Can You Crack This? The Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Shaped the Modern World
There are numerous candidates to claim the title of “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, though, that title should go to a automated timber mill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a modest trading ship required around 10 sawyers working for 90 days,” notes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber could be manufactured in less than a week.”
Owing to this rapid mechanical cutter, which converted timber into planks using almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct vessels more quickly than anyone else, which sparked a century of Dutch maritime, economic as well as cultural dominance in the continent and the globe.
The First True Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, was “mankind’s initial authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component converted the circular movement into vertical motion for the saw. Another component transformed the spinning motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the timber to the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Every component was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to combine these parts so they acted within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward motion while moving with each return motion. It was a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
Which brings us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent a key the basic ideas behind this historic invention.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism which converts circular movement to up-and-down motion. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a tube or sleeve through which a single the rods can slide snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a base, so that the components do not collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK featuring the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the world’s greatest invention.