Are You Able to Solve This? That Forgotten Netherlands Creation That Forged the Contemporary World
There are numerous candidates to claim the designation as “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a new book, though, that title should go to the automated sawmill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a simple trading ship required approximately ten sawyers laboring over three months,” writes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber could be manufactured within seven days.”
Owing to this rapid mechanical saw, which converted timber to planks using virtually no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build ships more quickly than anyone else, an advantage that sparked a century of Netherlands maritime, economic as well as cultural supremacy across the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s first authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component transformed its rotary movement to up-and-down motion to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the log ahead a measured step each stroke.
“Each element seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate these parts so the machine operated in a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing on every downward motion while moving on every return stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
Which brings us up to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reinvent a key the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism that turns rotary movement to up-and-down action. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing through which a single the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so the components do not fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK featuring the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please propose (less celebrated) contenders as the world’s greatest creation.
