Are You Able to Crack It? The Overlooked Dutch Invention Which Shaped the Contemporary Globe
One can find many contenders for the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to a mechanised sawmill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel necessitated approximately ten sawyers working for three months,” notes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of cut lumber could be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical cutter, which converted timber into planks with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could construct ships faster compared to any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, financial as well as artistic dominance in Europe and the world.
The Original True Industrial Device
The inventor's lumber mill, argues the writer, represented “humanity’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. A single part converted its rotary motion to up-and-down action to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead a measured step each stroke.
“Each element was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine these parts in order that the machine operated within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each descending stroke while advancing on every upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of basic parts.”
A fact that leads us up to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent one of the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine that turns rotary motion to up-and-down motion. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the rods will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the components do not collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates as the world’s most impactful invention.