Are You Able to Crack It? The Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Shaped our Modern World
There are many candidates to claim the designation as “world’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, though, that honor belongs to the mechanised timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before automated cutting, building a simple trading ship required approximately 10 sawyers laboring for three months,” notes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber could be manufactured within a week.”
Thanks to their speedy automated saw, which turned timber to boards with almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to construct ships faster compared to anyone else, which unleashed one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial and cultural dominance in Europe and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends Dávila, was “mankind’s first true factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component converted the circular motion to vertical motion to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same spinning motion into a lateral motion feeding the timber to the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Every component was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate them so the machine acted within a precisely synchronized order, cutting with each downward motion and advancing with each return motion. It was a remarkably clever application of basic parts.”
Which leads us up to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reinvent a key the basic concepts underpinning this historic invention.
Round and Up
Construct a machine which converts rotary movement to up-and-down action. You have these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the rods can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so the components do not collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders as the world’s greatest invention.