Can You Crack This? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Forged the Modern World
One can find many candidates to claim the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor should go to the mechanised sawmill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, constructing a modest trading ship required approximately ten sawyers laboring over three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber could be produced within seven days.”
Owing to their speedy automated cutter, which converted timber to boards with virtually no human effort, the Dutch were able to construct ships faster than anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial as well as artistic dominance across Europe and the world.
The First True Industrial Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s first authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component transformed its rotary movement to up-and-down motion to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning movement into a sideway’s movement advancing the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the log ahead one precise increment per stroke.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to combine them in order that they operated within a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every descending stroke while moving on every upward motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental components.”
Which leads us up to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reimagine a key the basic concepts behind this historic invention.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism which converts rotary movement to vertical action. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a tube or housing through which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so the parts do not collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates for the planet’s greatest creation.
