Are You Able to Crack It? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Shaped our Contemporary World
One can find many contenders for the title of “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, though, that title should go to a mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks working for three months,” writes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be manufactured within a week.”
Owing to this rapid mechanical saw, that turned logs to boards with virtually no human effort, the Dutch could build vessels faster compared to any other nation, which sparked one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, financial as well as artistic dominance in the continent and the world.
The First Genuine Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s initial authentic industrial apparatus.” A windmill turned a gear. One component transformed its circular motion to up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the rotary motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the log forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Every component seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate these parts in order that they acted in a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting with each descending stroke and advancing on every return stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental parts.”
A fact that leads us up to the current challenge. The task is for you to reimagine a key the fundamental ideas behind this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts circular movement into vertical motion. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or housing into which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so that the components do not collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates for the world’s most impactful invention.
