Are You Able to Solve This? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Forged the Contemporary Globe
There are many contenders for the designation as “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, however, that title belongs to the mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a simple merchant vessel necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks working for three months,” notes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber might be produced within a week.”
Owing to this speedy automated saw, that converted timber to boards with almost no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to build vessels more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial as well as artistic dominance across Europe and the world.
The Original True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s initial authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part transformed the circular motion to vertical action for the saw. Another component changed that same rotary movement into a lateral motion advancing the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward one precise increment per stroke.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to integrate them so the machine acted within a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every descending stroke and advancing with each upward stroke. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of basic parts.”
A fact that leads us up to the current puzzle. The task is for you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic invention.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism that turns rotary motion into up-and-down action. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing through which a single the rods can slide snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so the components don’t fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders for the planet’s most impactful invention.
