Are You Able to Solve It? The Overlooked Netherlands Creation Which Forged our Modern Globe
One can find many candidates for the title of “world’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, though, that honor belongs to the automated sawmill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a simple merchant vessel required approximately ten sawyers working over three months,” notes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Thanks to their rapid automated cutter, that converted timber into boards with almost no manual labor, the Dutch could construct vessels more quickly compared to any other nation, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, economic as well as artistic supremacy in Europe and the world.
The First True Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a gear. A single part transformed the rotary movement to vertical motion for the cutting blade. Another component transformed the spinning movement into a lateral movement advancing the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Each element seemed modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to integrate them so they acted within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward stroke while moving on every return motion. It was a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental parts.”
Which brings us to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reimagine a key the fundamental ideas underpinning this historic machine.
Round and Up
Construct a machine that turns circular motion to up-and-down action. You have these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or housing into which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so the parts do not fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK time featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s most impactful invention.
