Are You Able to Crack This? The Forgotten Netherlands Creation Which Shaped our Modern Globe
One can find many candidates to claim the title of “planet’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, however, that honor should go to a mechanised timber mill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a modest trading ship necessitated around 10 lumberjacks laboring over three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be manufactured in less than a week.”
Owing to their rapid mechanical cutter, that turned timber to boards using virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to construct ships faster compared to any other nation, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, financial as well as cultural supremacy in the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, represented “humanity’s initial true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. A single part transformed the circular motion into vertical action to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning movement into a lateral motion advancing the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log forward a measured step per cycle.
“Every component was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to combine these parts in order that they operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting with each descending stroke and advancing on every upward stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental components.”
A fact that brings us up to the current challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the basic concepts underpinning this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism that turns rotary motion into vertical action. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the rods can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK with the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders as the world’s most impactful creation.
