Can You Solve This? The Overlooked Netherlands Creation Which Shaped our Modern Globe
There are many candidates for the title of “planet’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a new book, though, that title should go to a mechanised sawmill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated around 10 lumberjacks working for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of processed timber might be manufactured within seven days.”
Owing to this rapid automated cutter, which converted timber to boards using almost no manual labor, Dutch builders could build vessels more quickly compared to any other nation, which sparked a century of Netherlands maritime, economic and artistic dominance in Europe and the globe.
The First True Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues the writer, was “humanity’s first authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part transformed the rotary motion to vertical motion for the saw. A separate mechanism transformed the rotary movement into a sideway’s movement feeding the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead one precise increment per stroke.
“Each element was simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine them in order that they operated within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward motion while moving on every upward motion. This constituted a remarkably clever application of fundamental components.”
A fact that leads us up to the current puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine one of the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Construct a machine which converts rotary motion into up-and-down action. Your available these items only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or housing through which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a base, so the components do not collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s greatest creation.
