Can You Solve It? That Overlooked Netherlands Creation That Shaped the Modern Globe
There are numerous contenders for the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, though, that honor should go to the mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, building a modest merchant vessel required approximately ten lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber could be manufactured in less than a week.”
Thanks to this speedy mechanical saw, which converted timber to boards with almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build vessels faster compared to anyone else, which unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, economic as well as artistic supremacy in Europe and the globe.
The First Genuine Industrial Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, represented “humanity’s initial authentic factory apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. A single part transformed the rotary movement into vertical motion to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed the rotary movement into a sideway’s movement advancing the log toward the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the wood ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Each element was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to combine these parts in order that they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each descending motion while advancing on every return motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent use of basic parts.”
Which brings us up to the current challenge. I’d like you to reinvent one of the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Design a machine which converts rotary motion into up-and-down action. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or housing through which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the parts do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to propose (non obvious) contenders for the world’s most impactful invention.
