Can You Solve It? That Overlooked Dutch Creation That Shaped the Contemporary Globe
There are numerous candidates for the title of “planet’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, however, that honor belongs to a automated sawmill invented through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a modest trading ship necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, an identical amount of cut lumber could be produced in less than a week.”
Owing to this rapid automated saw, that converted timber into boards with almost no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships faster compared to any other nation, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, economic and cultural supremacy in Europe and the world.
The Original True Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues the writer, was “humanity’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. One component converted its rotary motion into vertical action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning motion into a lateral motion advancing the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the wood ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Each element seemed simple by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to combine them in order that the machine acted within a perfectly controlled order, cutting on every downward stroke while advancing on every return stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental components.”
A fact that leads us up to the current puzzle. I’d like for you to reimagine a key the basic concepts underpinning this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine that turns rotary movement to up-and-down motion. You have these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a tube or sleeve through which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that you can put things on a base, so the components do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK with the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the planet’s most impactful invention.
