Are You Able to Crack This? The Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Shaped the Contemporary World
One can find numerous contenders for the designation as “planet’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, however, that honor should go to a mechanised timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel necessitated around ten lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber could be manufactured within a week.”
Owing to their rapid mechanical saw, that turned logs into boards with virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders could construct ships more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic as well as artistic dominance in Europe and the world.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s initial authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part transformed its circular movement into vertical action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed the rotary motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward a measured step per stroke.
“Every component seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate these parts so they acted in a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting with each descending stroke and moving with each upward motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental components.”
A fact that leads us up to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Design a machine that turns circular motion into up-and-down action. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing into which a single the rods can slide snugly. (Assume you can put things on a base, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please propose (non obvious) candidates for the world’s most impactful creation.
