Can You Crack This? That Overlooked Netherlands Creation That Shaped the Modern World
There are numerous candidates for the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to a automated timber mill invented through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a modest merchant vessel required around ten lumberjacks laboring over three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be manufactured in less than a week.”
Owing to this speedy automated saw, which turned logs to planks with almost no human effort, the Dutch could build ships faster compared to any other nation, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Dutch naval, economic as well as cultural supremacy in the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues the writer, was “humanity’s initial true factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component converted its circular movement into vertical motion to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same spinning movement into a lateral movement advancing the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to integrate them so they operated in a perfectly controlled order, cutting with each downward motion while advancing with each return stroke. It was a remarkably clever use of fundamental components.”
Which brings us to the current puzzle. I’d like for you to reimagine one of the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic invention.
Round and Up
Construct a machine that turns rotary motion into up-and-down motion. You have these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so that the components don’t fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK time with the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the world’s greatest creation.
