Are You Able to Crack This? That Overlooked Dutch Creation That Shaped the Modern Globe
One can find numerous contenders to claim the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, however, that honor should go to a mechanised timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel required approximately 10 sawyers working for 90 days,” notes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, the same amount of cut lumber could be produced within seven days.”
Owing to their rapid automated saw, which converted logs into boards with virtually no human effort, the Dutch could build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial and artistic dominance in the continent and the world.
The First True Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s first true factory apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. One component transformed the rotary motion to up-and-down motion to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed the spinning motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the timber toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the log ahead a measured step per cycle.
“Every component was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to integrate them in order that the machine acted within a precisely synchronized order, cutting with each descending stroke and advancing with each upward motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of basic parts.”
Which leads us to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism that turns circular motion to vertical action. You have these items only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve through which a single the bars can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s most impactful creation.
