Can You Crack This? That Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Shaped our Modern World
There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, however, that title belongs to a mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated approximately 10 sawyers laboring for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Owing to this rapid automated cutter, which converted timber to planks with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could construct vessels more quickly compared to any other nation, which sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic and artistic dominance across Europe and the world.
The First Genuine Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s first true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component transformed the circular movement into up-and-down action to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed the spinning movement into a lateral motion advancing the timber to the cutter. A ratchet system moved the log forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to combine them so the machine acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every downward stroke and moving with each upward motion. It was an astonishingly clever use of fundamental components.”
Which leads us up to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reimagine one of the basic ideas underpinning this historic machine.
Round and Up
Construct a machine that turns circular movement into up-and-down motion. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which a single the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume you can mount components on a base, so the components do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders as the world’s greatest invention.
