Are You Able to Crack This? The Overlooked Dutch Invention Which Shaped the Modern Globe
One can find numerous candidates to claim the title of “world’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, though, that honor belongs to a mechanised timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of processed timber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid automated cutter, which turned timber into planks with virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to build vessels more quickly than anyone else, which sparked a century of Dutch naval, economic as well as cultural dominance in Europe and the globe.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues the writer, represented “mankind’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part converted the circular movement into vertical action to power the saw. Another component transformed that same rotary movement into a lateral movement feeding the log toward the blade. A ratchet system shifted the wood forward one precise increment per stroke.
“Every component was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate these parts so they operated in a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting on every descending motion and moving with each upward motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever application of basic components.”
Which leads us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent a key the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine which converts rotary movement into up-and-down action. Your available these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or sleeve through which a single the rods can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a base, so the parts do not collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (less celebrated) candidates for the planet’s greatest invention.
