Can You Solve This? That Overlooked Dutch Creation That Forged our Modern World
One can find many candidates to claim the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, though, that honor belongs to a mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, constructing a modest merchant vessel required around ten sawyers working for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be produced in less than a week.”
Thanks to this speedy mechanical cutter, which turned timber to boards using virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to build ships more quickly than any other nation, which sparked a century of Netherlands naval, economic and cultural dominance in Europe and the globe.
The Original Genuine Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, was “humanity’s initial true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a gear. One component converted the rotary movement to vertical action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning movement into a sideway’s movement advancing the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log forward a measured step each cycle.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine these parts so they operated within a perfectly controlled order, cutting on every downward stroke while advancing with each upward motion. It was a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental components.”
Which leads us to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reinvent one of the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism that turns rotary movement to vertical motion. You have these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing through which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK with the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please propose (non obvious) contenders as the world’s greatest invention.
