Can You Solve This? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention That Shaped the Modern World
One can find many contenders for the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor should go to the mechanised timber mill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before automated cutting, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks working over three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of cut lumber might be produced within seven days.”
Owing to their speedy automated saw, that converted logs to planks with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could construct ships faster than any other nation, an advantage that sparked a century of Dutch maritime, financial and cultural supremacy across the continent and the world.
The First True Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends Dávila, represented “humanity’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. A single part converted its rotary movement to vertical motion to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same rotary movement into a lateral movement feeding the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward a measured step each cycle.
“Each element was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts so they acted within a perfectly controlled order, sawing with each descending motion and advancing on every return motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever application of basic parts.”
A fact that brings us to the current challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the fundamental ideas underpinning this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism that turns circular motion to vertical motion. You have these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a tube or sleeve through which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the world’s greatest creation.
