Can You Crack This? That Overlooked Dutch Creation That Forged the Contemporary World
There are numerous contenders to claim the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor belongs to the mechanised sawmill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel necessitated around 10 sawyers working over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, an identical amount of processed timber could be produced within a week.”
Owing to this speedy automated saw, that turned logs to boards using virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships faster than anyone else, which unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, economic and cultural dominance in the continent and the globe.
The Original Genuine Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends Dávila, was “mankind’s first true industrial apparatus.” A windmill rotated a wheel. One component transformed its circular motion to vertical action to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the log to the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step each cycle.
“Every component was simple by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to combine them so the machine acted in a precisely synchronized order, sawing with each downward motion while moving on every return stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
Which leads us to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reimagine one of the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism that turns rotary motion to vertical action. You have these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or housing through which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that you can put things on a stand, so that the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s greatest creation.