Are You Able to Solve This? That Forgotten Dutch Creation That Forged our Contemporary Globe
There are numerous candidates for the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, however, that honor should go to a mechanised sawmill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated around 10 lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber could be produced within a week.”
Thanks to this speedy mechanical saw, which converted logs into planks with almost no human effort, the Dutch could construct vessels more quickly than anyone else, an advantage that unleashed a century of Dutch naval, financial as well as artistic supremacy in the continent and the world.
The Original True Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s first authentic factory machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component transformed its circular motion to up-and-down motion to power the saw. Another component transformed the spinning motion into a lateral motion advancing the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the log ahead one precise increment per stroke.
“Each element seemed modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to combine these parts in order that the machine acted within a precisely synchronized order, sawing with each descending motion and moving with each upward motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of fundamental components.”
Which leads us up to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reimagine a key the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism that turns rotary movement into up-and-down motion. You have these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or sleeve through which a single the bars can slide snugly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so the components don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates for the world’s most impactful invention.
