Are You Able to Solve It? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Shaped the Contemporary Globe
There are many candidates to claim the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a new book, though, that title should go to a mechanised timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, constructing a simple merchant vessel necessitated around 10 sawyers working over 90 days,” notes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of processed timber might be produced in less than a week.”
Thanks to their rapid automated cutter, that converted timber into boards using almost no human effort, Dutch builders were able to construct vessels more quickly than any other nation, which unleashed a century of Netherlands maritime, economic as well as cultural dominance across the continent and the globe.
The First True Industrial Machine
The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, represented “humanity’s first authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component transformed the circular motion into vertical action for the saw. Another component transformed that same rotary movement into a lateral movement advancing the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Every component seemed simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to integrate them in order that they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every descending stroke and advancing on every upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of basic components.”
Which leads us up to the current challenge. I’d like for you to reimagine one of the basic concepts underpinning this historic invention.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism that turns circular motion into vertical motion. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing into which one of the rods will fit snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a base, so that the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK with the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s greatest invention.
