Are You Able to Crack It? That Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Shaped the Contemporary Globe
There are many candidates for the designation as “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor should go to the mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before automated sawing, constructing a simple trading ship required approximately ten lumberjacks working for 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same amount of processed timber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Owing to this rapid automated saw, which converted logs into boards with almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build vessels faster than anyone else, an advantage that unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, financial and cultural dominance in the continent and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “mankind’s initial authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. A single part transformed the rotary movement to up-and-down action to power the saw. A separate mechanism transformed that same rotary movement into a sideway’s movement feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood ahead a measured step each stroke.
“Every component was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts in order that they operated in a precisely synchronized order, cutting with each downward stroke while advancing with each upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever application of fundamental parts.”
A fact that leads us up to today’s puzzle. The task is you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic invention.
Round and Up
Construct a machine which converts circular movement into up-and-down action. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing into which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK with the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the world’s most impactful invention.
