Can You Solve This? That Forgotten Dutch Creation Which Shaped the Modern Globe
One can find numerous contenders for the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a new book, though, that title belongs to a mechanised sawmill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, building a simple trading ship necessitated around 10 lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber might be produced within seven days.”
Thanks to this speedy automated cutter, which turned timber into planks with almost no human effort, Dutch builders could build vessels faster than anyone else, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic and cultural dominance in Europe and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s initial true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part transformed its rotary movement into up-and-down motion for the saw. A separate mechanism changed that same spinning motion into a lateral motion feeding the timber toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine them in order that the machine operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every downward motion and moving on every upward motion. It was a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental components.”
Which brings us up to the current challenge. I’d like you to reimagine a key the basic concepts behind this historic invention.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism which converts rotary motion to vertical motion. Your available these items only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or housing into which a single the bars can slide snugly. (Consider that you can put things on a stand, so that the components don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK with the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please propose (non obvious) contenders for the world’s greatest creation.
