Can You Solve It? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention That Forged the Contemporary World
One can find many contenders to claim the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, though, that honor should go to a mechanised sawmill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, building a modest trading ship necessitated around 10 sawyers laboring for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber could be manufactured in less than a week.”
Thanks to their rapid mechanical cutter, which converted timber to boards using virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could construct vessels faster compared to any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, financial as well as artistic dominance in Europe and the globe.
The Original Genuine Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends Dávila, represented “mankind’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component converted the circular motion into up-and-down motion to power the cutting blade. Another component changed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the timber to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward one precise increment per stroke.
“Every component was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate them so the machine operated within a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every downward stroke while moving with each upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of basic parts.”
A fact that brings us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas behind this historic machine.
Round and Up
Design a machine that turns circular movement to up-and-down motion. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or housing through which one of the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that you can mount components on a base, so the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please propose (less celebrated) contenders as the world’s most impactful creation.
