Are You Able to Solve This? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Forged our Contemporary Globe
There are numerous candidates to claim the designation as “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, though, that honor belongs to the automated sawmill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel required around 10 sawyers working over three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be produced in less than a week.”
Owing to this rapid mechanical cutter, which converted logs into boards with virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders could build vessels faster than anyone else, which sparked a century of Dutch maritime, economic as well as artistic supremacy in Europe and the world.
The Original True Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s initial authentic factory apparatus.” A windmill turned a wheel. A single part converted the rotary movement into vertical motion for the saw. Another component transformed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s motion advancing the timber toward the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the wood ahead one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element was modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts so they operated in a perfectly controlled order, cutting on every downward stroke while moving with each return stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
Which leads us up to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Construct a machine that turns rotary movement to vertical motion. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or housing through which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK with the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (less celebrated) contenders as the planet’s greatest creation.
