Can You Crack It? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Shaped the Contemporary World
One can find many contenders for the title of “planet’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a new book, though, that honor belongs to a automated timber mill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, constructing a simple trading ship required around 10 lumberjacks working for 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be produced in less than seven days.”
Owing to their rapid automated saw, which turned logs to boards with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could construct ships faster compared to anyone else, which sparked a century of Dutch maritime, economic as well as cultural dominance in Europe and the world.
The Original True Industrial Device
The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s initial true industrial apparatus.” A windmill turned a wheel. A single part converted its circular motion into up-and-down motion to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same spinning motion into a lateral motion advancing the log toward the blade. A ratchet system shifted the wood forward a measured step per cycle.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine these parts so they acted within a precisely synchronized order, sawing with each descending motion and advancing with each return motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of basic parts.”
Which brings us up to today’s challenge. The task is you to reimagine one of the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts circular motion into up-and-down motion. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing into which a single the rods will fit snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a base, so that the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders as the world’s most impactful invention.
