Are You Able to Solve It? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Forged the Contemporary Globe
There are many candidates to claim the title of “planet’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, though, that title should go to a mechanised timber mill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated around ten lumberjacks working over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of cut lumber might be manufactured in less than a week.”
Thanks to their rapid automated saw, which converted timber into boards using almost no human effort, the Dutch could build ships faster compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked a century of Dutch maritime, economic as well as artistic dominance in the continent and the globe.
The First True Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, was “mankind’s first authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. A single part transformed the circular motion to up-and-down action to power the saw. Another component transformed the spinning motion into a lateral movement feeding the log toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the log ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Each element seemed modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine these parts in order that the machine operated in a perfectly controlled order, cutting with each downward stroke and advancing with each return motion. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of basic parts.”
A fact that brings us up to the current challenge. The task is you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts rotary movement to up-and-down action. You have these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing into which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a base, so the components do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the planet’s most impactful creation.