Are You Able to Crack This? That Forgotten Netherlands Creation Which Shaped the Modern World
There are many candidates to claim the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a new book, however, that title should go to a automated sawmill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, building a simple trading ship necessitated around ten sawyers working over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber might be manufactured within seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid mechanical saw, which converted timber into planks using almost no human effort, Dutch builders could construct vessels more quickly compared to anyone else, which unleashed a century of Netherlands maritime, financial as well as artistic dominance in the continent and the world.
The First Genuine Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s first true factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. A single part transformed the circular motion into up-and-down motion to power the saw. Another component changed the spinning movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step each cycle.
“Each element seemed simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine them so they acted in a perfectly controlled order, sawing with each descending motion while moving on every return stroke. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental components.”
A fact that leads us to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent one of the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Design a machine which converts rotary motion into up-and-down action. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or housing into which a single the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so that the parts do not collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s most impactful creation.
