Are You Able to Crack It? The Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Forged our Modern Globe
One can find many candidates for the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a new book, however, that honor should go to the mechanised sawmill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a simple trading ship required approximately ten lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Thanks to their speedy mechanical saw, which turned timber to planks with virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders could build ships faster than anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, financial as well as cultural supremacy across Europe and the world.
The First True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s first true industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a wheel. One component transformed the circular movement into up-and-down action for the saw. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary motion into a lateral movement feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the wood ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Every component seemed simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate these parts in order that the machine operated in a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing on every descending motion while advancing with each upward stroke. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental components.”
A fact that leads us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reimagine one of the fundamental concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism that turns circular movement to up-and-down motion. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so the components don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK with the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders as the world’s most impactful creation.
