Are You Able to Solve It? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Forged the Contemporary Globe
There are numerous candidates for the designation as “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a new book, however, that honor should go to a mechanised sawmill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated around 10 lumberjacks working for 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be produced within seven days.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical saw, that converted logs into boards using virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships more quickly than anyone else, which unleashed a century of Dutch naval, financial and artistic dominance in the continent and the globe.
The Original Genuine Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a gear. One component converted its circular movement into up-and-down action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the rotary movement into a lateral movement advancing the log toward the blade. A geared mechanism moved the log forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element seemed simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine them in order that the machine operated in a precisely synchronized order, sawing with each descending motion and advancing with each return stroke. It was a remarkably clever application of basic components.”
A fact that brings us to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reimagine one of the basic concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine which converts rotary movement into up-and-down action. Your available these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or sleeve into which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the parts do not fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK with the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to propose (less celebrated) candidates as the world’s greatest invention.
