Can You Solve This? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention That Shaped the Contemporary World
There are many contenders for the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to a automated sawmill conceived by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before automated cutting, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately 10 sawyers working for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, the same amount of cut lumber could be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Owing to their rapid mechanical saw, which converted timber to planks using almost no human effort, the Dutch could build ships more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Netherlands maritime, financial and artistic dominance in the continent and the world.
The First True Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s first true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. A single part transformed the rotary movement into up-and-down motion to power the saw. Another component changed the spinning movement into a lateral motion advancing the timber to the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward one precise increment each stroke.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts in order that they operated in a perfectly controlled order, sawing with each downward motion and advancing with each return stroke. It was a remarkably clever use of basic components.”
Which leads us to the current puzzle. I’d like for you to reinvent a key the fundamental concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine which converts rotary motion to vertical motion. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or housing through which a single the rods can slide perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so that the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK with the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (less celebrated) candidates for the world’s most impactful invention.
