Can You Solve It? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Shaped our Modern Globe
There are many contenders for the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, though, that honor belongs to the automated timber mill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before automated cutting, building a modest trading ship required approximately ten sawyers working for three months,” writes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, an identical amount of cut lumber could be manufactured in less than a week.”
Owing to their rapid automated cutter, which converted timber to planks with almost no human effort, Dutch builders could construct ships faster compared to any other nation, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic as well as cultural dominance in Europe and the globe.
The First True Industrial Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component converted its rotary motion to up-and-down action for the saw. Another component changed the rotary motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the log toward the blade. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Each element seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate them so they acted in a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward motion while advancing on every return stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental components.”
Which leads us up to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reimagine one of the basic ideas underpinning this historic machine.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism that turns rotary movement to vertical action. Your available these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing through which a single the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a base, so that the components do not fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK time featuring the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) contenders for the planet’s most impactful creation.
