Are You Able to Crack This? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Forged our Modern World
There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “world’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, though, that honor should go to a mechanised sawmill invented through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks working for three months,” notes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of processed timber might be manufactured in less than a week.”
Thanks to this rapid mechanical saw, that turned logs to planks using almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to construct ships faster compared to any other nation, which unleashed one hundred years of Dutch maritime, economic and cultural dominance in Europe and the world.
The Original True Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues Dávila, was “mankind’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component converted the circular movement to up-and-down action for the saw. Another component changed that same spinning motion into a lateral motion feeding the log toward the blade. A ratchet system shifted the wood ahead a measured step per cycle.
“Every component seemed modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to combine them in order that they acted in a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting with each downward motion while moving on every return stroke. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of basic components.”
A fact that leads us up to the current challenge. I’d like for you to reimagine a key the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism that turns rotary movement into vertical action. Your available these items only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components do not collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s greatest invention.
