Are You Able to Solve It? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention That Forged the Modern Globe
One can find many candidates to claim the title of “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, though, that title belongs to a automated sawmill invented through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, building a modest trading ship required approximately ten sawyers working for 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-driven lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber could be produced in less than a week.”
Thanks to their speedy automated cutter, which turned logs into planks with virtually no human effort, the Dutch were able to build vessels faster compared to any other nation, which sparked a century of Dutch naval, financial and cultural dominance across the continent and the globe.
The First True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's lumber mill, argues the writer, represented “humanity’s initial authentic factory machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. A single part transformed its rotary motion to up-and-down action to power the saw. Another component transformed that same rotary movement into a sideway’s motion advancing the log to the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the wood ahead one precise increment per stroke.
“Each element was simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine them so the machine acted in a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting on every downward stroke while moving with each return stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever use of basic components.”
A fact that brings us to the current challenge. I’d like for you to reimagine a key the basic concepts underpinning this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism which converts rotary movement to up-and-down action. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or housing into which one of the bars can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a base, so the components don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders for the world’s greatest invention.
