Can You Solve This? That Overlooked Dutch Invention That Shaped the Contemporary World
There are numerous candidates to claim the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a new book, though, that title belongs to a automated sawmill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel required approximately 10 sawyers laboring for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, the same quantity of cut lumber might be manufactured within seven days.”
Owing to their speedy mechanical saw, that turned logs into boards using almost no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to build vessels more quickly than anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch maritime, economic and cultural supremacy in the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Industrial Device
The inventor's lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “mankind’s initial authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part transformed the circular motion to up-and-down motion to power the saw. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning motion into a sideway’s movement feeding the log toward the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward a measured step each cycle.
“Each element was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to integrate them in order that they operated in a precisely synchronized order, sawing on every downward motion and moving on every return stroke. It was a remarkably clever application of basic parts.”
Which brings us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reinvent one of the basic concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism that turns circular movement into vertical action. You have these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or housing into which a single the bars will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components don’t fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates for the planet’s greatest invention.
