Are You Able to Crack It? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Shaped our Contemporary World
One can find many contenders to claim 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 invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated around ten lumberjacks laboring for three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Thanks to their speedy automated cutter, that turned logs to boards using virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders could construct ships more quickly compared to anyone else, which unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, economic as well as artistic dominance in the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s initial authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a gear. One component transformed its rotary movement into vertical action for the saw. Another component changed that same rotary motion into a lateral motion advancing the timber toward the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood forward a measured step each stroke.
“Every component was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts so the machine acted within a precisely synchronized order, sawing with each downward stroke and moving on every return stroke. This constituted an astonishingly clever application of fundamental parts.”
Which leads us to the current challenge. The task is you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine that turns rotary motion to vertical action. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or sleeve into which one of the bars can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the components do not collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) candidates for the world’s most impactful invention.
