Are You Able to Solve It? That Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Forged the Modern World
There are numerous contenders to claim the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to the automated sawmill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, building a simple trading ship required approximately ten lumberjacks working over 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber could be manufactured in less than a week.”
Owing to this rapid mechanical cutter, that turned logs to boards with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could build vessels faster compared to any other nation, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch maritime, economic and artistic supremacy across the continent and the world.
The First True Industrial Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s initial true factory apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. A single part transformed the rotary motion into up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary movement into a sideway’s movement advancing the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the log ahead a measured step each stroke.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate them in order that they operated within a perfectly controlled order, cutting with each downward motion while advancing with each return motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever application of basic components.”
A fact that brings us to the current challenge. I’d like you to reimagine a key the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine that turns circular motion into vertical motion. You have these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components do not collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please propose (non obvious) candidates as the world’s greatest invention.