Can You Solve It? The Overlooked Dutch Invention Which Shaped the Modern Globe
One can find many candidates for the title of “world’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, however, that title should go to a mechanised sawmill invented through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, building a modest trading ship necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks working over 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven sawmills, the same amount of processed timber could be produced within seven days.”
Owing to their rapid mechanical cutter, which converted logs into boards using almost no manual labor, the Dutch could construct vessels faster than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Netherlands maritime, economic and cultural supremacy across Europe and the world.
The Original True Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s first true industrial apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. A single part converted its circular movement to vertical action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning movement into a lateral motion feeding the timber to the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Every component was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to combine these parts in order that they operated in a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing on every descending stroke while advancing with each upward motion. This constituted a remarkably clever use of basic parts.”
Which brings us to the current puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine a key the fundamental ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism that turns circular motion into up-and-down motion. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing through which one of the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the components don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates for the world’s greatest invention.
