Can You Crack This? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Shaped our Contemporary Globe
One can find many contenders to claim the designation as “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a new book, though, that title belongs to the automated timber mill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated approximately 10 sawyers working for three months,” notes the author. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber might be produced within seven days.”
Thanks to their speedy automated cutter, that turned logs into boards with almost no human effort, Dutch builders could construct ships more quickly compared to anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial and artistic dominance across Europe and the globe.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s first authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component transformed its rotary motion into up-and-down motion to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log forward a measured step per cycle.
“Each element seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to integrate them in order that they operated within a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting on every descending motion while moving with each upward stroke. It was a remarkably clever application of fundamental parts.”
Which brings us up to today’s challenge. The task is you to reinvent one of the basic concepts behind this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine that turns rotary motion into vertical action. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or housing through which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a base, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s greatest invention.
