Can You Solve It? That Overlooked Dutch Creation That Shaped the Modern World
There are many contenders for the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a new book, however, that title belongs to the automated sawmill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated around 10 lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-driven lumber mills, the same quantity of cut lumber could be produced within a week.”
Owing to their rapid mechanical saw, which turned timber to planks with almost no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships faster than anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial and cultural supremacy across the continent and the world.
The Original True Industrial Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, represented “humanity’s first authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component converted its circular motion into up-and-down action to power the cutting blade. Another component changed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the timber to the blade. A geared mechanism moved the log forward a measured step per cycle.
“Every component seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to combine these parts in order that the machine operated within a perfectly controlled order, cutting on every downward motion while moving on every upward stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental components.”
Which leads us to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reinvent a key the fundamental ideas underpinning this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism that turns rotary motion into up-and-down motion. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or housing through which a single the bars can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so that the components do not collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) candidates as the world’s most impactful creation.
