Are You Able to Crack This? That Overlooked Dutch Invention Which Shaped the Contemporary Globe
One can find numerous candidates to claim the designation as “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, however, that title should go to the automated sawmill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated around 10 lumberjacks laboring for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber could be produced in less than seven days.”
Owing to this rapid mechanical saw, which turned logs into boards using virtually no human effort, the Dutch were able to build ships faster compared to anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, economic as well as artistic dominance across Europe and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, argues the writer, was “humanity’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A windmill rotated a wheel. One component converted its circular movement into vertical motion for the saw. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning movement into a lateral movement feeding the log to the cutter. A ratchet system moved the log forward one precise increment per cycle.
“Each element was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate them so the machine operated in a precisely synchronized order, sawing with each descending motion while advancing on every return motion. This constituted a remarkably clever application of basic components.”
A fact that brings us up to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reinvent a key the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Design a machine that turns circular motion into vertical motion. You have these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or housing through which a single the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so the components do not fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) candidates as the world’s greatest invention.
