Are You Able to Solve It? The Overlooked Netherlands Creation That Forged our Contemporary Globe
One can find many contenders to claim the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor should go to a mechanised timber mill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before automated sawing, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks working for three months,” notes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber might be manufactured within seven days.”
Thanks to their speedy automated cutter, which converted timber into boards using almost no human effort, Dutch builders were able to construct vessels more quickly than any other nation, which unleashed a century of Dutch naval, financial and artistic dominance across Europe and the world.
The Original True Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, represented “humanity’s initial true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part transformed its circular motion to vertical motion to power the cutting blade. Another component changed the spinning motion into a sideway’s movement feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the wood ahead one precise increment per stroke.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate these parts so the machine acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every downward stroke and advancing with each upward motion. It was an astonishingly intelligent use of fundamental parts.”
A fact that brings us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reimagine one of the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism that turns circular motion into vertical action. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing into which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that you can mount components on a base, so that the parts do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please propose (non obvious) candidates as the world’s most impactful invention.