Are You Able to Crack This? The Forgotten Netherlands Creation Which Shaped the Modern World
One can find numerous contenders to claim the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a new book, though, that honor belongs to the mechanised sawmill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, building a simple trading ship required around 10 sawyers working for three months,” writes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, an identical amount of cut lumber could be produced within a week.”
Owing to this rapid automated cutter, which converted logs to planks with almost no human effort, the Dutch could build vessels faster than anyone else, which unleashed one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial as well as artistic dominance in Europe and the world.
The Original True Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “humanity’s initial true industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part transformed its circular movement to up-and-down action to power the saw. Another component transformed that same rotary motion into a lateral movement feeding the timber toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Each element seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine these parts so they operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each descending motion and moving with each upward motion. It was a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental parts.”
A fact that leads us to the current puzzle. The task is you to reimagine one of the fundamental concepts behind this historic invention.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism which converts circular motion into up-and-down motion. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a tube or housing through which a single the rods will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so the parts do not collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s greatest creation.