Can You Solve It? The Forgotten Dutch Creation That Shaped the Contemporary Globe
There are numerous contenders for the title of “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, however, that title belongs to the automated sawmill conceived through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, building a simple trading ship necessitated around ten sawyers working for 90 days,” notes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber could be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Owing to their rapid mechanical saw, which converted logs into boards using almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to construct vessels more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial and artistic supremacy across the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Industrial Machine
The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, represented “humanity’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A windmill turned a gear. A single part converted the circular movement to vertical motion to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s motion advancing the log to the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the log forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element was simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts so the machine acted in a perfectly controlled order, cutting with each downward stroke while advancing on every upward motion. It was an astonishingly clever application of fundamental components.”
A fact that leads us up to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Construct a machine which converts rotary movement into up-and-down action. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or sleeve into which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components don’t fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates as the world’s greatest invention.
