Can You Solve This? The Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Forged our Modern Globe
One can find numerous contenders to claim the title of “world’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, however, that title should go to the automated sawmill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before automated sawing, building a modest trading ship necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber might be produced in less than seven days.”
Thanks to their rapid automated cutter, that turned timber to boards using virtually no human effort, the Dutch could build vessels more quickly than any other nation, which sparked a century of Netherlands naval, financial as well as artistic dominance across Europe and the world.
The Original True Industrial Device
The inventor's lumber mill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s first true factory apparatus.” A windmill turned a gear. A single part transformed the circular movement to vertical action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed the spinning motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the log forward a measured step per stroke.
“Every component was modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to integrate them in order that they operated in a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every downward motion and moving with each return stroke. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent use of fundamental parts.”
A fact that brings us to the current challenge. I’d like for you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism that turns rotary motion to up-and-down action. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve into which a single the rods can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can put things on a base, so that the components do not collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders for the world’s most impactful creation.
