Can You Crack It? The Overlooked Netherlands Creation Which Shaped our Contemporary World
There are numerous contenders for the designation as “world’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor belongs to a mechanised sawmill conceived through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, constructing a simple trading ship required around ten lumberjacks laboring for three months,” writes the author. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of processed timber might be produced in less than a week.”
Thanks to their rapid mechanical saw, that converted logs to boards using almost no manual labor, Dutch builders could build ships faster than any other nation, an advantage that sparked a century of Dutch naval, economic as well as cultural dominance across Europe and the world.
The Original Genuine Industrial Device
The inventor's lumber mill, contends Dávila, represented “mankind’s first true factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component converted its circular movement into vertical action to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed the spinning movement into a lateral movement feeding the timber to the blade. A ratchet system shifted the wood forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element seemed simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine them in order that they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every downward motion while moving with each upward stroke. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of basic parts.”
Which brings us to the current puzzle. I’d like for you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism which converts rotary motion to up-and-down motion. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing through which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s most impactful invention.
