Can You Solve This? That Overlooked Dutch Invention That Shaped the Contemporary Globe
One can find many contenders for the designation as “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, however, that title should go to a mechanised sawmill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated around 10 lumberjacks working over 90 days,” notes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber might be manufactured within seven days.”
Thanks to their speedy mechanical cutter, which converted timber into boards with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch could construct ships more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial and artistic supremacy in the continent and the world.
The First Genuine Industrial Device
The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s first true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component converted its circular movement to vertical motion for the cutting blade. Another component changed the spinning movement into a lateral movement advancing the timber to the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead one precise increment per cycle.
“Every component seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to combine these parts so they acted in a perfectly controlled order, sawing with each downward motion while advancing with each upward motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever application of fundamental components.”
Which leads us up to today’s challenge. The task is you to reimagine a key the fundamental ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine that turns rotary movement into vertical action. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or housing through which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Assume 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, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates as the world’s most impactful invention.
