Can You Solve It? That Overlooked Netherlands Creation Which Forged the Contemporary World
One can find numerous contenders for the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor belongs to a automated timber mill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a simple trading ship required around 10 sawyers laboring for 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be produced within seven days.”
Owing to their speedy mechanical saw, that converted logs into boards with almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build ships more quickly than any other nation, which unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial and cultural dominance in the continent and the world.
The First True Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends Dávila, was “mankind’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. A single part converted the rotary movement to up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed that same rotary movement into a lateral movement advancing the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead a measured step per cycle.
“Each element seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to combine them so the machine operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each downward motion while moving with each return stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
A fact that brings us up to the current challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the fundamental ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts circular movement into up-and-down motion. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or housing through which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that you can put things on a stand, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders for the world’s most impactful invention.
