Can You Crack This? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Shaped our Modern World
There are numerous contenders for the designation as “world’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, however, that title belongs to a mechanised timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a modest trading ship required around ten lumberjacks working over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Thanks to their speedy automated cutter, that turned timber into planks using almost no human effort, the Dutch could build ships faster than anyone else, an advantage that sparked a century of Dutch naval, financial and artistic dominance across Europe and the globe.
The First True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, was “humanity’s first true factory machine.” A windmill turned a gear. One component transformed its circular movement to up-and-down action to power the cutting blade. Another component changed the rotary movement into a sideway’s motion advancing the timber to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log forward a measured step per stroke.
“Every component seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate them so the machine operated in a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing with each descending motion while advancing with each upward motion. This constituted a remarkably clever application of fundamental components.”
Which leads us to the current challenge. I’d like for you to reinvent one of the basic ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts rotary movement to vertical action. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing into which one of the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that you can mount components on a base, so the parts do not fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates for the world’s most impactful creation.
