Can You Solve This? That Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Forged the Contemporary Globe
There are many candidates to claim the designation as “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor belongs to a mechanised timber mill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, constructing a simple merchant vessel necessitated around 10 sawyers working over three months,” writes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be manufactured within a week.”
Thanks to this speedy automated saw, which turned timber to boards with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct ships faster than any other nation, which sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic and artistic supremacy in the continent and the world.
The First Genuine Industrial Device
The inventor's lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “mankind’s first authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part transformed its circular motion to vertical action to power the cutting blade. Another component changed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s motion advancing the log to the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step per stroke.
“Every component was simple by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate these parts in order that the machine acted within a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting with each descending motion and moving with each upward motion. It was a remarkably clever application of basic components.”
A fact that leads us to the current puzzle. I’d like for you to reinvent a key the basic ideas behind this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine which converts rotary movement into up-and-down motion. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing into which a single the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a base, so the components do not collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s most impactful invention.
