Are You Able to Solve This? That Forgotten Dutch Creation That Forged the Modern World
One can find numerous candidates for the designation as “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, however, that title belongs to the mechanised sawmill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, constructing a simple trading ship required approximately ten sawyers working for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of cut lumber might be manufactured within seven days.”
Owing to this rapid automated cutter, which turned logs into planks using almost no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to construct vessels faster compared to anyone else, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, economic as well as cultural dominance across Europe and the world.
The Original Genuine Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends Dávila, was “humanity’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component transformed the circular motion to vertical action to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed the rotary motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the log to the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step each stroke.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine these parts so they operated within a precisely synchronized order, cutting with each descending stroke and advancing on every upward stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent use of basic components.”
Which leads us to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reimagine one of the fundamental concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts rotary motion into vertical motion. You have these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a tube or housing into which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the parts do not fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates for the world’s greatest creation.
