Are You Able to Solve It? That Forgotten Dutch Creation Which Forged our Modern Globe
There are many contenders to claim the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, however, that honor belongs to the mechanised sawmill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks laboring for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be manufactured within seven days.”
Owing to this speedy automated cutter, that turned timber into planks using virtually no human effort, the Dutch were able to build vessels faster than any other nation, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial as well as artistic supremacy in Europe and the world.
The Original True Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends Dávila, represented “mankind’s initial authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part converted its circular motion into up-and-down motion for the saw. A separate mechanism changed the rotary movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber to the blade. A ratchet system moved the log ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Every component seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate them so they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting with each descending motion while advancing on every upward stroke. It was an astonishingly clever use of basic components.”
A fact that leads us up to the current challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Design a machine which converts rotary motion to vertical action. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing into which a single the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a base, so the components don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) candidates as the world’s most impactful creation.
