Can You Crack It? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Shaped the Contemporary Globe
There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, though, that title should go to the automated timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated around ten lumberjacks working over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber could be produced in less than seven days.”
Owing to this rapid automated saw, which converted logs into boards using almost no manual labor, Dutch builders could construct ships more quickly than anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial as well as cultural supremacy across Europe and the world.
The Original True Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s initial true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component transformed its circular motion into vertical action to power the saw. Another component changed that same spinning motion into a lateral movement advancing the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead one precise increment per cycle.
“Every component was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to combine them so they acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each descending motion and moving on every return stroke. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of basic components.”
A fact that brings us to the current challenge. I’d like for you to reinvent a key the fundamental concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Construct a machine that turns circular movement to up-and-down action. You have these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or sleeve into which a single the bars can slide snugly. (Consider that you can put things on a stand, so the parts do not collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK featuring the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to propose (less celebrated) candidates for the world’s greatest invention.
