Can You Solve It? That Overlooked Dutch Invention That Shaped the Modern Globe
There are numerous candidates for the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, however, that honor should go to a automated sawmill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel necessitated around 10 lumberjacks working over three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber might be produced in less than a week.”
Owing to their rapid mechanical saw, which turned timber into planks using virtually no human effort, the Dutch were able to build ships faster than anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, economic and cultural dominance in Europe and the world.
The Original True Industrial Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s first true industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a wheel. A single part converted the rotary motion to up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning movement into a lateral motion feeding the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine them in order that the machine acted in a perfectly controlled order, cutting on every descending stroke while moving on every upward stroke. It was an astonishingly clever use of fundamental parts.”
A fact that brings us to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reinvent a key the fundamental ideas underpinning this historic invention.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism which converts rotary motion into vertical action. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve into which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so that the components do not fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to propose (non obvious) contenders for the planet’s most impactful invention.
