Are You Able to Crack It? That Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Forged the Modern World
One can find numerous contenders for the title of “world’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor belongs to the mechanised timber mill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated around ten lumberjacks working for three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber might be produced within a week.”
Owing to their speedy automated saw, which converted timber to boards using virtually no human effort, the Dutch could construct ships more quickly than anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, economic and artistic dominance in Europe and the globe.
The Original Genuine Industrial Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, argues the writer, represented “humanity’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component converted its rotary motion into vertical action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed that same spinning movement into a sideway’s motion advancing the log to the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood ahead a measured step each stroke.
“Each element seemed modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine them so the machine acted in a precisely synchronized order, sawing on every descending stroke and advancing on every upward stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental components.”
Which brings us up to the current challenge. The task is you to reinvent a key the basic ideas underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine that turns circular motion into up-and-down motion. You have these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK with the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s most impactful creation.
