Can You Crack It? The Forgotten Dutch Creation Which Forged the Modern Globe
One can find many contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, however, that honor belongs to the mechanised timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a simple trading ship required around ten sawyers laboring over three months,” notes the author. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber might be manufactured within seven days.”
Owing to this speedy automated cutter, that converted timber into planks with almost no human effort, Dutch builders could construct vessels faster than any other nation, which unleashed a century of Dutch naval, economic as well as cultural supremacy across Europe and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues the writer, represented “mankind’s first authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. A single part transformed the circular motion into up-and-down action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed the rotary motion into a lateral movement feeding the log to the blade. A ratchet system moved the log ahead one precise increment per cycle.
“Every component was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s genius was to combine these parts so they acted within a precisely synchronized order, sawing with each downward motion and moving with each upward motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of fundamental parts.”
A fact that brings us up to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism which converts circular movement into up-and-down motion. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing through which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components don’t fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK time with the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to propose (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s most impactful creation.
