Are You Able to Crack It? The Overlooked Dutch Creation That Forged the Contemporary World
There are numerous candidates for the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, however, that honor should go to a mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated around ten lumberjacks working for three months,” notes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be produced within seven days.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical saw, that turned timber into planks using virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to construct ships faster than anyone else, which unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial and artistic dominance in Europe and the world.
The Original True Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s initial true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. A single part transformed the circular motion to up-and-down action for the cutting blade. Another component changed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber to the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log ahead one precise increment per stroke.
“Every component was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to combine these parts in order that they operated in a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward motion while advancing on every upward motion. It was a remarkably clever application of fundamental parts.”
Which brings us up to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism that turns rotary movement into vertical motion. You have these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or housing into which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a base, so the parts don’t collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK featuring the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please propose (non obvious) candidates for the world’s greatest creation.
