Are You Able to Solve This? That Overlooked Netherlands Creation That Forged the Modern Globe
There are numerous candidates to claim the designation as “world’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, however, that title should go to the mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel required approximately 10 sawyers laboring for three months,” notes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be produced within seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid mechanical cutter, that turned timber to boards using virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders could build vessels more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial and cultural dominance across Europe and the globe.
The Original Genuine Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “mankind’s initial true factory machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component transformed its circular movement into up-and-down action for the saw. Another component changed the spinning motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the log ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Each element seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine these parts in order that they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every descending motion while advancing on every upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever use of basic parts.”
Which brings us to the current challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts behind this historic machine.
Round and Up
Design a machine which converts rotary motion into vertical motion. Your available these items only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or sleeve through which a single the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK time with the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the world’s most impactful creation.
