Are You Able to Crack This? The Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Shaped our Contemporary World
One can find numerous candidates for the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor should go to the automated timber mill conceived by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a simple trading ship required approximately 10 sawyers working over three months,” writes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same quantity of processed timber could be manufactured within seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid mechanical cutter, that converted timber into planks with almost no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to construct vessels more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that sparked a century of Netherlands naval, economic and artistic supremacy across the continent and the globe.
The First True Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends Dávila, represented “mankind’s initial true industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a wheel. A single part transformed the circular motion to up-and-down action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning motion into a lateral movement advancing the timber to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood ahead one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts in order that they operated within a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every descending stroke while advancing with each upward motion. It was a remarkably clever use of basic components.”
Which brings us up to the current challenge. I’d like you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic invention.
Round and Up
Construct a machine which converts rotary movement to up-and-down action. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or housing into which one of the rods can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a base, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s most impactful invention.
