Are You Able to Crack This? The Forgotten Dutch Invention That Shaped our Contemporary World
There are many contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to a automated timber mill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately 10 sawyers working over three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be produced within seven days.”
Owing to this speedy automated saw, which converted logs into boards with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships faster compared to anyone else, which unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, financial as well as cultural dominance in Europe and the world.
The Original True Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, represented “humanity’s first true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. A single part converted the circular motion to vertical action for the saw. Another component changed the spinning movement into a lateral motion feeding the timber to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element was simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to integrate these parts so they acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every descending motion and moving on every upward stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
Which leads us to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine a key the basic ideas behind this historic machine.
Round and Up
Construct a machine which converts circular motion to vertical action. You have these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or sleeve through which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so that the components do not collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s greatest invention.
