Can You Crack This? That Overlooked Netherlands Creation That Forged our Modern Globe
There are numerous candidates to claim the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, however, that title should go to the automated sawmill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, building a simple trading ship necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks working over 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be produced in less than a week.”
Owing to their rapid mechanical saw, that turned logs to planks with almost no manual labor, Dutch builders could construct vessels faster than anyone else, an advantage that sparked a century of Netherlands maritime, economic as well as artistic dominance in the continent and the world.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s first authentic factory machine.” A windmill rotated a gear. One component converted the rotary movement to vertical action to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed the spinning motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the log ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Every component was simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine these parts so they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each downward stroke while advancing on every return stroke. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of fundamental parts.”
Which brings us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reimagine a key the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Design a machine which converts rotary movement into up-and-down motion. Your available these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or sleeve into which a single the bars will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK with the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s greatest invention.
