Can You Solve It? The Forgotten Dutch Creation That Shaped the Contemporary World
One can find many contenders for the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, however, that honor belongs to a automated timber mill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a simple trading ship required approximately 10 lumberjacks laboring over three months,” writes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber might be manufactured within seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid automated cutter, that turned logs to boards with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build ships more quickly compared to any other nation, which sparked one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, economic and cultural dominance across Europe and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s initial true industrial apparatus.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component converted its circular motion into vertical motion to power the saw. Another component changed the rotary motion into a lateral movement advancing the timber toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood ahead one precise increment per stroke.
“Each element seemed simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to integrate them in order that the machine operated within a precisely synchronized order, sawing on every descending stroke and advancing on every return motion. It was an astonishingly intelligent use of basic parts.”
Which leads us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reimagine a key the basic ideas underpinning this historic machine.
Round and Up
Design a machine which converts circular movement into up-and-down motion. You have these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or sleeve through which a single the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a base, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK with the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (less celebrated) candidates for the world’s greatest invention.
