Can You Solve It? The Overlooked Netherlands Invention That Forged the Modern Globe
There are many contenders for the title of “world’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a new book, however, that title should go to a automated sawmill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, building a modest trading ship necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks working for three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be produced in less than seven days.”
Thanks to this speedy mechanical cutter, that turned timber to boards using almost no manual labor, the Dutch could build vessels faster compared to anyone else, which unleashed a century of Dutch naval, financial as well as artistic supremacy in Europe and the world.
The First True Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component converted the rotary motion to vertical motion for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed the spinning motion into a lateral movement advancing the log to the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Every component seemed simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to integrate them so the machine acted within a perfectly controlled order, cutting on every descending motion and advancing on every return motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of basic components.”
Which leads us up to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reimagine a key the basic concepts behind this historic invention.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism that turns rotary movement to vertical action. Your available these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the bars can slide snugly. (Assume you can put things on a base, so that the components don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK featuring the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to propose (non obvious) contenders as the world’s most impactful invention.
