Are You Able to Solve It? That Forgotten Netherlands Creation That Forged our Modern World
One can find numerous contenders for the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a new book, though, that title should go to a automated timber mill invented through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks laboring over three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical cutter, which turned logs to boards with almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked a century of Netherlands maritime, economic as well as artistic supremacy in Europe and the globe.
The First True Industrial Machine
The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, was “mankind’s initial true industrial machine.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component transformed its circular movement to up-and-down action to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary movement into a lateral movement feeding the log to the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step each cycle.
“Every component seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate them so they acted within a precisely synchronized order, sawing on every downward stroke and moving with each upward motion. It was a remarkably clever use of fundamental components.”
A fact that leads us to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism that turns circular motion into up-and-down action. You have these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or housing into which one of the rods will fit snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a base, so that the parts do not collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s greatest creation.
