Can You Crack This? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Shaped our Contemporary World
One can find numerous candidates for the title of “planet’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a new book, though, that title belongs to the mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, constructing a modest merchant vessel necessitated around ten lumberjacks working for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of cut lumber could be produced in less than seven days.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical saw, that converted logs into boards with almost no human effort, Dutch builders could construct vessels faster than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, financial as well as cultural dominance in Europe and the world.
The First True Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends Dávila, was “mankind’s initial true industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component transformed the circular movement into up-and-down motion for the saw. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning movement into a sideway’s motion advancing the timber to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Each element seemed simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate these parts in order that the machine acted within a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing on every downward stroke while advancing with each upward stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental components.”
A fact that brings us to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism that turns circular motion to vertical action. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the bars can slide snugly. (Assume you can put things on a base, so the components do not collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s greatest creation.
