Are You Able to Solve This? The Forgotten Dutch Creation Which Forged our Contemporary Globe
There are numerous contenders to claim the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, however, that title should go to a mechanised sawmill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before automated sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel required around 10 sawyers laboring over three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber might be manufactured within a week.”
Thanks to this rapid automated saw, that converted timber into boards with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could build vessels faster than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Dutch naval, economic as well as artistic supremacy across the continent and the globe.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s initial authentic factory machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. A single part converted the rotary movement to vertical motion to power the saw. Another component changed that same rotary motion into a lateral motion feeding the timber to the blade. A ratchet system shifted the wood ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Each element seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate them so they operated within a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every downward stroke and advancing on every upward stroke. It was a remarkably clever use of fundamental components.”
A fact that brings us up to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reimagine a key the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism which converts circular movement into up-and-down action. You have these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing through which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a base, so the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK time featuring the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s most impactful invention.
