Can You Solve This? The Forgotten Dutch Invention That Shaped the Contemporary World
There are numerous candidates for the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor should go to a mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before automated cutting, building a simple trading ship required approximately 10 lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” notes the author. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber could be manufactured within seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid mechanical saw, which turned timber into planks with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could construct ships faster compared to any other nation, which unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, economic as well as cultural supremacy across the continent and the world.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, contends Dávila, represented “humanity’s initial authentic industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component converted the circular motion into vertical motion for the saw. A separate mechanism changed the rotary motion into a lateral movement feeding the timber to the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step per cycle.
“Each element seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate these parts so they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every descending motion and advancing on every return motion. It was a remarkably clever application of fundamental components.”
A fact that leads us up to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Design a machine which converts rotary movement to up-and-down motion. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing into which a single the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that you can put things on a base, so the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK with the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates as the world’s greatest invention.
