Are You Able to Solve This? The Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Shaped our Contemporary World
There are many candidates to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a new book, however, that title should go to the mechanised sawmill conceived through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, building a simple merchant vessel required approximately 10 sawyers laboring for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be produced within a week.”
Owing to this speedy automated cutter, which turned logs into planks with almost 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 supremacy across Europe and the world.
The Original True Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s initial true factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. One component converted the rotary movement to vertical motion for the saw. Another component transformed the rotary movement into a lateral movement feeding the log to the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood forward one precise increment per stroke.
“Each element seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s genius was to combine them so they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every downward stroke and moving with each return stroke. It was an astonishingly intelligent use of basic parts.”
Which brings us to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism which converts rotary movement to up-and-down action. You have these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or sleeve through which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the planet’s greatest creation.
