Can You Solve It? The Forgotten Netherlands Creation Which Forged the Modern Globe
There are numerous contenders for the designation as “planet’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, though, that honor should go to the automated sawmill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, building a modest trading ship necessitated around 10 sawyers laboring for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be manufactured in less than a week.”
Thanks to this speedy mechanical saw, that converted timber to planks with almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to construct ships faster than any other nation, which sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial and artistic supremacy across the continent and the globe.
The First True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s first true factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part transformed its rotary motion to up-and-down action to power the saw. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood forward one precise increment per stroke.
“Each element seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate these parts in order that they operated in a precisely synchronized order, sawing on every downward stroke while moving with each return stroke. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of fundamental components.”
Which leads us up to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reinvent one of the basic concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Design a machine which converts rotary motion to vertical motion. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve through which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK time featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) contenders for the world’s greatest invention.
