Are You Able to Crack It? That Overlooked Dutch Creation That Shaped our Modern World
There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a new book, though, that title belongs to a mechanised sawmill invented through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before automated cutting, constructing a modest merchant vessel required around 10 sawyers laboring over three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber could be manufactured within a week.”
Thanks to their speedy mechanical saw, which converted logs into planks with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch could build vessels more quickly than anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch maritime, economic and artistic dominance across Europe and the world.
The Original True Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s initial true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. A single part converted the circular motion into vertical motion to power the cutting blade. Another component changed that same rotary movement into a sideway’s movement advancing the timber to the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step each cycle.
“Every component seemed simple by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to combine them so the machine operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each descending motion while advancing on every upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever use of fundamental parts.”
Which leads us up to the current challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the fundamental ideas behind this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism that turns rotary motion to up-and-down action. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or sleeve into which a single the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a base, so that the components do not fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) candidates for the world’s most impactful creation.
