Are You Able to Crack It? The Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Forged our Modern Globe
There are many contenders for the title of “world’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a new book, however, that honor belongs to the automated sawmill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated around 10 sawyers laboring over 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same quantity of cut lumber could be produced within seven days.”
Owing to their rapid mechanical saw, that turned logs to planks using almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to build vessels more quickly compared to any other nation, which sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic and cultural supremacy in Europe and the world.
The First Genuine Industrial Device
The inventor's lumber mill, contends Dávila, was “mankind’s initial authentic factory machine.” A windmill turned a gear. A single part transformed its circular movement into up-and-down motion for the saw. A separate mechanism changed that same spinning movement into a sideway’s movement feeding the timber toward the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward a measured step each stroke.
“Each element was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine them in order that the machine operated in a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every descending stroke while advancing on every upward motion. It was a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental parts.”
A fact that brings us to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reimagine a key the basic concepts behind this historic machine.
Round and Up
Design a machine that turns circular motion into vertical action. Your available these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or sleeve through which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the parts don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) candidates as the world’s most impactful creation.
