Are You Able to Solve This? The Overlooked Dutch Invention That Shaped the Modern Globe
One can find numerous contenders to claim the title of “world’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, though, that title belongs to the mechanised timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a modest trading ship required approximately 10 lumberjacks working for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same quantity of processed timber could be produced in less than seven days.”
Thanks to their rapid automated saw, that turned timber into boards using virtually no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build ships faster compared to anyone else, which unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, economic and cultural dominance in Europe and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s initial authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component transformed the rotary motion to vertical motion for the saw. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning motion into a lateral motion advancing the timber to the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the wood forward a measured step per stroke.
“Each element was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to combine them in order that the machine acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each downward stroke while advancing on every upward motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
A fact that brings us up to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts behind this historic invention.
Round and Up
Construct a machine that turns circular motion to vertical action. Your available these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the components don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s greatest invention.
