Are You Able to Crack This? The Forgotten Dutch Invention That Forged our Contemporary World
There are many contenders to claim the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a new book, though, that honor belongs to a mechanised sawmill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated around 10 lumberjacks working for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber might be manufactured in less than a week.”
Owing to their rapid automated cutter, that converted logs into planks with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build vessels more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial and cultural supremacy across the continent and the globe.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s initial authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part transformed the circular movement to up-and-down motion for the saw. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary movement into a lateral movement feeding the log toward the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the log forward a measured step each stroke.
“Each element seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate them in order that they operated in a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward motion while moving with each upward motion. This constituted a remarkably clever use of basic parts.”
A fact that leads us to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the basic concepts behind this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism that turns rotary motion into up-and-down motion. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or housing through which one of the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so the components do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders for the world’s most impactful invention.
