Can You Crack It? That Forgotten Dutch Invention That Forged our Contemporary Globe
There are many candidates for the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor belongs to a automated timber mill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel necessitated around 10 sawyers working over three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of cut lumber could be produced in less than a week.”
Thanks to their rapid mechanical cutter, that converted timber into planks with virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to build ships faster than anyone else, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Dutch maritime, economic and artistic supremacy in the continent and the globe.
The First Genuine Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s first true industrial machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component converted the rotary motion to up-and-down motion for the saw. Another component changed that same rotary movement into a sideway’s movement feeding the timber to the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Each element seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine them in order that they operated in a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward motion while advancing on every return motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent use of fundamental components.”
Which brings us to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the fundamental ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Construct a machine that turns circular movement to vertical action. Your available these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or housing into which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the world’s greatest creation.
