Are You Able to Solve It? That Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Shaped the Modern World
One can find numerous contenders for the title of “world’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor should go to the automated timber mill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a modest merchant vessel required around ten sawyers working for three months,” notes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same quantity of processed timber could be produced within seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid automated cutter, which turned timber into planks using almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build vessels more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that sparked a century of Netherlands maritime, economic as well as artistic supremacy in Europe and the world.
The First True Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “mankind’s initial authentic factory machine.” A windmill rotated a wheel. A single part converted the rotary movement to vertical motion for the saw. Another component changed that same spinning motion into a lateral motion advancing the timber toward the blade. A ratchet system shifted the wood forward one precise increment per stroke.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to combine these parts in order that they acted within a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting with each downward stroke and moving on every return stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental parts.”
A fact that leads us to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reimagine one of the basic concepts behind this historic invention.
Round and Up
Design a machine that turns rotary motion to vertical motion. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing into which a single the rods can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the components do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s most impactful creation.
