Can You Crack It? The Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Shaped our Contemporary Globe
One can find numerous contenders for the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, however, that title belongs to the automated timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated around 10 sawyers laboring for three months,” notes the author. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be produced within seven days.”
Owing to their rapid automated saw, that turned logs to planks using virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders could build vessels more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial and artistic dominance across Europe and the world.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s first true industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. A single part transformed the rotary movement into up-and-down action for the saw. Another component transformed the spinning movement into a sideway’s movement advancing the log to the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step per cycle.
“Each element was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts so the machine acted within a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing with each downward stroke while advancing with each upward motion. It was a remarkably clever use of fundamental parts.”
A fact that leads us up to the current challenge. The task is you to reinvent a key the basic concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine which converts circular motion into up-and-down motion. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or sleeve into which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so the parts don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the world’s greatest creation.
