Can You Solve It? The Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Forged the Modern Globe
One can find many candidates for the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a new book, however, that honor should go to a automated sawmill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a modest merchant vessel required approximately ten sawyers laboring for three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber could be produced in less than a week.”
Thanks to their rapid mechanical cutter, that converted timber into planks with virtually no human effort, the Dutch could construct ships faster compared to anyone else, which unleashed one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial as well as artistic dominance in the continent and the world.
The Original True Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues the writer, represented “humanity’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component converted its circular movement to up-and-down action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning motion into a lateral movement feeding the timber to the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the wood ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Each element was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to combine these parts so they operated in a perfectly controlled order, cutting with each downward stroke and moving with each return motion. It was a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental components.”
A fact that leads us up to today’s challenge. The task is you to reinvent a key the basic ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Design a machine which converts circular movement to vertical action. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or sleeve through which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the parts don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates for the world’s most impactful creation.
