Are You Able to Solve It? That Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Shaped our Contemporary World
One can find many contenders for the title of “world’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor belongs to a automated timber mill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, building a modest trading ship required around ten sawyers working for 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber could be produced in less than seven days.”
Owing to their speedy mechanical saw, which turned logs to planks using virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders could build vessels more quickly compared to any other nation, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial and cultural supremacy in the continent and the world.
The Original True Industrial Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, was “humanity’s initial true industrial machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. A single part transformed its rotary motion to vertical action for the cutting blade. Another component transformed the spinning movement into a sideway’s movement advancing the timber toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood forward one precise increment per cycle.
“Each element seemed simple by itself. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to combine them so the machine acted within a precisely synchronized order, cutting with each descending stroke while moving with each upward motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of basic components.”
Which leads us up to today’s challenge. The task is you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism that turns rotary movement into vertical motion. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that you can put things on a stand, so that the parts do not fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK time with the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s most impactful invention.
