Are You Able to Crack It? The Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Forged our Contemporary World
There are many candidates to claim the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a new book, though, that title should go to the automated timber mill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before automated cutting, building a modest merchant vessel required approximately ten sawyers laboring for three months,” notes the author. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, an identical amount of processed timber could be manufactured in less than a week.”
Thanks to this speedy automated saw, that converted timber to planks with almost no manual labor, Dutch builders could build ships faster than any other nation, which sparked a century of Netherlands maritime, economic as well as artistic dominance in Europe and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, was “humanity’s first true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component converted its circular movement to vertical action for the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the timber to the blade. A ratchet system moved the log ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Each element was simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to combine them in order that they acted in a precisely synchronized order, sawing on every descending motion and moving with each return motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of basic components.”
A fact that brings us to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine one of the basic ideas behind this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine which converts circular motion to vertical action. You have these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve into which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the parts do not fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please propose (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s greatest invention.
