Can You Solve It? That Forgotten Netherlands Creation Which Shaped our Modern World
There are numerous candidates for the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, however, that title should go to a mechanised timber mill invented through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, building a modest trading ship required around 10 lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber might be manufactured within a week.”
Owing to this speedy automated saw, which converted timber to planks using virtually no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct vessels faster compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked a century of Netherlands maritime, financial as well as artistic dominance in Europe and the world.
The Original Genuine Industrial Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, contends Dávila, represented “humanity’s initial true factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part converted the circular movement into up-and-down action for the saw. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning motion into a lateral movement feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the wood ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Every component was modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to integrate these parts in order that they acted in a precisely synchronized order, sawing with each downward stroke and advancing with each upward motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental parts.”
A fact that brings us to the current puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine a key the basic concepts behind this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism that turns circular motion to vertical motion. You have these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so the parts do not fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) contenders for the world’s greatest creation.
