Can You Crack This? That Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Forged the Modern World
One can find many contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, though, that title belongs to the mechanised sawmill conceived through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated around ten sawyers laboring over 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be produced within a week.”
Owing to this rapid automated saw, that turned logs to planks with virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders could construct ships more quickly compared to any other nation, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, economic and cultural supremacy in Europe and the world.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues Dávila, was “humanity’s initial authentic factory machine.” A windmill turned a gear. A single part transformed its circular movement to up-and-down motion to power the saw. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning movement into a sideway’s movement feeding the timber toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Every component was modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to integrate these parts so the machine operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every descending motion while moving on every upward stroke. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental components.”
A fact that brings us to the current puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine a key the fundamental ideas underpinning this historic machine.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism which converts rotary motion into vertical action. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or housing through which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so that the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s most impactful invention.
