Are You Able to Crack This? That Overlooked Dutch Invention Which Forged the Contemporary Globe
One can find numerous contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, though, that honor belongs to the automated sawmill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a modest trading ship necessitated around 10 sawyers working over three months,” writes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be produced in less than a week.”
Owing to this rapid mechanical cutter, which converted timber to boards using almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to build vessels more quickly compared to any other nation, which unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, financial as well as cultural supremacy in Europe and the world.
The Original True Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. A single part converted its rotary motion into up-and-down motion to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed the rotary movement into a sideway’s movement advancing the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood forward one precise increment per stroke.
“Each element was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to combine them so the machine acted within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every descending stroke and moving on every return motion. This constituted a remarkably clever use of fundamental parts.”
A fact that brings us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent a key the fundamental concepts behind this historic machine.
Round and Up
Design a machine which converts circular movement to up-and-down motion. Your available these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing into which one of the rods will fit snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so that the components don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the planet’s greatest creation.
