Can You Crack This? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention That Forged the Modern World
One can find numerous contenders to claim the title of “planet’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to the mechanised sawmill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before automated cutting, building a modest trading ship necessitated around ten sawyers working over 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid mechanical cutter, that turned logs to planks using virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could build ships faster than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial and cultural supremacy across Europe and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, represented “mankind’s first true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part transformed its rotary motion to vertical motion to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary motion into a lateral motion advancing the timber toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward a measured step each stroke.
“Each element seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to integrate them so they operated in a perfectly controlled order, sawing with each descending motion while advancing on every return motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever application of fundamental components.”
A fact that leads us to today’s challenge. The task is you to reinvent one of the basic ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Construct a machine that turns circular movement into vertical action. Your available these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or sleeve into which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so the components don’t fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (non obvious) contenders for the world’s most impactful invention.
