Are You Able to Crack It? The Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Shaped our Modern World
There are numerous contenders to claim the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, however, that title belongs to a mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before automated cutting, constructing a simple merchant vessel required around ten lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, the same quantity of cut lumber could be produced in less than seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid automated saw, that turned logs to planks using almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct vessels more quickly than any other nation, which unleashed a century of Dutch naval, economic and cultural dominance in the continent and the globe.
The First True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's lumber mill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s first authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component converted its circular motion into up-and-down action to power the saw. Another component transformed the rotary motion into a lateral movement feeding the timber toward the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward one precise increment per stroke.
“Each element seemed simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to combine them so the machine operated in a precisely synchronized order, sawing on every downward motion while advancing on every return stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent application of basic components.”
Which leads us up to the current challenge. I’d like you to reimagine a key the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism that turns rotary movement into up-and-down action. Your available these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or housing into which a single the bars will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the parts do not collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to propose (less celebrated) candidates for the planet’s most impactful invention.
