Can You Solve It? That Forgotten Netherlands Creation Which Shaped the Contemporary World
One can find numerous candidates to claim the title of “world’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor should go to a automated sawmill conceived through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, building a modest trading ship necessitated around 10 lumberjacks working for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, the same quantity of processed timber could be produced in less than seven days.”
Thanks to their rapid mechanical saw, which turned timber into boards using virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to construct ships more quickly compared to any other nation, which sparked a century of Netherlands maritime, economic and cultural dominance across the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s initial true industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part transformed its circular movement to up-and-down action to power the saw. Another component transformed that same rotary movement into a lateral motion feeding the timber to the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the log ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Each element was modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts so the machine acted in a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every descending stroke while moving with each upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental components.”
A fact that leads us to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reinvent a key the fundamental concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine which converts rotary movement into vertical motion. Your available these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or sleeve into which one of the bars can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK with the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the planet’s most impactful creation.
