably clever use of basic components.”
Which brings us to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts rotary motion to vertical action. Your available these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which a single the rods can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK time featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders for the world’s greatest invention.
