Can You Solve This? That Overlooked Dutch Invention Which Forged the Modern World
There are numerous contenders to claim the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a new book, however, that honor should go to the mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, constructing a simple trading ship required around ten sawyers laboring over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of processed timber might be produced within a week.”
Thanks to their speedy automated saw, that converted timber into planks with almost no manual labor, Dutch builders could construct ships more quickly compared to any other nation, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, economic as well as artistic supremacy in Europe and the world.
The Original True Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component converted its circular motion into up-and-down motion for the saw. Another component transformed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the timber toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward a measured step each cycle.
“Every component was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to integrate them so the machine operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every downward motion while advancing with each return stroke. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent use of basic parts.”
Which leads us to the current challenge. I’d like you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas behind this historic invention.
Round and Up
Design a machine that turns rotary movement to up-and-down motion. Your available these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the rods can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (less celebrated) candidates as the world’s greatest invention.
