Can You Crack It? The Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Forged our Contemporary World
There are many candidates for the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a new book, however, that title belongs to a automated timber mill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a modest trading ship required approximately ten lumberjacks laboring for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber might be manufactured within seven days.”
Thanks to their rapid automated saw, that turned timber into boards with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build vessels more quickly compared to anyone else, which unleashed a century of Netherlands maritime, financial as well as cultural dominance across the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Industrial Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s initial true industrial apparatus.” A windmill turned a gear. One component transformed its circular motion to vertical motion for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s movement feeding the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Every component seemed simple by itself. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to integrate them in order that the machine acted in a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing on every descending motion and moving with each upward motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental components.”
Which leads us up to the current puzzle. The task is you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine which converts circular movement into vertical action. You have these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or sleeve into which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so that the parts do not fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (less celebrated) candidates for the planet’s greatest invention.
